have more time and energy to spend on the project.
Tool: Dialogue and Discussion
(dialogue and conversation, Bohm, D.)
- Permit generative solution development
- Are useful tools to bring one’s mental models and theories in use to light
- Their power lies in their synergy – the
dynamic use of both
- Examples of Ground Rules
- Comment on or criticize ideas, not team members.
- Don’t offer conclusory comments in sharing your ideas or in commenting on others (e.g., don’t like it); be constructive (get into why).
- Attend all meetings and be on time.
- Show respect for the contributions of other members and be an active listener.
- Pay attention - avoid disruptive behavior
(e.g., sidebar conversations; pairing). - Only one person speaks at a time.
- Everyone participates -- no one dominates (may need to “talk around the table”).
- Be succinct, avoid long anecdotes and examples.
- Leave your rank and perception of others' ranks outside the room.
- Attend to your personal comfort needs at any time with a minimum of disruption.
Dialogue |
Discussion |
| Diverging - don't seek agreement but richer grasp of complex issues; to generate options through brainstorming (coming up with variants on options, improving on views offered by individual team members) - team members not co-located; interruptions; disparity in availability, conflicting commitments. | Converging – used to narrow and choose among the possible options by a dispassionate analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the options and of the impact (intended and unintended) of each. |
| Do this first, to brainstorm possibilities. | Do this last, to narrow choices to a shared solution. |
| Requires team members to suspend their assumptions and regard each other as equals to permit all possible options to be put of the table. | Requires team members to permit each option to be discussed dispassionately, to discuss the undiscussable and to either suspend or admit individual biases about alternatives. |
| Tools | Glossary | Resources |
