High performance teams dialogue rather than discuss. Discussing focuses on winning or convincing others
that one viewpoint is more valid than others. When we dialogue and work collectively, we welcome differing
opinions and find new solutions built on common ground.
Improve your team dialogue by following the principles identified by dialogue experts David Bohm,
Donald Factor and Peter Garrett.
- Silence - allowing a space to exist to give others time to think and respond. It also involves listening to our own inner guidance before speaking.
- Suspending Judgment - active awareness of how we filter information and the ability to set biases aside or step beyond it. We must also continually interpret what the other person is saying.
- Focused Listening - listening actively to what is being said and for underlying unspoken messages.
- Shared Meaning - finding common ground and underlying meaning in others' statements.
- Reflection - taking time to reflect back to the speaker and the rest of the group a view of some of the assumptions and unspoken implications of what is being expressed.
- Seeking Understanding - asking key questions that enable us to locate ourselves in the thought of another.
- Clarifying questions - being curious and asking open ended question that take the thought process to a
deeper level.
Research has proven that better communication leads to better business results. If we comprehend and
understand each other well then we work more effectively to the same end.
Catalyst offers two workshops that explore the use of these dialogue principles. The first
Delicious Dialogues covers the first four principles. The second Delicious Dialogues, the Main Course,
addresses the final three, and brings it all together to conduct dialogues between either two people or a group.
Working Procedures
Effective meeting practices are vital to fully engage team members, physically, mentally
and emotionally. Given the number of meetings people attend, there is a huge opportunity cost
to ineffective meetings. Improve your team's meetings by reviewing your working practices:
- Do you have a set meeting format? One option is Roberts Rules of Orders based on
the old military format, effective at moving through a meeting agenda. However, to solicit
a broad range of divergent ideas, a facilitated session format is preferable. Meetings could
entail the use of both formats.
- Do you have an agenda? This is the most important aspect of any meeting and considerable
thought should be given to it. Creating an agenda is more than making a list of topic areas.
It is defining the required information to move forward on any specific topic. The initial
question that the facilitator posses will determine the quality of the dialogue and hence
the quality of the outcome.
- Is someone responsible for keeping up to date minutes of the meetings and who has made
commitments? Do you have a process for following up? What process has been designed for
people to report back on their progress?
- Does your group follow a decision making model that allows people to provide qualified
votes on proceeding with different actions?
A number of good books are available to help you improve in this area. Alternatively, you might
want to engage Catalyst for a few meetings to establish your team's process.
Next issue, I include suggestions for improving your team's score in creativity, diversity,
continuous learning and results.
Building solid foundations,
Jacque Small
Catalyst
Business Coaching is a corporate development organization. It
works with people who want to achieve a greater
sense of success for both themselves and others in
the organization. It supports people to develop
strong interpersonal communication skills and build
foundations to develop dynamic teams. Jacque
Small, principal and owner of Catalyst, founded the
company in 2000.
