The Lost Art of Organizational Dialogue

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The Lost Art of Organizational Dialogue
North Carolina Conference for Excellence October
25, 2007 Wanda Craig
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Objectives

• After this presentation, you should be
• able to answer these questions
• What is dialogue?
• Why should I care about it?
• What does it have to do with excellence?
• How do I use it?

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What is dialogue?
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Dialogue

• dia (through) logos (word)

the flow of meaning
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Dialogue is shared inquirya way of thinking and
reflecting together
Dialogue, William Isaacs
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Stories Impede Dialogue
Crucial Confrontations, Patterson, et al
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Discussion Dialogue

• Breaking issues into parts
• Seeing distinctions between the parts
• Justifying assumptions
• Trying to come to a convergent point
• Creating one meaning

• Seeing the whole among the parts
• Seeking connections between the parts
• Inquiring into assumptions
• Learning through inquiry and disclosure
• Creating shared meaning

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Key Qualities of Dialogue

• Release our stories
• Respect different viewpoints
• Inquire into underlying assumptions
• Slow the pacesilence between speakers
• Listen deeply to self, others, and for collective
  meaning
• Speak authentically

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Model for Dialogue
Self-Reflective
Inquiry reflective dialogue
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Flow generative dialogue
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Breakdown controlled discussion or skillful
conversation
Politeness shared monologues
BlamingNot Reflective
Dialogue, William Isaacs
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Dialogue Quality
Conversation for action
Discovery
Shared meaning
Skilled conversations debate
Breakdown of politeness
Closure
Excellence
Synergy
Productivity
Community
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Creating the Environmentfor Dialogue

• Make a safe haven
• Set ground rules and an agenda
• Encourage new perspectives
• Allow disagreement
• Embrace unanswered questions

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Dialogue Questions for Self

• What do I want from this conversation?
• What am I thinking/feeling?
• Am I willing to be influenced?

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Dialogue Questions for Group

• When we say_____, what do we really mean?
• What led you to that view?
• What do we agree on?
• What do we disagree on?
• Where can we go from here, together?

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Dialogue Practice

• Each table will have dialogue around an assigned
  topic
• Engage in dialogue for 10 minutes
• Debrief the dialogue session what worked, what
  could be improved?
• Share learnings with the big group

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Dialogue is one of the richest activities that
human beings can engage in.
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. and there is this magical thing in an
organization, or in a team, or a group, where you
get unrestricted interaction, unrestricted
dialogue, and this synergy happening
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.that results in more productivity, and
satisfaction, and seemingly magical levels of
output from a teamEvered Tannenbaum, 1992
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Thank you

• For questions, please contact Wanda Craig
• www.wbcraig.com
• [phone]