Our Approach: The 7 Stages of Mutual Engagement

Stage 1: Initial Meeting

• Humility: Not assuming anyone fully understands others’ experiences.
• Interest: Genuine care and attention toward each other.
• Respect: Honoring each other’s inherent dignity and humanity.
• Engagement: Everyone being fully present and actively participating.
• Patience: Not rushing the process of mutual connection.

Stage 2: Getting to Know Each Other

• Reciprocity: Mutual exchange of stories and experience.
• Trust: Building mutual belief in each other.
• Vulnerability: Everyone being willing to share their stories.
• Acceptance: Receiving each other’s truths without judgment.
• Dignity: Honoring the complexity of all stories.

Stage 3: Deciding to Work Together

• Consent: Mutual, informed agreement to collaborate.
• Mutual benefit: Ensuring value for all involved.
• Alignment: Matching everyone’s resources, capacity, and investment levels.
• Clarity: Setting clear expectations about timeline and effort.
• Commitment: Everyone’s dedication to follow through on agreements.

Stage 4: Choosing What to Work On

• Collaboration: Defining the work together.
• Service: Focusing on what will truly help all parties.
• Solidarity: Standing together in shared purpose.
• Realism: Grounding expectations in what’s actually possible.
• Responsibility: Ensuring no one commits to what they can’t deliver.

Stage 5: Making a Work Plan

• Transparency: Everyone being clear about process, roles, responsibilities, and resources.
• Contribution: Everyone contributing to the planning.
• Flexibility: Adaptability for constraints and changing resource needs.
• Forethought: Collectively anticipating future needs and resource requirements.
• Practicality: Making it doable within real constraints and resources.

Stage 6: Executing Initial Steps

• Initiative: Everyone starting things, not waiting.
• Actualization: Bringing ideas into concrete existence together.
• Impact: Producing real-world change together.
• Resourcefulness: Finding ways despite constraints together.
• Ingenuity: Clever, creative approaches from all parties.

Stage 7: Long-term Commitment

• Stewardship: Shared responsibility for care and oversight of the work.
• Generosity: Everyone sharing knowledge freely.
• Fidelity: All parties staying true to purpose.
• Conscientiousness: Everyone being thorough in preparation and handoff.
• Gratitude: Mutual appreciation for what’s been accomplished together.