Encourage sharing opinions

For many (most?) of us, when we think of communication we think about information sharing, collaboration and learning in a give-and-take relationship. The essence of dialogue is that we engage one another with an open mind.

There was a letter to the editor in The (Nashville) Tennesean on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 that really hit the nail on the head:

Nation now needs dialogue rather than debate.

Dialogue or debate? Many people do not understand the difference. In these times, the difference is very important.

About 10 years ago, my wife and I were involved in leading interracial study circles. We were trained and led groups of 10 people for five sessions. The difference between dialogue and debate was discussed. Dialogue was always the objective. Several points help to explain the difference:

1.      Dialogue is to work toward common understanding. Debate is to prove the other wrong. Debate listens to find weaknesses and seeks to win; dialogue listens to find understanding and agreement.

2.      Dialogue enlarges and possibly changes a participant’s point of view. Debate affirms a point of view.

3.      Dialogue reveals assumptions for examination; debate defends asssumptions as truth.

4.      Dialogue opens the possibility of arriving at better solutions; debate defends one’s own positions as best.

5.      Dialogue creates open-mindedness, even to being wrong. Debate creates close-mindedness, with conviction one is right.

6.      Dialogue calls for temporarily suspending one’s beliefs; debate encourages complete conviction in one’s own beliefs.

7.      Dialogue remains open-ended; debate implies a conclusion.

Would dialogue help our country at the present time of challenge and uncertainty? Undoubtedly, if people are brave enough to try it.

Can our country continue without dialogue? That is perhaps the vital question.

James Zralek

Nashville 37205

While Mr. Zralek’s letter is directed toward a civil discourse in our country, it seems to me that understanding the difference between dialogue and debate could make a HUGE difference in workplace relationships too. What it really boils down to is respecting each other enough to appreciate the opinions of others whether we share their beliefs or not. Difference of opinion is a great way to get your mind in gear, and broaden your perspective through viewpoints of others.

Be a communicator in your workplace – encourage dialogue!

Support Change - Don't Be A Resister

Have you ever had a root canal? It’s not as much fun as it sounds, trust me. I was sitting in the dentist’s (actually, he’s an endodontist – these guys should all be dressed like Jason from the Halloween movies) chair one morning recently waiting for that full-face numbing that anyone who’s had dental work knows and loves – one of the worst things ever, actually.

Anyway, with plenty of time to think, and my speaking ability completely disabled (a welcome relief to those around me), I got to thinking about some of the new stuff going on that companies can take advantage of to get their employees involved in the conversation. A lot of companies have had blogs, and IM for a while, but new social intranet products are making inroads with good reports from the companies using them.

It's not unusual to have some hesitance when companies introduce new communication tools. There's some hesitance from a few, usually skewing into an older demo. That’s understandable – it’s new, and, “I don’t do Facebook.” Yeah, I get that too, but if you think of it more as a resource for getting to know your colleagues better, collaborating across locations and departments, and getting the latest company information, it’ll be much more useful for everyone.

Sometimes change for the sake of change is good, but change for the sake of improvement is always a good thing. Changes like this are made with the hope of advancing the company both internally and externally - getting more people involved in the conversation, and facilitating open communication. Initial hesitance is understandable with new things, but resistance rarely advances positive initiatives. I encourage everyone to embrace social intranets, and help continue to move the company forward.

You know what the dentist/Jason said to me as I was leaving? He said, “The good news is that this will only be uncomfortable for a couple of days, but at least you know it’s going to get better real soon.” Introducing a new social intranet is very similar: It may be uncomfortable until you get used to it, but all signs point toward positive things. Be an enthusiastic supporter. It helps the cause, and it’s more fun anyway.

Internal social media

Social media is here to stay. You don’t have to embrace it now, but if your future is in the business world you might as well.

Executives acknowledge the importance of incorporating social media into the strategic plan for companies externally, and it’s going to be equally important as an internal communication and collaboration tool. Tomorrow’s business leaders, as well as tomorrow’s customers are already logged in, posting and sharing information.

"It's not really a choice of if [corporations] want to take advantage of it [social media] or not," said Anders Gronstedt, president of Gronstedt Group Inc., a firm that has specialized in corporate learning for the last 14 years. "It's here - and the choice is whether they want to unleash it or whether they want to try and stop the inevitable."

According to an Associated Press story on Sunday, August 28, 2011, “the Pew Internet & Life Project found that, of U.S. adults who use the Internet, nearly two-thirds use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.” Even baby boomers, like me, are up 12 percentage points from just one year ago! That’s a huge jump. Remember five years ago when nobody even heard of Twitter (200 million active users), and Facebook (600 million active users) was something for the kids to do? How about that iPhone you can’t live without? Yeah, it’s barely more than four years old – it was born on June 29, 2007.

Some of us remember when email was introduced into the workplace, and the response then was similar to the resistance some folks are having toward social networks. The telephone was also similarly “embraced.” The hard truth is that social networks are going to be an integral part of communication – they already are for some!

A cool advantage with internal social media is that you can get used to it at your own pace. And it doesn’t have to happen in front of the “www.” So our mistakes, while probably still embarrassing, don’t have to be out there for the world to see.

If your company is implementing an internal social network, get on board early, embrace the opportunity to connect with your coworkers, and learn how to use it.

You can do it now or you can do it later, but you are going to have to do it eventually.