How Dialogue Affects Groups and Communities
Many people who engage in dialogue do so because of the positive effects it can have on groups of people and entire communities. The strength of these changes varies widely, but includes the following five interrelated effects.
Reduced Divisions
Conflict is a fundamental part of the human condition. By its nature, conflict produces at least a temporary sense of division between people who see a situation differently and who view each other as obstacles to their own goals.
In some situations, conflict produces a real division between people. They see others as different than or less than themselves. These deep divisions make it difficult to achieve a sense of common purpose, and make future conflicts more likely to be handled in destructive ways.
Dialogue is used not only to solve an immediate and pressing conflict but also to directly address these deeper, historical divisions between individuals and groups. Dialogue offers opportunities to bring people together to reflect on their shared humanity and common ground.
Many churches use dialogue as a process for addressing internal divisions. People within the same congregation may have different views on homosexuality, styles of worship, abortion, or divorce. Sometimes the divisions become so deep that the congregation divides into two or more new churches. Dialogue can help a congregation discern both the different sets of experiences and expressions of faith that divide them, as well as assess the unity or common ground that exists.
In a parent/teen dialogue among black participants, some adults remarked that they had never fully realized the stresses their teenagers faced, including skepticism they felt from white students about their academic abilities, and pressures from their black peers not to exert maximum effort academically. Most importantly, the adults realized that they may not have done a very effective job of openly listening to their own teenager, inadvertently causing additional stress. Dialogue helped these parents better understand student stresses, thereby reducing the divisions between parents and their children. [4]
A Sense of Community
In North-American society, people increasingly lead independent lives, rarely knowing or relating to their neighbors. Dialogue can build relationships where people have no established patterns of relating to each other. Dialogue can help create a sense of cohesion among disparate people, largely because dialogue begins with people sharing their experiences.
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A palpable sense of togetherness or unity develops when people find similarities between their own experiences and the stories of others.
Dialogue does more than gather together very different people; it intentionally works at building a sense of community.
| Dialogue builds a sense of togetherness among disparate people. |
After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, people around the United States gathered to talk about the events with their neighbors. The tragedy brought people together in new ways. Strangers reached out to talk to each other, to listen to the suffering of others, and to find ways to help. After 9/11, some communities planned formal dialogues to more intentionally find ways to express trauma and create paths toward community healing and unity.
Improved Communication Patterns
Dialogue facilitators model and encourage participants to develop a wide range of skills that include: active listening, speaking honestly and assertively about experiences and opinions while remaining sensitive to others, following group ground rules for communicating effectively, and identifying common ground. The attitudes and skills needed in dialogue are useful for improving communication in many settings, and are the foundation of all conflict transformation and peacebuilding processes.
Several participants involved in the parent/teen dialogues reported that tensions within their households had palpably eased. Parents responded that they had become much more patient listeners, and teens reported that they were less quick to “give attitude” to their parents. In addition, many parents reported that they previously had little support from other parents, and that they were committed to staying connected with other parents after the dialogue ended.
Dialogue can affect communication patterns on both individual and group levels. Many institutions have used dialogue trainings and experiences to change the way they deal with conflict and make decisions with stakeholders. For example, a health maintenance organization (HMO) with 100,000 clients underwent an organizational training in dialogue skills that was intended not only to improve the capacity of its medical staff to work more cooperatively, but also to communicate with patients more effectively. [5]
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Collective Analysis
Community leaders and policymakers have few tools for assessing what the public thinks about a problem. Opinion polls show whether respondents agree or disagree with education policies, but polls cannot provide leaders with real insight into what parents think are the root problems in education or elicit creative ideas for solving them.
Dialogue is a way for people to collaboratively identify the most important issues affecting a group. It may help a group to understand how and why some people feel excluded from community decision-making. In other cases, dialogue may help people get more in touch with their dissatisfaction with a situation so that they are motivated to get involved in activities focused on change.
When using dialogue on issues involving large numbers of people, dozens or even hundreds of small-group dialogues are arranged—sometimes at one place. Electronic technologies allow hundreds of people to engage in small-group processes, and for each small group to electronically share its important analytical observations and creative ideas for collective action. [6]
In 2002, 4,300 people gathered in New York City for a dialogue about the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Coordinators of the event had tried to ensure sufficient representation by survivors of the 9/11 attack, relatives of those who had died, neighborhood storeowners, and local residents. In a turn of events that surprised almost everyone, the people gathering expressed distaste for of all the six redevelopment plans that had been proposed. After the meeting, the local development authority commissioned a new set of plans that were intended to more faithfully follow the preferences expressed within the dialogue. [7]
Options for Collaborative Action
Collective analysis paves the way for collective action. The dialogue process itself often provides an inspirational model for how a community can harness its diversity for constructive change. As people experience a small version of their ideal dream community in the dialogue process, they get excited and energized to help create better relationships and communication patterns outside the dialogue process.
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For example, dialogues on development, urban sprawl, and community growth bring diverse people from the community together—farmers, immigrants, business leaders, parents, and many others—to find solutions. The inherent diversity of stakeholders' experiences is essential for undertaking a thoughtful analysis of current and potential problems of community development decisions. The collective needs and desires of all members of a community provide the best guides for making smart growth and development decisions, such as where to build schools, housing, and shopping centers.
| The collective wisdom of all members helps guide the best decisions. |
Dialogue prepares a group to take collective action—or at least to have a healthy exploration of whether such action is possible. Dialogue provides space for people to express their experiences, perspectives, and preferences for action and gives leaders a more reliable sense of what key stakeholders want. This, in turn, reduces division, enhances a group’s sense of identity, and yields emotional and spiritual benefits. In addition, the collective wisdom, analysis, and visions for the future that emerge from dialogue among diverse people open the door for other possibilities.
3. When Is Dialogue Useful?
This chapter explores when dialogue is useful and the necessary preconditions for a successful dialogue. It details the different forms dialogue takes, from structuring a weekly Sunday-school class to using it in a conference setting.
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