1 keeping conversations strategic

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Keeping Conversationsstrategic

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Why

conversation?

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Knowledge summit:

June 9-11, 2006Ontario, CanadaKnowledge

managementConversation!

Wow!

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Conversation are central to KM:• how to deal with knowledge workers

command-and-control doesn’t work

• key to the phenomenon of sharing knowledge

Simple transfer doesn’t work

important to avoid knowledge distortion especially in vertical conversations.

• central to the challenge of enhancing demand for knowledge.

People have to want to share knowledge

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Conversations are key to managing the knowledge worker:

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Organizations concern conversations

1. the conversation with their customers

2. the conversation that occurs between those who actually work there.

3. The conversation concerning the unknown future of the industry and its products.

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It is difficult to make any of these conversations real if the people who come in through the door every day have no real conversation with their own individuality.

David Whyte

Organizations concern conversations

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Conversation gets us to a deeper levelWe can draw to the surface undiscussable dangerous issues

Most business activities deal with the routine, superficial activities of the human animal

we wake up we eat we drink we go to work we get our job done We come homewe sleep, perchance to dream We get ready for the next day

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Conversation gets us to a deeper level

The business world is often in denial about the realm of deeper feelings—

of the joy and exhilaration of being aliveof the desire for loving and being lovedof realizing that we may not realize our ambitionsof balancing our own goals with those of othersof coping with a looming sense of our own

mortality.

Conversation can reach this deeper place

Unless we deal with those issues, work becomes inauthentic

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Conversation can make us more creative

we can lead people into a space where they are truly thinking together

that in turn leads to dramatic new levels of alignment and capability.

Because real conversations are authentic, it leads to genuine enthusiasm.Sandy Heierbacher

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberationwww.thataway.org

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•There is no lever for Organizations to pull to activate people’s creativity.

•it is just as difficult for any individual to find their own creative powers as it is for an organization.

•both the organization and the individual are equally afraid of the creativity.

•This meeting place of creative anticipation and fearful arrival is the elemental core of the new conversation in the workplace.

David Whyte: Crossing the Unknown sea

Conversation helps individuals and organizations

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Conversation skill is rare Management in the US is pervasively hierarchical

Not getting any better

A number of participants are working on it, writing about it or preparing books about it:

Larry Prusak: Five conversations on knowledge

Nancy Dixon: Peer to peer conversations at Company Command

Steve Denning: book reviews at www.OpEdNews.com

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Whatis a

conversation?

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Tell a 60 second story about:Either

• A time when you found yourself in a good conversation

or• A time when you found

yourself in a bad conversation

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Broad sense:

“A communication between 2 or more people”

Specific sense:

“Conversation is shared exploration towards greater understanding, connection, or possibility”

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Key point:

A conversation

is an exchange of

stories

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Who is in the conversation?

With a group

One on one

Yourself

Or with an object

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What is a “strategic

conversation”

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Robert Hargrove Collaborative conversation:Collaborative conversations are

those in which people in groups seek to realize their noblest aspirations with others from divergent views and backgrounds.

It is a purposeful conversation

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Different levels of conversation

1.Agreeing on the purpose of working together

2.Participants share their authentic goals, thoughts, feelings

3. Group learns to think and act together to solve problems

4. Group bonds and makes firm commitments to act together

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David Bohm: dialogue

Suspend assumptions and keep an open mind.

dialogue suggests a "stream of meaning“

flowing among, through and between us,

so that new understanding emerges.

It is by definition open ended

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David Bohm: dialogue

Dialogue is a process of genuine interaction through which human beings listen to each other deeply enough to be changed by what they learn.

Each makes a serious effort to take others' concerns into her or his own picture, even when disagreement persists.

No participant gives up her or his identity, but each recognizes enough of the other's valid human claims that he or she will act differently toward the other.

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William Isaacs dialogue

Isaacs' working definition of dialogue

a discipline of collective thinking and inquiry, a process for transforming the quality of conversation, and in particular the thinking that lies beneath it.

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William Isaacs: dialogueInstability of the container the initial phase when participants have concerns for safety and trust which they must move through,

Instability in the container, members struggle with polarization and conflict due to the clash of personally held beliefs and assumptions.

Inquiry in the containerpeople inquiring into polarization and fragmentation often with collective pain

Creativity in the containernew understandings based on collective perceptions emerge and people engage in more generative thinking together.

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What are the characteristics

of a (strategic)

conversation?

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Conversation is inquiry: the intention is to inquire,

not to advocate; To discover,

not to convince."

Tom AtleeThe Co-Intelligence Institutewww.co-intelligence.org

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Conversation is about values“Conversation is about what we value and how we define it.

