The Art of Conversation:
All of us are smarter than any of us
Keith De La Rue
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragunsk/
Using communication
• Improve group performance
• Increase innovation
• Make us individually smarter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonymayfield/
Getting there
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Introductions
Openness to change
The power of groups
Innovation and sharing
Making it happen
… Have a conversation and have some fun!
Table 7
Talking to others improves individual
mental function
Friends with cognitive benefits
- Ybarra et al, 2010
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/
Brief, friendly conversations
improve executive function working memory, focus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipgriffin/
Put yourself in other shoes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/
Activity 1 – Introductions
• Introduce yourself by giving:
– Your name
– Where you were born
– One interesting true statement about yourself
– One false statement about yourself
– (Not necessarily in that order!)
• The rest of the group will decide which is which
The Johari Window
© Alan Chapman 2003 http://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodeldiagram.pdf
Conversation
doesn't just reshuffle
the cards: it creates new cards
– Theodore Zeldin
From David Gurteen - http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/theodore-zeldin
"...The kind of
conversation I'm
interested in is one which
you start with a
willingness to emerge a
slightly different person.
It is always an
experiment, whose
results are never
guaranteed. It involves
risk. It's an adventure in
which we agree to cook
the world together and
make it taste less bitter"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88691054@N00/
In conversation we…
Transform facts
Reshape them
Draw new implications
Develop new trains of thought
We must be open…
“We risk
impoverishing
ourselves if we
ignore the personal”
- Gurteen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timpatterson/
Conversation is intrinsically creative
http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomicjeep/
… If we are prepared to change.
The way we talk shapes what we do
If we talk differently, life can be more interesting
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturkus/
Activity 2 – Changes
• Form into groups of two
• Spread around the room
• Wait for further instructions…
Change
• How much do we think we can change?
• How much can we actually change?
• How ready are we to change?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sookie/
The Courage Beer Conversations Survey
Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor
in the Performance of Human Groups
- Woolley et al, 2010
Ability to perform group tasks
Independent of individual intelligence
Whole greater than sum of parts
Based from how the team works together
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregloby/
Collective intelligence
Social sensitivity
Equal turns
No domination
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36238874@N02/
Women and conversation
More sensitivity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmi_managers/
Leadership
challenge:
facilitation,
not control
http://www.flickr.com/photos/http2007/
Activity 3 – Discussion
• When have meetings failed?
• When have they worked well?
• Would they have worked better if these patterns
were followed?
Positive language
Words > Pictures > Emotions > Actions
Anyone have children around?
“Don’t spill the milk!”
“Don’t take out all the pencils!”
“Don’t forget…”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8431398@N04/
Where Good Ideas Come From
Innovation – the Eureka moment?
Progress is more about
one door leading to
another door
- Steven Johnson, Where
Good Ideas Come From
Sharing and recombining
ideas
-> Conversation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karrienodalo/
The adjacent possible
The multiple
… Don’t isolate the genius in the laboratory!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gastev/
The Enlightenment – C17
http://socialmelb.com/
Wisdom of crowds – cognitive problems
Diverse membership
Members thinking independently
Knowledge pooled
From: James Surowiecki
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24888116@N06/
We Think
Community
Get people together in conversation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/MrTopf/
Conversations for knowledge sharing
and innovation – the café concept
See: http://delarue.net/blog/2011/06/a-tale-of-two-cafes/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/
Conversational tools
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44709316@N03/
Microblogging
https://www.yammer.com/cpx/
Networking, awareness, chat
Any conversation helps!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/323447999676/
Conversations help us…
… find the missing pieces
http://ozcollab.com/
Facing complexity in organisations
Engaging people
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odreiuqzide/
Exercise 4 – Knowledge Café
• Break into tables of four – choose the people
who are the most different to you
• Discuss:
How can we use what we have learnt about
conversation to better communicate in the
international workplace?
• Discuss for 10 minutes, then move to another
table
• Wrap up with open discussion
Five rules for more
innovative conversations
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bytemarks/
Have we all been introduced?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lionheartphotography/
Is the talk friendly and constructive?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanready/
Is everyone open
and willing to
change?
Are we all
taking equal
turns?
Do we have sufficiently diverse viewpoints?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/untitlism/
Let’s talk about it…
@kdelarue
0418 51 7676
keith@delarue.net
http://acknowledgeconsulting.com/