Dialogue for Change - "Three Room Dialogue"
This is a moment for fundamental rethinking in organisations, and communities, about critical questions.
Perhaps more than at any
time in recent years, this is a moment for fundamental rethinking in
organisations about critical questions. These might be strategically oriented,
such as to do with purpose, direction, positioning, partnering, values or how
best to organise. Or, the questions might be more specific – for example: Why
does a major long-term client seem to be pulling away? How can we understand
the implications of a change in government policy? Why is a specific
organisational initiative falling short of expectations?
What’s called for with such questions is dialogue,
conversation – whether virtual or face to face – involving
key stakeholders and exploring the questions in depth to build shared
understandings as a basis for further action.
Thinking Together
Dialogue implies people – whether
an intact executive team or a larger group – thinking carefully together, grounding
the conversation in evidence and data, exploring the perspectives of relevant
others (including those at the margins, or who might otherwise be overlooked), sharing
what matters deeply, and framing syntheses as a foundation for further action.
I work with you to design and develop a process that’s sensitive to your needs and context - thinking about your objectives, desired outcomes, who you wish to involve, and any parameters you need to work within. Importantly, the dialogue is designed to move things along, to get past the common tendency for conversations to go round and round as people reassert their positions, and to establish a solid basis for taking things forward.
A Light Supportive Structure
Over the years I’ve found that applying a light structure to support dialogue has benefits both in terms of outcomes and participant experience. A structure I’ve found consistently works well utilises what I term “three rooms”. The three rooms reflect the three OBREAU practices: Working from Observation, Attributing Reasonableness, and Speaking with Authenticity.
Just as the rooms of a house imply different intentions,
activities – with the kitchen, for instance, associated with food preparation;
the living room with entertaining and relaxing – the three metaphorical dialogue
rooms also imply different orientations:
ROOM 1
"Grounding the Dialogue" – identifying and exploring relevant
data, evidence and other observables.
ROOM 2
"Shifting perspectives" – imagining
the standpoints of stakeholders, including those not in the conversation,
allowing they can be reasonable at this time.
ROOM 3
The process I call Three Room Dialogue can be applied with virtually any contentious issue (i.e. where there are no single pathways to resolution or advancement, there are different perspectives and there is associated emotional intensity).
Outline for a Dialogue
The specifics will vary, of course, according to client
needs – including with the duration of the dialogue; the format, whether virtual (using, say, Zoom) or face-to-face; and the number of sessions.
Session length can be anywhere from two hours to five hours or more. One option is to have a series of shorter meetings, perhaps of 60-90 minutes each.
A dialogue is designed to build shared understandings, and it can be beneficial to schedule a separate session afterwards, for more detailed action planning based on the key themes and insights identified in the dialogue.
(While a dialogue might seem to require a significant time investment, a prospect is for much greater downstream time savings associated with people working from more commonly held understandings.)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome, objectives, outline of
the process, introductory remarks from a sponsor.
ROOM 1
Grounding the Dialogue – identifying and exploring relevant
data, evidence and other observables.
ROOM 2
Shifting perspectives – imagining
the standpoints of stakeholders, including those not in the conversation,
allowing they can be reasonable at this time.
ROOM 3
SYNTHESIS AND REVIEW
Distillation
of main insights from the session
Initial framing
of possible experiments / follow-up action
Reflections on
the process
Next steps.
Benefits of Three Room Dialogue
- Focusing on the evidence/data first, and then on likely perspectives of others, helps participants to move past their own opinions and positions, to recognise and question their assumptions
- The light structure helps build confidence in the process and a sense that this is “going somewhere”; it’s not just talking for talk’s sake
- Trust, openness and psychological safety are supported by the requirements to begin with evidence and to explore other viewpoints
- The progressive unfolding of an issue, made possible
by the three rooms process, allows for the subtleties and complexities of the
topic to be revealed and explored
- Reflecting the perceived quality of the process, a high level of commitment by participants to the outcomes can be expected.
To find out more about the possible application of Three
Room Dialogue in your organisation or group, without obligation, contact me,
Don Dunoon.