Articles

Dialogue creates a foundation for debate, negotiation, and consensus

Text Kai Alhanen

Julkaistu 8.2.2024

The normal state of a democratic society always includes disagreements. These can actually be thought of as the cause of a well-functioning democracy. Citizens who are equal and free among each other will most likely not end up with completely identical views on what they find most valuable and how these values should be pursued.

Some appreciate safety and stability; others yearn for variety and novelty. To some citizens tangible wealth is more important than the noble ideals some others pursue. Comprehensive world views, too, can be built in various ways: one emphasizes scientific facts, another appreciates religious views, while a third picks a diverse set of beliefs from here as the main sources.

Something threatening is happening to our ability to talk about our respective disagreements. We currently live in a situation where we can follow other people and their sayings through the internet and social media. Yet, we most frequently get to know people whose ways of live are somewhat similar to ours.

Thus, even if we imagine that we know well what others think, in reality we should meet them to better understand their experiences.

At worst, this situation evokes the urge to entirely silence individuals and groups whose views are far from ours. Inflamed and repressed environment for discussion is an auspicious ground for powers undermining democracy. Many citizens start to avoid conversations on difficult topics, which forms a void that typically gets hijacked by the loudest speakers. Ultimately this kind of development feeds individuals and groups who support hierarchy and authority instead of equality and individual freedom.

It has been thought that in a modern democracy, citizens’ different views benefit society. Tensions stemming from disagreements feed lively discussion, help to help to create new inventions and, at best, lead to mutual learning.

A skillful handling of disagreements and tensions requires that citizens master different kinds of democratic discussions well. The most important ones from these are debate, negotiation, search for consensus and dialogue. Every type has its’ own role in citizens’ equal coexistence. They are needed in communities of every type: families, neighborhoods, workplaces, recreational activities, as well as in political institutions.

There is not one type of discussion that fits every situation. A skill to change the type of discussion when needed is required in many situations.

Debate

The best known type of discussion in a democratic society seems to be debate. The central starting point of debate is that different sides of the discussion aim to use arguments to convince their opponent on their views. Thus, debating aims at investigation of the best arguments.

Debate can be thought to have succeeded if all the parties have been able to present their own arguments clearly and comprehensively. A conclusion has been reached when everyone agrees that the arguments presented by one party prove to be better than the others.

Negotiation

There are many situations where the citizens must find a solution that satisfies all parties. This is when negotiation is needed. Negotiation means seeking to achieve an agreement, which often requires outlining different options and coordinating different issues that come u

In a successful negotiation, different parties know each other’s values and needs well, based on which each negotiator can present different options for everyone to different options for everybody’s consideration. The best negotiations bring out completely new opportunities to combine the different parties’ demands, even despite the possible tensions between them.

Search for consensus

Many communities tightly living together — like families, workplaces, hobby groups and ideological associations — want to pursue consensus (unanimity). Finding consensus is easier when the participants of the discussion have similar values and they are ready to compromise their own comfort and freedom for the harmony of the community.

On a broader societal level, consensus is not needed regarding nearly all matters. However, there are certain matters where pursuing consensus is necessary in a democratic society. These matters concern the way the basic values of democracy – freedom, equality, and justice – are understood. If a reasonable consensus can be reached from these questions even stark disagreements concerning other things can safely be allowed.

Dialogue

All three aforementioned discussion types — debate, negotiation, and search for consensus — require that the participating citizens understand each other enough to succeed. The best arguments cannot be found if the debaters speak over each other. Negotiations drift to a dead end when the parties’ real values and needs are not understood. Consensus can only be achieved when deep understanding of the central issues prevails. Thus, all important discussion types of a democratic society require conversation aiming for understanding, in other words, dialogue, as its basis and support

In a dialogical conversation, participants aim for a multi-level understanding: of the things dealt with, other people, and oneself. Dialogue cherishes the basic values of democracy: freedom and equality of each individual. This means that in dialogue, each participant’s experiences are fundamentally equally valuable, and everyone is free to participate in the discussion in their own way.

Dialogical conversation is challenging when the topics discussed are difficult, and people hold views very different from each other. For this reason, dialogue should continuously be exercised and practiced in all kinds of communities.

Dialogical discussions do not only create the foundation to other discussion types. At its best, they can also be extremely creative moments of collective learning. At the same time, they give participants an immediate experience of what equality and freedom mean in practice. Dialogue is the heart of democratic communities.

Dialogue calls for excitement

Text Kai Alhanen

Julkaistu 8.2.20248.2.2024

What kind of a discussion is an inspiring one? Is it a discussion where I can freely talk about the things that are important to me? Or one where the other participants have something interesting to say? Or a discussion that leads to a discovery of something new and surprising?

At its best, dialogical discussions are inspiring. As they aim at creating deeper understanding, dialogues are primarily learning situations. Thus, they are regulated by the same factors as learning in general. In the light of research in learning psychology, we know that a person learns best in a situation that is safe but also exciting.

Safety is required so that people dare venture to try new things; excitement is needed so that they want to do so. When the right kind of balance between safety and excitement is achieved, learning is profound and often also exhilarating.

Creating safety has received a lot of attention in the context of dialogue. Creation of excitement has gotten less attention. This is understandable because almost always – especially when we are unfamiliar with each other or talk about difficult things – building safety needs to be focused on first. Rules of discussion, attuning into the other participants and their experiences, and the discussion facilitator’s trust evoking actions gradually increases safety in dialogue. When the feeling of trust has emerged, however, it might so happen that the discussion remains a polite exchange of ideas. Dialogue does not deepen; passions do not budge.

