FOCUSED CONVERSATIONBased on the book The Art of
Focused Conversation by R. Brian Stanfield
Objectives Understand the difference between
teaching/training and facilitating. Listen to how a typical conversation
sounds like. Learn about the power of questions. Practice the four levels of the Technology
of Participation.
Select a partner and have a three minute conversation.
Did you….. Interrupt, or feel the desire to interrupt?
Did you….. Interrupt, or feel the desire to interrupt? Feel the need to be witty or use jargon?
Did you….. Interrupt, or feel the desire to interrupt? Feel the need to be witty or use jargon? Display superior knowledge or one-up-
man-ship?
Where you an Advocate or an Inquirer?
Advocate – one who pleads, recommends, or pushes a specific perspective or point of view.
Inquirer – comes at a conversation with an open mind, listening for creative new ideas or options.
Western Culture
Being forceful Articulate advocate Seeks the truth, need to “be right” Expresses opinions about everything
The Tyranny of “OR”
OR
The genius of AND Parallel Truths
I like the new Healthful Living Essential Standards.
I don’t! They are too confusing and the old Standard Course of Study is just fine.
Critical Thinker
.
The easiest critical comment is a negative one.
Criticism
Criticism takes very little effort. All you have to do is choose a different frame of reference and you have a free field to fire your intellectual howitzers.
Criticism
Criticism as the first step in a discussion stops the discussion and is, therefore, generally the last step in the conversation.
Focused ConversationThe power lies in the capacity to ask questions and elicit answers from other.
Focused Conversation
Complex Issues
No one individual
knows the answer
Focused Conversation
The task of the conversation leader is to release the damned up genius, wisdom,
and experience of the group.
Technology of Participation Objective level – questions about facts
and external reality Reflective level – immediate personal
reaction to the data, sometimes emotions or feelings
Interpretive level – questions to draw out meaning, value, significance and implications
Decision level – questions to elicit resolution and bring the discussion to an end
Your Turn
Training/Teaching or Facilitation
Teachers and trainers have been taught to correct, amplify, and amend what has been said.
A leader of a focused conversation has nothing to teach.
Tips for Leading a Focused Conversation
Select a suitable setting
TipsThe first question
TipsSubsequent Questions
TipsGetting off the topic
It is not a discipline problem.
The human brain is very associative,which makes straying away from topics quit easy.
TipsLong or abstract answers
Tips
An argument breaks out
TipsAnswers that are unethical or factually
wrong
Don’t let it pass
Tips
People react to others’ answers
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