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Productive dialogue will accelerate business performance

Good business dialogue cannot be underestimated: it encourages collaboration and creativity and opens up individual and organisational learning and innovation. Dialogue, by definition, is obviously two-way, in that it is between one person and another, but it is also two way in that there is an inner dialogue that has to happen for the overall output to be effective. 

The human brain does not like ambiguity or conflict.  It naturally moves to make a choice: black and white. But often this leads to less effective ‘single loop’ learning, Chris Argyris in his various models of double loop learning, including ladder of inference and high advocacy/inquiry, encourages an internal challenge (an inner mental dialogue) to encourage us to constantly challenge the unconscious processes generate the conclusions and short cuts that our normal reasoning makes.

For example, you get into the office early to get on with some work and find your boss already there.  You try to make conversation, yet your boss is surly and abrupt.  You draw conclusions (in NLP this is part of the meta model ‘complex equivalent) about the ‘facts’ at hand – i.e. boss is surly=I have done something wrong. So you spend the rest of the day worrying and trying to figure out what it is that you have or haven’t done. Suddenly, through your interpretations and inferences about your boss’s behaviour, you are working on a different set of ‘facts’ altogether. And, in actual fact, the boss just feels poorly because he or she has a cold coming on; it is nothing to do with you at all.

This is a very simple example but shows how, with lightening speed of reasoning, the brain automatically makes these conclusions that end up running our lives.  Making us less effective and giving us less freedom of choice. So we need to train our brains to hold the ‘deep structure’ of meaning without running away with the wrong conclusions.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” And he has a point.  It is ‘painful’ for our brains to hold different, possibly opposing, ideas about the same fact without jumping to one ‘right’ conclusion.  But by looking closely at the information on which we have built our ‘house of conclusions’ will help us to be more accurate and structured in our thinking and then our dialogues and conversations will be very powerful.

So this requires some detective work.  Much of our thinking is based on the conclusions we have drawn (as part of this automatic and unconscious process). Chris Argyris in his ‘Ladder of Inference’ recksons it goes like this:

1. We have ‘data’ presented to us – statistics, a reaction, words, expression
2. We select the data to use as part of our thinking – a comment, information etc
3. We interpret this data and add meaning to it
4. We draw conclusions from these interpretations – this helps our brain to put a label on what is happening (and boy, do our brains like labels!!), which helps to explain it and propose action from it

This is a ‘pattern’ that we do subconsciously, with lighting speed.  But if we can learn how to slow this process down, break it up and do some detective work so that we use the right data, make sure we have all the data we need and then draw the most useful conclusions, our lives will be so much better!

The other day I had a client say to me: “We need to do more online PR and focus on improving SEO”.  I took this as a criticism that we weren’t doing enough and the client was unhappy.  However, after a couple of days and another conversation I realised that the client was so delighted with what we are doing that they want more of it; and after reading our blog posts they are keen to move into blogging and other social media to improve their online marketing!

Here’s what to do to be a ‘thinking detective’:

1. Put your ‘critic’s’ head on and retrace your thinking steps.  What data did you select? What caught your attention? What are you considering unimportant here?  Quite often we focus our attention on what is wrong rather than what is going well!
2. Then retrace your thinking: how did you interpret the data you selected? What filters did you put on it (i.e. a negative one?)? What assumptions and presuppositions did you make?  i.e. in the example above I assumed the client was unhappy, and I presupposed that we weren’t doing enough online work.  That clouded the rest of my entire thinking processes.

Related posts you may enjoy reading:

• Accelerate your business through conversation
• Communication boosts learning and innovation
• Good communication or 41 years of mistruths?
• How to accelerate behavioural change out of recession

Perhaps we are looking at the slow crawl out of the recession: a CBI report published yesterday shows that UK manufacturers are more optimistic as the outlook for factories is at its most upbeat for over a year.  Around 27% of firms are expecting to raise production levels this Autumn -  a sure sign things are improving.

However, a report published in July claims that whilst UK companies are better placed to take advantage of an economic recovery than their US counterparts, it is their communication and skills gap that could let them down.

The McKinney Rogers report, undertaken with executives in over 100 large and medium sized companies, highlights that one of the biggest challenges for companies coming out of the recession will be to ensure their strategic plans are effectively and quickly implemented. 

Businesses expect that their markets will be dramatically changed by the recession and the best will be able to capitalise on the opportunities that this presents. Despite UK companies being relatively able to adapt to the changing environment, disagreement and conflict in senior teams coupled with skills gaps at operational level and weaknesses in communicating internally will hinder recovery in many companies.

Changeworks Communications offer a strong solution to this through a programme of internal communications. Our Embodied Brand programme and our new 3 day course: ‘High Performance through Accelerated Business Conversations’, are powerful ways to accelerate your business out of the recession.

Watch the video to find out more:

The brain builds new connections through social contact

Did you know that communication is a huge factor in increasing organisational learning and collective intelligence? Through individuals’ participation in dialogue, conversations and even their use of social media, learning is boosted significantly.

