Dialogue – Now You’re Talking! Communicating in a Diverse World

Telly Award
Training Media Review: Best Training Video of 2004

How should we communicate in a world where differences in perspective, experience, job function, culture, gender, age, and a myriad of other factors often lead to distrust, misunderstanding and reduced productivity? We can all benefit from learning the tools of dialogue – how to communicate across differences in a way that is both respectful and effective.

The series examines how we can surface the often unspoken assumptions, in ourselves and in others, that can stand in the way of effective organizational communication. In so doing we build mutual trust and respect.

Communicating in a Diverse World (25 minutes). Overview. What is dialogue – contrasting debate and dialogue. Initiating Dialogue – how to do it, where to do it. The skills of Dialogue – Suspension (of judgment, decision making and status); Listening (with empathy, for understanding, showing you care); Discovery (uncovering and sharing hidden assumptions in yourself and others). Includes a dramatization of how Dialogue helps us communicate across job functions, helping improve relations between people at different levels within the organization as well as between different departments or areas of expertise.