IV. Leverage the Power of Conversation We need to improve our conversational skills

Converse:  To work more effectively we need to improve our conversational skills and habits. These are the habitual ways in which we communicate with each other face-to-face and the conversational methods we employ to convene group conversations. Conversing better is the heart of Conversational Leadership. 

Conversation is the way that humans have always thought together. In conversation we discover shared meaning. It is the primal human organizing tool.

Even in the corridors of power, very little real action happens in debate, but rather in the side rooms, the hallways, the lunches, the times away from the ritual spaces of authority and in the relaxed spaces of being human.

In all of our design of meetings, engagement, planning or whatever, if you aren't building conversation into the process, you will not benefit from the collective power and wisdom of humans thinking together.

These are not 'soft' processes. This is how wars get started and how wars end. It's how money is made, lives started, freedom realized. It is the core human organizing competency.

Credit: Meg Wheatley

You can learn more about improving your conversational skills in the chapter of this blook on conversational habits and find information about how to employ a wide range of conversational methods in the chapter on conversational methods. You will also find stories and case studies in the chapter on conversational stories.

Principles of Conversational Leadership

1. I. Take Responsibility We can choose to take responsibility for the changes we wish to see in the world
2. II. Embrace Complexity We need to understand complexity & its implications
3. III. Practice Leadership We need to practice leadership
4. IV. Leverage the Power of Conversation We need to improve our conversational skills
5. V. Nurture Community We need to care more about each other

Posts that link to this post

•  What Is Conversational Leadership? By David Gurteen

POST NAVIGATION

CHAPTER NAVIGATION

SEARCH