So many of us work inside systems – councils, NGOs, services, schools, health, and community programs – where projects already come with agendas, KPIs, timelines, templates, and reporting frameworks.
And yet… beneath the forms and frameworks, there is something deeply human:
✨ People who care
✨ Communities with gifts
✨ Stories wanting to be heard
✨ Possibilities waiting to be discovered
ABCD isn’t another layer to add to a project.
It’s a way of showing up differently so that strengths, relationships, gifts, and local leadership can breathe again.
Here are some simple – but powerful – ways to let any project naturally become ABCD work… without forcing it.
1. Start with Listening – and Dare to Ask What People Truly Care About
Even when you’re working with multiple stakeholders, local government processes, competing agendas, and political dynamics… pause and listen.
Ask the simple questions – the human ones:
💬 “What do you care about enough to act on?”
💬 “What matters most to you in this place?”
💬 “What would you love to see happen?”
These questions gently cut through agendas, bureaucracy and ‘professional language’ – and go straight to:
❤️ passion
🌱 imagination
🔥 lived commitment
Most people working in community-facing roles do care. Some have simply become tired, stretched, over-managed, or disconnected from why they started. When we invite people back into purpose – something wakes up.
And when that spark wakes up?
Strengths emerge.
2. Tell Stories. Listen to Stories. Celebrate the Good.
Stories are the lifeblood of community.
Not just stories of problems – but stories of:
🌟 resilience
🌟 small wins
🌟 neighbourliness
🌟 creativity
🌟 everyday leadership
🌟 kindness
Listening to – and sharing – strength-based stories shifts the lens from “what’s wrong” to “what’s strong.”
This doesn’t deny hardship.
It simply refuses to make hardship the whole story.
Stories help people remember:
“We already have value.
We already have gifts.
We already have agency.”
And that reminder is powerful.
3. Slow Down Enough to Notice People’s Gifts – and the Cracks Where New Life Can Grow
When we stop ‘delivering’ and start being with, we begin to see:
👐 natural talents
🎁 quiet strengths
🔗 relationships
🌿 local resources
💡 small possibilities
ABCD is deeply relational.
We don’t “install” community power.
We notice it. Honour it. Encourage it.
And we also notice the cracks:
the tiredness
the disconnect
the places where systems overshadow people
Because cracks are where new growth begins.
4. Resist the Urge to Fix
This one is huge.
We are trained to solve. To design solutions. To deliver outcomes. To fix.
But when we rush in with answers – even good ones – we can unintentionally send a message:
“The expertise is with us. Not with you.”
Instead, try:
🫶 holding space
🫶 being curious
🫶 inviting reflection
🫶 supporting community-led action
Warm people up to their own:
🌻 power
🌻 networks
🌻 creativity
🌻 leadership
🌻 voice
Sometimes what moves us forward is a pull – a dream, an aspiration, a longing.
Other times it’s a push – a crisis, a frustration, something we can no longer tolerate.
Both are valid.
Both hold energy.
Both point to what matters.
Our job is not to control the outcome.
It’s to support the emergence.
5. Reframe the Narrative – Gently, Compassionately
People (and organisations) are used to talking in deficits:
❌ problems
❌ risk
❌ what’s missing
❌ who’s failing
❌ what isn’t working
We don’t shame that. We don’t resist it.
We acknowledge it – because pain is real.
And then we add something more:
✨ gifts
✨ strengths
✨ resources
✨ successes
✨ possibilities
Sometimes the most healing thing we can say is:
“It sounds like you really care.
Thank you for caring this much.”
Naming care brings dignity back into the room.
From that place, people breathe again.
And when people breathe – vision emerges.
So… How Do You Turn Any Project into ABCD?
You don’t turn it.
You lean toward…
🌱 relationship over process
🌱 listening over control
🌱 gifts over deficits
🌱 emergence over delivery
🌱 power-with over power-over
And you keep asking:
🧭 “How can community voice, leadership, and strengths come forward here – naturally?”
When we do that, even highly structured projects soften – and become places where humanity, creativity, and community power can re-enter the story.
And that changes everything.
I’d Love to Hear Your Stories
If this resonated with you, I’d love to hear your experiences.
Have you ever watched a project that quietly become ABCD work without forcing it? What helped that happen?
And if you’re curious about weaving ABCD more deeply into your projects, programs, or organisational strategy – through training, facilitation, or collaborative design – feel free to reach out. This is the work I love 🌱
Soulgen 
Leave a comment