The Courageous Conversations Starter Guide
A short prompt guide for leaders and teams who want to open honest conversations about power, culture and practice — and don’t quite know where to start.
Why this exists
Many teams want to talk honestly about power, culture and equity in their work, but the first conversation is often the hardest to start. This guide gives you ten prompts, grouped into four themes, to open that conversation without it feeling like an ambush or a performance.
How to use it
Pick one theme per session rather than working through all four at once. Use the prompts as a starting point for discussion, not a script — the goal is an honest conversation, not a completed worksheet.
Ten prompts, four themes
Power
- Who usually gets asked for their opinion in decisions like this one — and who usually doesn’t?
- If someone disagreed strongly with this decision, would they feel safe saying so, and to whom?
- What would need to be true for someone outside this room to have real influence over this outcome?
Culture
- What assumptions are we making about what “normal” looks like for the people we serve?
- Where has “the way we’ve always done it” gone unquestioned recently?
- Whose experience are we treating as the default, and whose as the exception?
Voice
- Whose voice is missing from this conversation, and why?
- When did we last hear directly from someone affected by this, in their own words rather than summarised by someone else?
Action
- What is one thing we could change this month, not eventually?
- If we take no action after this conversation, what message does that send to the people we’ve just discussed?
A note on facilitation
These conversations work best with a named facilitator who is not the most senior person in the room, a clear agreement about confidentiality, and a follow-up commitment — even a small one — so the conversation visibly leads somewhere.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
If this conversation surfaces a specific priority issue your team needs to work through together, an Intercultural Impact Action Lab™ provides structured facilitation to move from insight to shared, owned action.
Five Questions to Ask Before You Co-Produce
A short pre-engagement checklist for teams planning a co-production project, partnership or piece of community involvement.
Why this exists
Co-production projects often run into difficulty not because the sessions go badly, but because the groundwork before the first session was never properly done. This checklist gives you five questions to work through with your team before you approach any patient, carer, staff or community group.
The five questions
What Can Still Change?
What can genuinely still change? Be specific about which parts of the decision are open to influence and which are fixed — and be honest about this with participants from the outset.
What can genuinely still change? Be specific about which parts of the decision are open to influence and which are fixed — and be honest about this with participants from the outset.
Who’s Missing?
Who should be in the room, and who is missing? Consider who is usually invited to these conversations, and actively identify who is typically absent and why.
Who should be in the room, and who is missing? Consider who is usually invited to these conversations, and actively identify who is typically absent and why.
What Support Is Needed?
What support will people need to participate as equals? Consider accessible information, fair reimbursement, flexible formats, translation, and practical barriers like transport, childcare or timing.
What support will people need to participate as equals? Consider accessible information, fair reimbursement, flexible formats, translation, and practical barriers like transport, childcare or timing.
How Will We Act?
How will we record and act on what we hear? Agree in advance how input will be captured, who owns turning it into action, and by when.
How will we record and act on what we hear? Agree in advance how input will be captured, who owns turning it into action, and by when.
How Will We Follow Up?
How will people know what happened as a result? Plan the feedback loop before you start — not as an afterthought once the sessions are over.
How will people know what happened as a result? Plan the feedback loop before you start — not as an afterthought once the sessions are over.
A quick self-check
If you cannot answer question one with real specifics — what, exactly, is still open to change — it may be worth pausing before you invite anyone into the room. Starting a co-production process without a clear answer to that question is the single most common cause of disengagement and mistrust.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
If you want a fuller picture of where your organisation’s participation currently sits — from informing through to genuinely sharing power — the From Consultation to Shared Power™ self-assessment takes four minutes and gives you an instant profile with tailored next steps.
The “You Said, We Did” Feedback Loop Template
A simple, reusable template for closing the loop with patients, carers, staff and communities after they’ve contributed their time and insight.
Why this exists
One of the clearest signals that participation is genuine rather than symbolic is whether people can see what happened after they spoke. Most organisations gather feedback well. Far fewer close the loop consistently. This template gives you a simple, repeatable structure to do that.
The template
What we heard
A plain-language summary of the feedback, insight or concern raised — written so the people who raised it would recognise it as accurate.
A plain-language summary of the feedback, insight or concern raised — written so the people who raised it would recognise it as accurate.
What we did with it
The specific decision, change or action this fed into. If it fed into several things, name each one.
The specific decision, change or action this fed into. If it fed into several things, name each one.
What we couldn’t change, and why
Be honest where something could not change. Explain the constraint — budget, regulation, timing, conflicting priorities — rather than leaving the question unanswered.
Be honest where something could not change. Explain the constraint — budget, regulation, timing, conflicting priorities — rather than leaving the question unanswered.
What happens next
The next concrete step, who owns it, and by when.
The next concrete step, who owns it, and by when.
How to stay involved
A clear, low-effort way for the same people to follow progress or contribute further, if they want to.
A clear, low-effort way for the same people to follow progress or contribute further, if they want to.
How to use it
- Complete one template per engagement activity or project milestone — not one per individual comment.
- Publish it somewhere the original participants will actually see it: a newsletter, a noticeboard, a follow-up email, a website update.
- Keep the language the same register you used to invite people in the first place — plain, direct, and free of internal jargon.
- Revisit and update it if “what happens next” changes — a feedback loop that goes stale is worse than no feedback loop at all.
Where to go next
If your organisation wants a structured, Board-level view of how consistently feedback loops operate across your services, the Board-Ready Social Impact Check™ includes this directly — it’s one of the twelve reflective questions in the impact and feedback domain.