A recent study on social learning at the University of Washington shoiws that social relationships play a significant role in adult learning.  Self-managed learning, done collaboratively with high levels of interaction with others is far more powerful than just reading or watching or listening.  This is because knowledge retention, which is an important aspect of learning, especially as we get older, is only possible when accompanied by human interaction.  Adults need to be socially stimulated to learn.

The use of social media such as forums, twitter, blogs, and other online communities is thought to build cognitive flexibility.  As people using these channels and tools are regularly multi-tasking (ie twittering whilst in meetings), it is thought that this behaviour builds new pathwasy and connections in the brain.  Use of such communications tools is thereby increasing innovation in individuals’ thinking, and helping them to learn and apply learning.

If I think about how I have learnt the skill of video and photography: much of it has been ‘self learning’ through a  mixture of ‘hands on’ trial and error (this is the ‘activist‘ in me) the use of online communities such as expert forums, blogs, twitter, online video and then interacting with other individuals via phone, email etc to ask specific questions, share my thinking and find solutions to my problems.  From this I notice that my own learning improves rapidly, but that by communicating with others, the collective wisdom increases.

It is through dialogue and conversation with others, with the help of communication tools such as those provided through social media, that we learn to learn and learn to innovate.  So learning is really about communicating through conversation and dialogue.  And communication, applied in this way, can boost organisational learning and group collective wisdom; and be a source of innovation.

Productive dialogue and conversation within organisations can increase the organisation’s knowledge capital and increase competitive advantage through learning and innovation. But much of organisational communication and conversation is not productive.  Here are some of the common blocks to learning through dialogue and conversation:

1. Too much opinion stating – people attempt to influence others to their way of thinking rather than understand others point of view
2. Defensiveness to having one’s point of view challenged – being too attached to our opinions and not willing to stay open and curious to others’
3. Assumptions and conclusions – rather than focusing on fact, we tend to be blind to missing data and easily make conclusions and assumptions. This leads to a failure to separate fact from fiction.
4. Lack of reflection in action – not many people have yet developed the ability to reflect on one’s thinking in the midst of action (a great aid to improved dialogue)
5. Poor use and understanding of the deep vs. surface structure of language – ie deletions, generalisations, distortions etc that we all make in everyday conversation (heavily related to 3) above)
6. Lack of good questioning and listening skills – to elicit inquiry of other’s perspectives. 
7. Lack of deep curiosity about others views and opinions – especially when they are different to ours.

video is storytelling

Online video is now the most popular of the social media tools with 62% of communicators recently agreeing that video is relevant to their role.  Runners up were RSS and web feeds, but this just shows the popularity of online video.

We live in a world of information overload, bombarded with news every minute of the day. And video is relevant, has a direct impact and delivers a consistency of message that makes it ideal for thought leaders, CEOs and to help organisations tell their story.  Video lets our clients talk directly and consistently to their intended audience, and it brings their story to life. 

For organistions or leaders communicating with their employees or publics, video is a powerful tool for a geographical diverse business.  And of course, it can help you communicate with the press in a direct way; your client talking direct to them.

Video can be used for:

• CEO or leader presentations
• training
• storytelling – support case studies and press releases
• product introductions and updates
• quarterly presentations and stakeholder/sharehold presentations
• news desk

The challenges of video production often lie in the delivery method. For example, if the video is intended mainly for internal use within the organisation, most internal networks, even now, can’t handle video. At the outside, you will have to render or convert to .flv format at a certain pixel aspect ratio and resolution. You will really need to understand the bandwidth limitations of your current technical solution.

But good video is not an easy art.  There is a thought process to be considered before anything else.  You are moving from face to face presentation to the virtual world so think short, snappy TV shows, for a starter.  Make sure you tailor the content of your video to the audience, for the presenter or talking head, use the person who has the most impact.  This is likely to be the CEO or head of division/department.  

Then tailor the content of your video to the audience. Make sure this is ‘front loaded’ with the majority of the impact of the message in the first 3 to 4 mins of the video.  Whether you are producing casual or more formal interviews remember the following tips:

1. Keep the general tone informal – it helps convey the message
2. Keep the messages and sections short and sharp – to keep attention
3. Have a variety of views of speakers or presenters
4. Think about the setting – people want to see the environment of the film to set the context

anyone can make videos

Also, you will need to consider production values. Video is now so widely available and anyone, virtually,can make a video. To exacerbate the problem there is free video editing software and video can be recorded on phones, cameras, webcams etc, so people can be led to believe that poor quality is ok. We have had clients ask us to use webcams to record the CEO on video, or if we are tight on time, clients have offered to try some editing on their free software.  This only highlights the ignorance there is around the art and skill in producing video. 

Whilst video does not have to be expensive these days, there is a big risk in doing it too cheaply.  

• don’t use webcams, phones etc to produce video to communicate your messages
• Don’t use cheap software to edit

Video has to be professional, yet engaging, to be believable and impactful. Finally, consider where it will be consumed or watched (internet or intranet or via DVD? For a short form film aim for around 3 to 5 mins. And for those ‘talking heads’ remember the:

• frame
• lighting and use of shadows
• background

There is so much to good video making.  More to follow in future posts.

flyer_jan_event_leadership_comms

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