2. DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS
Theory of Developmental Levels (Herb Shepard 1965)
Primary Mentality
A zero-sum game between individual and group
If an individual co-operates, the group gains
But the individual loses out
Secondary Mentality
The co-operative group gains more viewpoints
And strengthens each person’s individuality
3. CONSENSUS
Facilitated workshops usually aim for
consensus
Consensus is defined as:
General agreement
Absence of sustained opposition
Taking account of all parties’ views
Reconciling any conflicting arguments
www.bsigroup.com/en/Standards-and-Publications/About-standards/Glossary/
Attempts to gain consensus can degenerate
into forcing people to say that they agree
4. DIALOGUE IS MORE AMBITIOUS
Negotiation aims to arrive at an agreement
between parties that differ
Collaboration aims to share decision-making
Consensus aims to reconcile conflicting views
Dialogue aims to find a new understanding,
leading to new ways to think and act
that, in turn, lead to other new ideas
5. WHAT IS DIALOGUE?
DIA = through
LOGOS = word / meaning / gather together > relationship
DIALOGUE = flow of meaning through relationships
TQM seeks to solve the problem of errors,
not by correcting errors after they occur, but
by changing processes so errors don’t occur in first place
Dialogue seeks to solve the problem of fragmentation
not by rearranging the components of conversation, but
by uncovering and changing the underlying structures
that cause fragmentation in the first place
6. EARLY (first?) USE OF DIALOGUE
To improve conversations among physicists
David Bohm (1965) advocated:
Groups of 20–40 people meet in a circle
(enough people to avoid any family dynamic)
For several hours each day, over several days
No agenda
Try to suspend preconceptions and prejudices
Look at process, at how thoughts have moved
7. EARLY (first?) USE OF DIALOGUE
David Bohm describes Dialogue as:
1st person speaks
2nd person hears similar meaning (not the same)
As 2nd person replies, 1st person sees a difference
between what he meant to say and what 2nd person heard
This difference suggests something new
As dialogue continues, new content emerges
So they are creating something in common, new
8. BOHM’S PHILOSOPHY
Bohm on Physics
Reality involves unbroken wholeness in flowing movement
Bohm on Dialogue
Thought is a collective enterprise arising from how we discourse
Conditions for effective dialogue
All participants must "suspend" their assumptions,
literally, to hold them "as if suspended before us";
All participants must regard one another as colleagues;
There must be a facilitator who holds the context of dialogue
9. MEETINGS ARE LONELY PLACES
Most of the time, we think alone:
We defend our position
We look for evidence to prove that
we are right and others are wrong
We avoid being vulnerable to other opinions
We withhold information
We feel hurt or betrayed
We lose respect for the other side
10. HISTORY
Cultures that used dialogue survived for a long time:
e.g. Native Americans, Ancient Greeks, Maoris
So, is dialogue something we already know?
or is it something we have forgotten?
11. CLAIMS for DIALOGUE
When F W de Klerk visited Nelson Mandela in prison,
they devised a new context for South Africa
John Hume & Jerry Adams talked privately
about how to stop violence in N. Ireland
In both cases, dogmatists went to great lengths to prevent these conversations. .
Isobel thinks the magic here was that the conversations were out of the public eye.
A new “mind” emerges, if:
Participants believe that maintaining good feelings
within the group is more important than holding to
their fixed position
12. HARGROVE
A dialogue is a conversation where:
There is a free flow of meaning … and
Diverse views & perspectives are encouraged
People desire to learn from different colleagues
Collaboration is based on inspiring visions
It is deeply purposeful,
focused on practical accomplishments
that are carried out in conversations