| Dialogue:
The Fundamentals of Communication focuses on making communication
between people a process to explore meaning, develop understanding,
and make informed decisions through:
Differentiating
between response and reaction. Often interactions between people
sound like ping-pong matches—one person serves, the other
parries, and both try to outshoot the other. When that happens during
communication, decisions and interpersonal relations suffer. We
construct avenues that enable participants to make communication
a conscious engagement process.
Balancing
inquiry and advocacy. It is not uncommon in interactions for
people to spend the entire time advocating points-of-view without
ever bothering to learn what others care or think about. At best,
such one-sided talk results in capitulation, but rarely in buy-in.
Thus, resentment, disaffection, burnout, and rebellion occur. We
teach the skill of inquiry to expand the types and quality of patterns
of communication.
Testing assumptions
that might limit ideas. On the plus side, learned assumptions
keep us from getting run over by oncoming traffic and other such
perils. They also keep us from expanding the way we think about
a problem. We might say, “Oh yes, I know this problem, and
here’s the answer” without considering how we came to
the conclusions, let alone if the “answer” is the best
one available. We provide tools that demonstrate how to see, question
and test assumptions.
Practice,
and practice some more. Changing patterns of communication is
a commitment. It is one thing to say, ”I must advocate less
and inquire more;” it is another to do it. Using work situations,
participants try on different skills and patterns of communication
to gradually build comfort and competency.
The
objectives for Dialogue: The
Fundamentals of Communication are:
- Change the
focus of communication from “Me” to “We.”
- Increase
the surface on which ideas are thrust.
- Increase
the likelihood that communication will produce buy-in.
- Improve
the quality of decisions.
- Provide
a toolbox of communication devices.
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