|
Introduction:
Sallyann Roth, co-founder of the Public Conversations Project, talks
about collaboration as a way to elicit parties wishes, needs,
fears, and hopes. This is an important part of dialogue design and training.
| |
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Collaboration
Sallyann Roth
Family Therapist, Trainer, and Co-Founder of the Public Conversations Project,
in Watertown, Massachusetts
| |
 |
Next is collaboration. We really believe that the most effective work, and the only way we are comfortable working is to really work hand in hand with the people who are consulting with us. We consult about what's going to be useful to them and about the processes, and the structure and what they care about. We don't expect them to be able to just tell us. So we have these lengthy interviews in which we elicit different descriptions. They are really helpful in
developing agreements for the group that come out of their wishes and needs,
fears and concerns, and hopes. As well as their specific content areas, their
questions and so on. But this idea of collaboration, literature is full of it.
Most people don't have a real experience with their professional lives of a
sense of easy collaboration. Where you are really working with each other and
it's not just you producing your thing. We have exercises that we produce with
this. One example would be, let's suppose that you give me a sentence or two
that describes a dilemma you have, or some conflict that you've been in. Not a
giant one but a little small one. Would you be willing to do that? Just take a
minute to think of it. Just so you know what's going to happen, I'm going to ask
you a few questions and your job is to not answer anything that's not
interesting to you, but to help me as your interviewer, so I know what you
prefer to be asked.
...
WWe have the idea that by asking questions that are collaboratively
developed by the asker and the asked, they get tuned into what the other really
wants and what will help them move forward in their own thinking and feeling.
...
If we were to go through this for fifteen minutes, my guess is that I would
as an interviewer, begin to notice that you were going places that I couldn't
have imagined that you would go. It would remind me as a facilitator or a
participant in a dialogue, how carefully I would have to listen, and inquire in
order to not let my assumptions get in the way of really being interested in you
and us developing a conversation that was a fresh one.
|
