> Does anybody have
> any great ideas or proven activities to promote dialogues? thanks looking
> forward to hearing from you :) jo
Well, it may not be a great idea, but how about this:
Ask assembled group members to each write the answers to four questions;
1. What is today's date.
2. Name one day of the week.
3. In five or less words, name something that is important to you.
4. In ten or less words, name the biggest problem in this organization.
These are, in ascending order, questions that prompt varying amounts of
conflict and defensiveness. However, 1,2,and 3 are all relatively easy
questions to resolve through simple discussion. Question 4 can normally only
be resolved through dialogue because it
1) Provokes defensive behavior
2) Involves divergent thinking
3) Represents information that is not widely accepted or easily verified.
4) Represents information that is systemic in nature
Ask individuals in the group to tell you what they think other people
answered to questions 1, 2, and 3. Ask other individuals to validate or
refute their subsequent answers. Notice how quickly people can resolve
even widely varying answers to questions 2 and 3. (The other answers of
anyone missing question one may best be ignored.)
Introduce a brief description of the differences between dialogue and
discussion.
Do not attempt to answer question 4 until the mood of the group swings
into a dialogue pattern.
-- Lon Badgett lonbadgett@aol.com "What happens if we have a discussion about dialogue?" Emil GobersnekeLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>