Dialogue is about thinking together. It involves balancing advocacy with inquiry and
broadening the focus of conversations. In dialogue, people question the total process of
thought and feeling that produced the issue or conflict. Elements of successful dialogue
include:
✔ inviting or giving people the choice to participate;
✔ generative listening, whereby people quiet their inner voices and listen for deeper
meaning in what others are expressing, saying, or feeling;
✔ self-awareness and ability to understand how you and group members see the world;
✔ a willingness to surface and inquire into the assumptions behind one’s thinking, to
refrain from imposing one’s views on others, and yet not to hold back what one is
thinking.Successful dialogue requires that the leader:
❑ Use an external facilitator, or act as the group facilitator himself or herself. The process
is initially unfamiliar to many and often surfaces challenging emotions and misunder-
standings.
❑ Recognize that you can’t force dialogue, but you can create an environment that pro-
motes collective inquiry.
❑ Allow the process to work without a specific outcome in mind. (Dialogue will fail if it
is rushed or directed toward decision making.)
❑ Maintain a high level of self- and group awareness. (Pay attention to what is happen-
ing within the group and within yourself, by taking time-outs to discuss how the dia-
logue process is going.)
❑ Explore all disagreements, even those that appear to be minor, using them as opportu-
nities for improved understanding within the group.HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL
“...the word ‘dialogue’ comes from the Greek dialogos. Diameans through. Logosmeans the word, or more
broadly, meaning. ...The result is a free exploration that brings to the surface the full depth of people’s experi-
ence and thought, and yet can move beyond their individual views.”
—Peter Senge et al, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK:
STRATEGIES AND TOOLS FOR BUILDING A
LEARNING ORGANIZATIONWhen a challenging issue is raised in a workgroup or team (e.g., a new business strategy), emo-
tions are raised, people can espouse polarized and mutually exclusive positions, and differences
can seem irreconcilable. A leader or group facilitator, skilled in leading groups through dia-
logue, can help them reach a better understanding of each other’s underlying values, assump-
tions, and perspectives. Through facilitated dialogue, entrenched and strongly held underlying
assumptions can be surfaced, allowing the group to move to a new level of understanding, to
develop new options for action, and to achieve a consensus that members might have thought
impossible prior to participating in facilitated dialogue.
Use these charts as a checklist when preparing for a discussion or dialogue within your
workgroup or team.
SECTION 8 TOOLS FORCOMMUNICATION 243