From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 8/24/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #236] Skillful Discussion
"Most teams need new tools and skills to both broaden and focus the scale and scope of their conversatons – to make them both more divergent and more convergent – when appropriate.
The most effective vehicle I know is the form of conversation which I call 'skillful discussion.' You can think of it as a midpoint on the continuum between dialogue and 'raw,' advocacy-filled discussions."
-- Rick Ross, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
Rick proposes a continuum of group discussion styles as follows:
Raw Debate - Polite Discussion - Skillful Discussion - Dialogue
<- focus on advocacy ---------- focus on group understanding ->
In group context, "dialogue" implies conversation that is oriented towards exploration and disclosure, not advocacy nor closure. In skillful discussion the group draws back from full dialogue, where the intention is exploration and understanding, to a position where the intention is to reach agreement.
Rick suggests five protocols to follow in skillful discussion:
1. Pay attention to your intention. (Remember, the object is not to win; it's to reach an agreement or group convergence.)
2. Balance advocacy with inquiry. (Don't just argue for your position; understand the other's position.)
3. Build shared meaning. (Words are slippery; make certain you understand what others are really saying.)
4. Use self-awareness as a resource. (When you feel troubled stop, breathe, and ask: What am I thinking? What am I feeling? What do I want right now?)
5. Explore impasses. (What do we agree on and what do we disagree on?)
Experiment: Explore the use of a skillful discussion (as you understand it) with your partner in an issue that has been bothering both of you.
Affirmation: Our practice of partner dialogue places us in a position to lead skillful discussion in other groups.
The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
