The team at The Dialogue Company is composed of professionals with degrees from top universities with extensive experience helping individuals, organizations, and communities increase their effectiveness, efficiency, and inclusiveness.

Philosophy
The philosophy that drives The Dialogue Company is that most human systems operate in a way that does not maximize either organizational productivity or individual satisfaction by those involved in them. We believe that almost all organizations and communities could improve their functioning if they employ efficient and inclusive processes that tap into the distributed wisdom of their stakeholders. We strive to recognize the potential collective wisdom within points of view that at first may seem disparate. As we recognize the truth of seemingly different points of view, The Dialogue Company creates opportunities for people who see an issue very differently to find not just their simple common ground, but also to recognize the critical questions that will help people unlock the power of better collaboration to create greater success. 

Key Principles

  • Organizations and communities make better decisions when they can employ efficient processes for getting a large number of perspectives to weigh in on issues.

  • People can become more enthusiastic contributors to an organization or community if their perspective has been well considered by decision-makers.

  • A primary obligation for consultants and coaches is to employ methods that maximize the opportunity for all stakeholders to express their views.

  • There are many societal forces that push communities and institutions toward a lower level of social equity than is optimal. For long term health and sustainability of systems and the people in them, it is usually important to consciously enact strategies that promote fair and equitable outcomes.

  • The legacy of inter-group bias in behavior and overt or subtle attitudes can severely undermine stakeholder inclusion and overall effectiveness. Nevertheless, there is often significant resistance to the necessary process of examining these potential biases.

  • Although these inter-group biases are important, it is also important to recognize that sometimes issues other than bias can be even more fundamental detriments to an organization’s or community’s effectiveness.

  • If properly understood, leveraging the cultural interplay within an organization and/or between an organization and its clients can significantly add to an organization’s effectiveness.

  • By deploying sufficient design and facilitation skills, historic tensions and inequities between societal groups can become opportunities for community building.

  • Despite the importance of institutional process that foster inclusive decision-making, it is critical that any organizational/community change strategy deeply consider the perspectives, development needs, growth edges, and aspirations of leadership.

  • Any effort to improve an organization/community should be designed to include a component of reflection/evaluation, and that this evaluation process should be constructed in alignment with other aspects of the intervention.