It is about looking beyond the superficial and automatic answers to our questions.

It is about exploring the frontiers of what it means to be human, in relationship to each other and our world." Louise Diamond, Ph.D.

The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacywww.imtd.org

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What conversatio

nIsn’t…

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Conversation is not argument

Conversation is collaborative … Argument is adversarial…

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Conversation is not debatingConversation is not discussing with a view to convince the other, arguing for our point of view, examining pro's and con's.

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Ten steps towards

managing a strategic

conversation

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1. Prepare carefully

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A. Understand your strategy

Preparing to the conversation: A. The story of the change

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What is your strategy? where are you heading?

And what is going to change?

your organization your community your family your town your country your planet


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Unexpected finding: Big problem in strategy:

Leaders often don’t make up their mind exactly which direction.


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An 18 hour workshop

just on this may not

be enough!

This is not a trivial undertaking!

Preparing to lead: 1 The story of the changePreparing to the conversation: A. The story of the change

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Getting clear on the change idea…

David Whyte

“A firm persuasion is a kind of self-knowledge… It must be discovered, cultivated, worked at, earned.”D. Whyte:

Crossing the Unknown Sea


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Getting clear on the change idea… Before clarity

Goal seems small, mediocre & boring

It could have an impact

Beating around the bush

Saying things you don’t mean

Reasons why goal may not be achieved

Goal is nice but… not necessary

This will never happen here

After clarityGoal seems Larger, bolder & more exciting

Will make a big difference

focus on the real issues

Saying what you really mean

Reasons why goal must be achieved

Feel strongly the goal is Vital for the future

This must happen here!


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Getting clear on the strategy…

Before clarity

Blurred Sharp focus

After clarity


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“I don’t pay you to tell me it’s 50-

50!”


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Before clarity

Cerebraltacticalprovisional

After clarity

+

Whole person mind and heartYou are committed!


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Drilling down to the core message

Focus on one particular change.

It will have three parts.

(a) what’s wrong now

(b) what would it look like if the problem could be fixed?

(c) how would we get from here to there?

Exercise in strategy


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B. Understanding

the story of the other person

Preparing to the conversation: B. The other person’s story

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If people agree, there is no

conversation!


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What’s this

about? Not for me,

pal!I don’t get it!

Who are You?

We often underestimate the difficulty of strategic change

• 1996: Jim Wolfensohn at the World Bank from lending to “the Knowledge Bank”

•2001: Jeff Immelt at GE from process-driven to “imagination at work”

1993: Lou Gerstner comes to IBM: from hardware to services


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Understanding who you are communicating to

Tell the story of a person who doesn’t want to change as persuasively and coherently as you can.

What are his values?

The story will end:

“That’s why this person does not want to change.”

Exercise


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Understanding who you are communicating to

Followup exercise:•Then tell the same story in the second person. It ends, “And that’s why you don’t want to change.”

•Then tell the same story in the first person. It ends, “And that’s why I don’t want to change.”

get inside the mind of the person

who doesn’t want to change!


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Keep both stories in mind


The story of your strategy:where are you heading?

The story of the person who doesn’t

want it

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2. Create the container for the conversation

A. Physical space

- a place where you can hear and be heard

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b. Create the trust needed for the conversation

- get people to share their story

- make it safe: establish ground rules

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3. Establish the level of equality

- Leave hierarchy at the door

- treat each other as equals

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4. Ensure Facilitation

- Some say a facilitator is necessary e.g. bohm

- A participant can act as facilitator

- Ideally, all participants should act as facilitators

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when there is abstract assertion, the conversation is in imminent risk of dying:

A. X is so...B. No, it isn't. Y is so...A. No, it's X!...B. No, it's Y! (You #$%@!)

5. Avoid Abstract arguments

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A. I recall a story about X...B. Funny you should say that, but I had a

similar experience in which there was also Y...

C. Another instance of both X and Y was when ...

D. I recall an occasion like this when ...

participants can contribute and add meaning, without "choosing sides". the conversation just rolls on naturally.No risk of being caught in cross-fire. the meaning generated by the dialogue is steadily enriched.

5. Instead exchange stories

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6. start with the purpose of the conversation

What is the issue under discussion?

What is the current impact?

What will happen if things continue?

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Gather divergent views and perspectives.

Hear everyone’s story

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7. Weave a common story from the divergent stories.

Discuss how the various stories interconnect

The story of your strategy:where are you heading?

The story of the person who doesn’t

want it

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8. Explore positive stories about alternative futures

- imagine an ideal outcome

- what would it look like?

- what would it feel like?

- how would we get from here to there?

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9. Keep it light!

- This is not a prayer meeting!

- a feature of good conversation is light-hearted badinage and raillery

Stephen Miller: Conversation (2006)

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10. Explore: what do we do now?

- the Full implementation plan may be unclear

- What’s the next step?

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Taming the grapevine

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Conversation is not gossip

1: light informal conversation for social occasions

2: a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people;

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Most stories told in today’s firms are negative

Have youheard the latest? Oh my

God!

Stories to disrupt the narrative dynamic

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The effective satire works like a virus to disarm criticism

Example:

Early 1992: George Bush was campaigning against Bill Clinton

Bush was attacking Hillary clinton

Result: end of criticism of hillary!

Clinton Campaign: Bush is not running for president.

He’s campaigning to be first lady!


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1.Satirize the bad news itself

2.Satirize the author of bad news

3.Satirize yourself

4.All of the above


Four ways to tame the grapevine

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What about virtual

conversations?

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Same place

Different timeSame time

Differentplace

Phone Listserv

Virtual conversations

Bandwidth is too narrow!

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How do you reach

thousands of people in a

conversation?

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4 5 6 7

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4 5 6 712 3 89 `

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“Go and look into information”

February 1996

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Why don’t we share

our knowledge?

“Go and look into information”February

1996

We’re a bank,

remember?

Persuasion method Efficacy

How does one person persuade many?

Charts with boxes and arrows

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Chart

Socialization

Externalization

Combination

Internalization

Tacit

Tacit

Tacit

Tacit

Explicit

Explicit

ExplicitExplicit

Nonaka: The Knowledge Creating Organization

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A manager contemplates the knowledge spiral

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Persuasion method

Efficacy

How does one person persuade many?

Charts (boxes, arrows)

Zero

Rational argument

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Knowledge Management caters to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous change.

www.brint.com

What is knowledge management?

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FACTIn June 1995, a health

worker in Kamana, Zambia logged on to the CDC web-site in Atlanta and got the

answer to a question on how to treat malaria

June 1995, not June 2015A small remote town, not the

capital Zambia, not a middle income country CDC, not the World Bank

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We need to invest in the necessary systems, in Washington and worldwide, that will enhance our ability to gather development information and experience, and share it with our clients…

President WolfensohnOctober 1, 1996

Announcement at the Annual Meeting 1996

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Story to spark action

True

Truth Positive

DetailPurpose

OutcomeActionPositi

veMinimalist

Springboard story

Springboard storytelling

Storytelling that can communicate a complex idea and spark action.

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The Little voice in the head

The springboard story

There are two listeners…

The Listenerthat I see

Just think of the emails

building up in my office!

Let me tell you about Zambia

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You tell a story in a way that elicits a second story…

(You give the little voice something to do…)

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Let me tell you

about what happened in

Zambia

What if we

tried thisin roads?

Maybethis could work in

finance?

Could this

help us in Russia?

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Imagine if I had a websitelike that….

Of course, we would need

to get organized

We would needbudgets ….

We would needto get people

involved ….Why don’t we do it?


Everybodyloves their

own creation!

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Story to spark action

True

Truth Positive

DetailPurpose

OutcomeActionPositi

veMinimalist

Springboard story

1.Springboard storytelling

Storytelling that can communicate a complex idea and spark action.

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Who can be a springboard storyteller?

Everyone!

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u

Dogs sniff each other

Human beings

tell stories

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u

Dogs sniff each other

Human beings

tell stories

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www.stevedenning.com• Large amount of material

• News of upcoming events

• Sign up for my newsletter

advance chapters of my forthcoming book:

The Secret Language of Leaderhsip

Finding out more about storytelling

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www.OpEdNews.comTwo articles on conversation

Reviews of

David Whyte: Crossing the unknown sea (2001)

Stephen Miller: Converation (2006)


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The discipline of

business narrative


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Training DVD

55 minute workshop on springboardstorytelling


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How much does

storytelling add up to?

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Persuasion is 28% of GNP

Deirdre McCloskey, American Economic Review (1995) Vol. 85, No.

2.

LawPublic relationsPsychologyMarketingManagement etc

What do these actually people do?

They persuade other people

Around 14% of GNP is storytelling

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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

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www.stevedenning.com/slides/SLA.ppt

These slides are available from:

www.stevedenning.com /slides

/SLA.ppt

Or: send me an emailvia www.stevedenning.com

1 keeping conversations strategic

Documents

strategic conversation

knowledge slide

purposeful conversation

bad conversation slide

new conversation

day slide

conversation skill

good conversation