The Merriam-Webster1
dictionary defines conversation as "an informal talk involving two people
or a small group of people" and "an oral exchange of sentiments,
observations, opinions, or ideas." The word "meaningful"
as defined by Merriam-Webster 1 dictionary is "having real
importance or value." From a team perspective then, meaningful
conversations would mean "an exchange of sentiments, ideas, observations,
or opinions that have importance or value." Note that I have deliberately
left out the word "oral" and you'll see why later in on. Since we are
focusing on fostering meaningful conversations in teams from a learning
perspective, it becomes inevitable to discuss team learning.
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According to Peter Senge, Team Learning2 is one of the five disciplines for building a Learning
Organization and involves using the skills of reflection, inquiry, and dialog
for group problem solving and learning. Senge stresses on an organization's and
group's ability to reflect collectively. However, just reflecting is not
enough, there has to be collective dialog, what he refers to as reflective
conversations. He even goes on to distinguish between discussion and dialog.
Discussion is suggestive of a back and forth of ideas, where "the subject
of common interest may be analyzed an dissected from many points of view
provided by those who take part." However, in a discussion there is a
sustained emphasis on winning, where one person's views are partially or
completely accepted by the group. While discussion is valuable to a team to
gain varied perspectives, it does not serve the purpose of team learning as
well as dialog, which is "a free flow of meaning between people," and
allows for a larger pool of common meaning, which cannot be accessed
individually." The various uses of dialog as noted by Senge are:
- Gain insights that would not have been achieved individually
- Access a larger pool of common meaning
- Explore complex difficult issues from many points of view
- To make individuals the observers of their own thinking as well as to observe the collective nature of thought
These collective insights and contexts are what make conversations
meaningful for a team.
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Another great tool to foster team conversations is Appreciative Inquiry3, a model for organizational development
and change developed by David Cooperrider, professor at the Weatherhead School
of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Based on the assumption that
"every organization has something that works right," Appreciative
Inquiry focuses on discovering, understanding, and fostering innovations in
social organizational arrangements such as teams and processes. Instead of
negation, criticism and spiraling diagnosis, there is discover, dream, design
and destiny. One can see why Appreciative Inquiry can help foster meaningful
conversations in teams.
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| Image 3 |
Besides the above, of course mutual trust, respect, a positive environment and
belief in individual and team potential will form the basis of meaningful
conversations in teams.
References:
Images credits:
Image 1: http://gregorme.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/shutterstock_193983560.jpImage 2: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/cmabrigopaarlnbwforum-131211230642-phpapp02/95/libraries-as-learning-organizations-25-638.jpg?cb=1386803368
Image 3: http://www.hr.ubc.ca/learning-development/files/AIdoc.gif
