I was recently listening to a great podcast called Practical Wisdom for Leaders, presented by Scott J. Allen. He was in conversation with Theo Dawson, and they were talking about how leaders can develop skills.
Theo has a beautiful definition of skills:
“A skill is essentially something you can practice.”
This resonates deeply with my approach to how teams and their leaders can learn Skillful Collaboration — the vast majority of which comes through practice, combined with the additional process steps of goal setting, reflection, experimentation, and feedback.
Much of the Skillful Collaboration concept is rooted in my practice of Dialogue. A couple of years ago, I completed a learning program to become an Accredited Dialogue Practitioner. This year, I continue to practice and develop my dialogic skills as one of the hosts for our monthly members-only dialogue sessions at the Academy of Professional Dialogue Practitioners.
These sessions are both practice to enhance our skills and practice at sense-making. Each month, I work with my co-hosts to define a topic or question for the session and to align on our roles — welcoming, leading the check-in, facilitating the dialogue, and leading the check-out.
A week after each session, we meet again to debrief and reflect, and one of us writes a short reflection piece to share with the community.
So why am I so interested in practicing Dialogue?
Dialogue comes from the Greek word dialogos — dia meaning “through” and logos meaning “word.”
So we can say that Dialogue means “meaning flowing through words.”
Dialogue is about meaning-making — or sense-making.
Here’s what it’s also about, or the typical flow of a dialogue session:
Thinking aloud. Thinking that is emerging, not speaking old thoughts.
It’s not about being right. It’s about seeking different perspectives.
About shifting. About inviting all voices — but not a series of monologues.
Listening to our internal voice. Having the courage and confidence to speak up.
Telling a story. Breathing moments of silence. Feeling the calm.
Sensing the energy, the wisdom, the connections.
“This resonates.” The change of direction. Experiencing emotions. Reflecting.
Experimenting. Slowing down. Deep listening. Zoning out. Zooming in. Noticing.
Self-inquiry. Self-awareness. Task and relationship. Moves. Voicing.
Opposing ideas. Respect. Suspending decisions. Exploring perspectives.
Creating ideas. Creating connections.
Taking space from performance — and yet preparing to perform.
Internally preparing by experiencing resonant energy and the thrill of learning new insights.
All of this happens in a 60–90 minute dialogue session.
I recently read that researchers at MIT consider “meaning-making at all levels” one of the top 10 strategies for navigating leadership in turbulent times.
I believe this too — and consider Practicing Dialogue with teams to be one of the most fundamental building blocks of Skillful Collaboration.
Interested to know more?
👉 Let’s connect and see what emerges!
