“I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again,” writes Margaret Wheatley in her book, Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations To Restore Hope To The Future (Berrett-Koehler, 2009). “Simple, honest, human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem-solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well.” Clearly, listening is one of the oldest and perhaps the most important tools for creating a shared understanding and a resilient mindset at the individual and group level.
The purpose of strategic dialogue is to share, define, and create clarity about strategic context, direction, and how to move in the proposed direction. It is a small group, safety zone built on a foundation of mutual respect. It is a time to slow down, listen, think, share, and reflect.
A strategic dialogue may be messy at times, but we need to remember that dialogue is the pathway to clarity and new insights. As Margaret Wheatley reminds us, “This messy stage doesn’t last forever, although it can feel like that. But if we suppress the messiness at the beginning, it will find us later on, and then it will be disruptive. Meaningful conversations depend on our willingness to forget neat thoughts, clear categories, narrow roles. Messiness has its place. We need it anytime we want better thinking or richer relationships.”
Furthermore, those who create time for strategic dialogue recognize two things. First, a company is nothing more than the sum of the relationships we have with each other and with those it serves. If this network is healthy, then their actions are healthy. In-depth listening and sharing is the foundation for it being healthy.
Second, it recognizes a key point that Wheatley shared: “People are the solution to the problems that confront us. Technology is not the solution, although it can help. We are the solution - we as generous, open-hearted people who want to use our creativity and caring on behalf of other human beings and all life.”
In the beginning, the best strategic dialogues start with a question. Here, are a few to consider: Where are we now? How did we get here from there? How will we get there from here?
If your group is experienced in holding strategic dialogues, then I would dive into a more complex set of questions. Jon Katzenbach, Ilona Steffen and Caroline Kronley in their article,“Cultural Change That Sticks” from the July-August 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review, offer the following two deeply thought-provoking questions: “If we had the kind of culture we aspire to, in pursuit of the strategy we have chosen, what kinds of new behaviors would be common? And what ingrained behaviors would be gone?” This line of exploration will yield new insights and perspective that help all understand the strategic intent of the company and the cultural priorities that it is focusing on at this time period.
Once we have figured out the right question or questions, we need to remember that a successful strategic dialogue is built on active listening more than active telling. As Stephen Covey wrote years ago, “Real listening shows respect. It creates trust. As we listen, we not only gain understanding; we also create the environment to be understood. And when both people understand, both perspectives, instead of being on opposite sides of the table looking across at each other, we find ourselves on the same side looking at solutions together.”
Given the events of the last three years, we need to create more space for dialogue. We also need to reclaim time to be together and to share together. “In times of stress,” wrote Mr. Rogers, “the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” The choice to engage in strategic dialogue requires leaders and all involved to have courage, faith, and time. And to remember what Ken Blanchard wrote many years ago: “We all have pieces.... The world and its problems are too complicated to go it alone. Together is better.”
No comments:
Post a Comment