In reading Tobin's reflections on the nature of this dialogue
compared to face-to-face, I became aware of the reflection time - and
that we can build that into face-to-face a practice quite simply.
All it takes is deciding and doing. The help of a talking stick or
some rule or even just modelling the behaviour will go a long way.
What else struck me is that we can *not* respond to anything. I
think this is crucial. In fact, there is so much going on that I
have to refrain from responding to many things even though they pull
me. (I know that my restraint may not be visible.)
There is a great freedom in being able to sample, to listen (deeply
or shallowly) and to respond or not. This calls forth a quality
within me that make the responses - and the lack of responses - more
significant in my own development as well as, I think, in the ones
which do make it to the list.
I will be pursuing this idea in my work on "design for organisational
intelligence". Thanks.
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk