1. Logos Noesis
Transformative Conversations
for Innovative Change
for Innovative Change
The Art of Dialogue:
Collaboration and
Innovation in the
Workplace
Ada Gonzalez, Ph.D

2. - Introductions.
- Listening without interruptions or
commentary.
- Sharing from the heart.
★How do you feel about being here?
★ What concerns do you have?
★One quality or strength you want to bring
to the conversation today to deepen and
increase its value.
★What has happened in the past few days
that inspires you to work in this organization?

3. Turn to the person besides you and share:
What comes to your mind
when you hear the word:
DIALOGUE?

4. about Making Meaning Together.
Requires:
Full Participation
Full Participation
Full Participation
-Dia = through. in the flow (like a
stream) of meaning
-Logos = word, thought, idea.
Meaningful and “alive”
Dialogue is thinking and working together to
make sense of the unknown.

5. “What really matters in our lives is
measured through conversations.”
— Peter Block

6. Relationships and Dialogue
Dialogue develops trust and
understanding between people

7. Dialogue and Relationships
‘ Dialogue is fundamental to
how relationships are
created and nurtured….’
—PH Preparedness Bureau Chief

8. Dialogue is. . .
• the glue that holds organizations
and processes together.
• thinking together in relationship.
• talking with, not talking to others.
• An open-ended, dynamic process.

9. Dialogue vs. Discussion
Discussion
-Starts with talking
-Is about talking to…
-Focuses on differences
-Is adversarial
-Generates conflicts
-Encourages quick
thinking
-Encourages lock in
Dialogue
-Starts with listening-Is
about speaking with...
-Focuses on insights
-Is collaborative
-Generates ideas
-Encourages reflection-
Encourages emergence
-Encourages emergence
-Encourages emergence

10. Essential Components of Dialogue
• Connect (people and ideas)
• Suspend assumptions
• Spirit of Inquiry and Openness
• Listen
• Share freely thoughts and feelings
• Observe
• Slow down
• Discover

11. Dr. Ada adds:
• Strive to understand each other
• Build trust and respect
• Be open minded, curious, and
flexible
• Befriend Polarity
• Respect and encourage silence
to reflect.

12. Understanding
‘…For instance, at meetings involving people from
different disciplines, you will notice that each
discipline uses words in a different way, which can
lead to different understandings of subject
matter….’
Ask Questions!
Find and create meaning together.

13. Activity: Practice art of questions
• One person shares a problem, dilemma or
challenge they are facing now and want to
solve.
• Others listen and respond with questions
ONLY. No advice. No declarative
statements.

14. Activity: Practice listening without defending
• Share a problem or dilemma you are
experiencing right now (different from last)
• Ask for input and suggestions.
• Listen without interrupting
• Respond with: “Thank you for your input”

15. Activity: Practice listening without defending (follow
up)
• Write answers to the following questions:
 What is the most potent step I can take to
begin to resolve this issue?
 What exactly am I committed to do?
 When are you going to do this?

16. World Cafe Guidelines

17. Three Kinds of Trust
• the trust of competence
• the trust of integrity
• the trust of vulnerability

18. Activity
• Share a story of a difficult
situation you resolved
successfully.
• Others LISTEN for strengths and
share findings at end.
• How do you see the strengths
used at work?

19. ‘We’ Thinking
• Understanding each other
• Learning how to listen
• Building shared agreements

20. Social Networks (Relationships)
= the most effective way to
knowledge sharing

21. People tend to learn from other
people more than from books.

22. Ladder of Inference

23. “Homework” - Judgement and
Assumptions.
• On next meeting, NOTICE each time your
judgement or assumptions stop you from
listening to another person.
• Mark it down (keep track)
• Re-focus your attention on the person
• Do this as many times as needed.
• After meeting reflect what were the
assumptions and judgements and write
them down.
• Notice if it diminishes or increases over
time.

24. The Personal
• The personal connects us.
• Share stories.
• Here we create trust.
• This is where dialogue begins.

25. Connect
The power of story
• Always begin by connecting through
personal story.
• Show up and invite others to show up by sharing a
story/memory.
• When we connect at this level, creativity already
begins to happen.
‘If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the
kind of person you are, a pattern that others made may
prevail in the world and following the wrong
god home we may miss our star.’
—Wm. Stafford

26. Activity
• Share a story of a strong memory
from your childhood which
explains in part who you are.
• Others LISTEN for strengths and
share findings at end.
• How do you see the strengths
used at work?

27. Personal Work
• Honing intention
• Cultivating attitudes
• Practicing skills

28. Listen
-Listening is multi-faceted and multi-leveled
-Listening is at the heart of an interactive dialogue
-Listening conveys a sense of appreciation,
acceptance, and understanding

29. Listening Means Creating a Container
• Where different perspectives can be held
together
• Where they can be owned by everyone
A container is made up of safety,
skills, commitment, experience.
In a good container, different
ideas can cross-pollinate and
create new ideas.

30. The Rules of the Container
• Go in sequence
• No cross-talk
• No rehearsing
In the container, every voice can be heard; every
perspective is valid.

31. Conversations with “extra strength”
• When container is strong, conversations are
different. Can go through stages:
 Politeness and Pretending
 Chaos
 Discarding/Redefining
 Resolution/
 Collective Thinking
 Closure

32. Politeness and Pretending
• No one admits anything is wrong
• blame others or
• pretends the problem does not exists or is
unsolvable
• sees the world only from their perspective
• all pretend and are polite until they either
think it is safe to speak or can’t stand
keeping quiet any longer.

33. Pretending= There is NO White
Elephant in the Room

36. There is NOTHING wrong with an
Elephant
»The problem is to IGNORE it!

37. Elephants ARE SPECIAL!

43. Elephants. . . can become angry!

44. The Elephant Syndrome

45. The Elephant Syndrome

46. The Elephant Syndrome

47. The Elephant Syndrome
• The IS guys think you need more hardware,
• Production thinks you need better blueprints,
• Marketing thinks you need better design engineers, and
• Sales just wants those “idiots in production to do their job!”

48. Elephants. . .
• So, how long has the
elephant been here?

49. Elephants. . .
• What should we do about the
elephant?

50. Elephants. . .
• What needs to be done to be able to see
the elephant you are blind to?

51. Elephants. . .
• How do you eat an elephant?

52. Discover
Allowing new life to happen
• Hold the differences.
• Listen for what is emerging out of the
differences as shared understanding.
• Harvest shared agreements/decisions for
action from this shared understanding.

53. Creativity
When differences are held
together like musical notes until
the song emerges

54. An Experiment in Discovery
Simple Steps for Discovering
1. Distill your point using the three container rules.
2. Pause and listen for what is emerging.
3. Give voice to it…however clumsily.
4. Continue to listen for what is
emerging.
 Build together.
Dialogue is working with the
unknown.
What is the essence of collaboration?

55. Healthy Dialogue
Brings together all the
stakeholders for constant,
creative exchange.

56. Dialogue and Collaboration
Dialogue is the glue that holds the
process together.

57. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field of connection. I’ll meet you there.
—Rumi
Dialogue is a collective response to
life