Improving Dialogue in Your WorkplaceWhy it matters

What dialogue?Think about the dialogues taking place in your

organisation at any given time……Strategy & project groupsTeam meetingsBoard meetings1:1 performance management

In person and by ‘phone.

So much of what we ‘do’ is dialogue that improving the PROCESS of dialogue even a tiny % can have big effects

Dialogue is….

• People talking

• People listening

• Preferably in turn!

THAT’S IT

SIMPLE

• Yes

EASY

•No

“People round here don’t listen, they just reload!”

No one says what they really think and feel any more– they just say what they think the people at the top want to hear

– it’s a disaster waiting to happen

We do not merely try to reach agreement, we try to create a context from which many new agreements might come.

And we seek to uncover a base of shared meaning that can greatly help coordinate and align our actions with our values.

William Isaacs - Dialogue

Is this Important?• Yes!• Better, safer & more inclusive workplaces

and…• 85% of available performance gains are

made through the use of effective, positive feedback – good dialogue

• Making dialogue the most powerful management tool by far……

That stays in the box

Making Changes Needs• Commitment from the top

• Improved skills – space to practice

• Behaviour & attitude changes

• Developing a shared vocabulary

• Self awareness & development

• Trust - safe environments

• Genuine intent – win/win

Where do organisations go wrong?• They don’t address the simple

changes – because they aren’t easy• They are lured by the complex and

make it even harder– Pseudo science that claims to solve problems at

a stroke– Systems

• more communication not better

• forms and procedures

– Technology

This is as though……….

• At home you realise you have no water

• You call a plumber

• He looks around for a while then recommends…….

• A new bathroom!

He’s the expert so….

• In goes the bathroom

• Still no water!

• How about gold plated taps

• How about a whole extra bathroom and new pipes throughout

Wait a minute – what about a Jacuzzi?

The plumber

• Fairly soon you would begin to doubt his expertise.

At any one time….

• 60% of companies are changing their performance management system

• That is – putting in yet another bathroom, gold plated taps and a Jacuzzi

• And yet………

It doesn’t seem to make a

difference

Dialogue doesn’t flow!

So What Does Make a Difference

• Keep systems simple – minimal• Get people talking don’t scare them off• Help them to listen better• Help them to build trust and gain respect• Help them to say what they mean and

mean what they say.• Personal development and growth – not

training!

Get dialogue flowing – start growing

Profits, productivity & sustainable, positive change

Simple

not

Easy

Cut through the babble

• Remove complexity – don’t add to it

• Pay attention to basic processes

• Use what you have and what you know better

• Talk, listen and THINK together as an organisation, with your customers and with your stakeholders.

Thank You…for listening

• Summerhouses: dialogues at work

• 0161 748 8845

• postmaster@summer-houses.eu

• www.summer-houses.org.uk

Music: Kevin MacLeod

Now talk to us!