JESSICA BALL
“Dialogue has the power to transform relationships with ourselves, each other and the world around us. Its values and principles ground everything I do.”
I am passionate about working with communication approaches that can be part of a change in how we communicate and relate to ourselves, each other and the world around us. Since discovering Bohm Dialogue a decade ago I have continued to develop a range of skills and experience in other communication approaches including LEGO Serious Play, nonviolent communication and Lewis Deep Democracy. I believe these approaches can be part of a positive paradigm shift that creates more empathy and understanding, and fosters collaboration and creative thinking.
It is not just how we communicate, but the things we come together to communicate about. Whilst so many ‘solutions’ are merely attempting to address the symptoms of our problems, I am driven to find ways to explore the root causes of our complex systemic challenges. This is why I have developed creative and innovative approaches to bring people together to create meaning on complex topics such as values, gender, emotions, inclusion and power dynamics.
I have extensive experience designing and facilitating meetings, workshops, away-days, conferences and retreats, both in-person, online and hybrid. I love working collaboratively with clients to design processes that can develop strategy, align diverse voices toward common goals and objectives, navigate complex interpersonal and group dynamics, and build trusted relationships.
Whilst I work across sectors, my experience working with organisations such as the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI), and the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, provide me with a broad knowledge on environmental and sustainability topics.
With a background in art and design, I maintain a creative practice that provides me with a vital connection to my own self-understanding. Creativity and my deep love and relationship with the more-than-human world are guiding forces in my work and life.
The 3 R’s
A guiding philosophy for change
Receptive
Real, long-lasting change requires individuals and organisations who are open. To be open requires curiosity, self-awareness and the courage to receive the truth of a situation or narrative as it is heard from all perspectives. Open listening is guided with the intention to understand and bring greater awareness to previously held assumptions, biases, values and beliefs that could be potential barriers to change.
Reflective
Receptivity is followed by a reflective practice: the meaning making. By asking the often difficult questions, through a process of inquiry and clarification, a deeper level of understanding and new learning can be arrived at and unhealthy behaviours, practices and dynamics can be named and explored. A new narrative can emerge, that has been co-created by those involved in the change process who are poised and enabled to act from this common place.
Responsive
By investing time in the development of receptive and reflective methods, individuals and organisations are able to respond from a place of strengthened relationships, collective intelligence and systemic knowledge. Decisions made will provide more effective long-term solutions and support the creation of more creative, healthy and thriving practices and cultures.