Topic 主題：Peace in the Quality of our Conversations對話品質中的和諧

Number 編號：Sat A5

Convenor 召集人：Linda E. Laddin

Participants (including Bumble Bees) 參與人員：David Chard, Gail West

Insights 討論內容：

Managers’ inability/unwillingness to address people relationally and humanely in organizations.

Managers have fear of coping honestly and relationally with staff.  Business issues are OK, but they don’t have the range of skills to deal with staff about problems.

The manager is part of the picture/problem.  Staff are limited by the manager’s limitation.

The culture we work in is the culture of our manager.

What’s sustained in an organization is the result of someone’s fear or addiction.  They’re more comfortable with the fear than with the unknown.

Play-Do exercise: create how you’re feeling about the company using Play-Do (like modelling clay).

Drawing pictures is another way to find out how people feel about the organization: things come out in art that people find it hard to say.  Also in body work: where do they feel it in their body? People can get into their body and see where the problems are reflected.

What is the fear coming from (fear of asking employees for what we expect or what we want)?  All if we know is our own experience, so have people connect wit something in their own experience.

The person with the most authority could influence the organization if they know their own demons and where they’re coming from.

It helps to get things out on the table and discuss them.

Conversation as part of ontological coaching (Fernando Flores)  We use language the way computers do: just pointing as things to represent other things, in a conversational loop.

An ontological coach observes conversations and provides feedback.  Or conversations create or limit possibilities.

Conversational designers listen for possibilities expressed in speech acts.  Speech acts include:

            Declarations

            Assessments

            Assertions

            Questions

            Requests

            Offers

            Promises

Is what is said a shared belief of not?  If not, it won’t happen.

In our speaking, we act when we speak.  What we say could be grounded or not grounded.

We often speak irresponsibly and would benefit from being more aware of how speech acts change our view of what’s possible in the world.

Leaders: declare possibility, examine obstacles, and look at actions that are possible

The integrity with which people speak is critical.

Leaders can bring people together and ask for help and support.

From a Chinese OD expert:

            Tell the Japanese exactly what they must do.

            Tell the Chinese exactly what they must not do.

In Taiwan: “Appropriate: conversation is OK but people can’t communicate easily outside that box

Quality of conversation in organizations is often very poor.

Tension and emotional effects of conversations take a toll.

It’s a human condition that we speak irresponsibly and create the world with our language.  We set up conflict without being aware of it.

The Work, a book about dealing with assumptions and language.