How can we, then, increase excitement in dialogue? It is clear that disagreements and conflicts often automatically raise the excitement of the situation, at worst even to the point of anxiety that suffocates learning. However, they are not the only things bringing excitement. The emergence of confusing, weird, and unexpected things in the discussion also increases the excitement: the discussed topic evokes completely different kinds of feelings in the participants, different people take the matter into diverge directions, and views are justified with experiences conflicting between each other.

Where do these kinds of surprises stem from? The answer is simple but multifaceted. Excitement emerges when people’s different experiences meet each other in a new way. For this reason, it is essential that the entire spectrum of human experience – thoughts, perceptions, feelings, memories, and imagination – is richly brought up in dialogue. Thus, we should first encourage the participants to diversely express their experiences. Often, they have to be invited to talk about perception and mental images alongside thoughts, to tempt out feelings and memories.

When we talk about different dimensions of experience, hidden differences in them need to be grasped. At what points do we experience the topics of dialogue in differently? What is perplexing about these differences? Where do they stem from? Ask more about the participants’ experiences!

In the end, it the dialogue facilitator’s responsibility to add the excitement in the dialogue. They can prepare the raising of excitement by thinking about the following things. What in this topic perplexes, annoys, or exhilarates me? What could be puzzling in the other people’s viewpoints? Which are the hidden dangers of handling this topic blandly? What would surprise me? What is the big mystery of our topic for me?

Not only should one think about these kinds of questions beforehand, but it is also relevant to listen and observe what the participants bring up. It is also worthwhile to stretch one’s imagination to envision other’s experiences so that the situations and events others talk about can be seen in one’s mind. When a confusing or surprising matter emerges in the dialogue’s facilitator’s mind, they can try to say something about it loud. Did others also get confused about it? Was it surprising also to them? Provocative perhaps? Hopefully the discussion becomes gradually more exciting…

FACILITATOR’S CHECKLIST

Prepare beforehand for bringing both safety and excitement into the dialogue.
Create safety: with your own actions, rules, tuning into the topic and other participants
Make sure that the participants talk diversely about their own experiences. Pay attention to the different dimensions of the experience.
Pay attention to the differences between the participants’ experiences.
Bring up matters that puzzle you: confusions, surprises, tensions.
Invite the participants along to create excitement.

Dialogues from the future

Text DialogiAkatemia

Julkaistu 8.2.20244.6.2024

Dialogue is an excellent way to collectively anticipate and create future. It enables us to understand the future more broadly and diversely than what we could do alone. Dialogue can create sensitivity to the currents of the present and help us to glimpse some of their future trends. Dialogue can also be consciously used to create anticipations of future that help human communities navigate towards their communally chosen directions.

When times are tough and the future is dark, the powers that shape the future in dialogue have exceptionally big meaning. Dialogue aiming for collective learning keeps us sensitive also to surprising changes and helps us envision new possibilities even in places where the prospects seem hopeless.

Future is always present

Our experiences of the world include many outlooks for the future. The past, present and future continuously intertwine in each moment. We are not often particularly conscious of our future horizon, but that horizon nevertheless constantly shapes our experiences and actions. Our anticipations of the future guide the lives of individuals as well as communities in a crucial way. Often future perspectives touch only the immediately next moments of time, sometimes they extend to situations looming far.

When I wake up in the morning, I start to prepare for the day ahead. I drink coffee so that I will soon be alert and look out the window to know what to wear. When I am walking down the street, I do my best to navigate through the traffic to make it on time to my workplace. I give way to the biker curving in front of me so that they don’t need to make an emergency barking. When a road-side advertisement reminds me of last summer’s holiday trip, I’m already thinking about where to travel next summer. At the same time, I hope that sometime in the future it would be possible to travel to my favorite destinations by train instead of flying.

These and plenty of other future glimpses can be heard when people are engaged in a dialogue. Even if people spoke about past events or their current experiences, they always put their speech into a perspective – consciously or unconsciously – that also involves the future. It is important for the facilitator of the dialogue to listen carefully in which ways the speakers refer to the future.

The future is present in various ways. Most commonly the future appears as hopes, worries, assumptions, and guesses. Hopes and worries are not always explicitly expressed, but they can be heard from the tones, emphases, and breaks, or seen from facial expressions and body gestures. Anxiety makes eyebrows furrow; hope lets the eyes shine.

In a dialogue, people also often make rather strong assumptions about the causes and effects related to the topic in question. These almost always include anticipations of the future. ”If we do not renovate the condominium’s plumbing soon, even more apartments are going to have water damage.” Or, ”Many of our employees are content with the current wages. This can surely be seen because not that many people are any longer leaving our company for other jobs.”

Sometimes dialogue brings out presumptions about the way things are evolving and what is going to happen next. ”Students are more tired this fall. I am scared that we are going to have a record amount of absences in December.” Or, ”Even though things seem quite dark now, for some reason I believe, that we have gotten past the worst phase.”

Future can be seen with imagination

Because future things have not yet happened, our only way to deal with them is to use our imagination. Imagination can be actively utilized in dialogue to perceive future more clearly and diversely.

The dialogue facilitator can explicate the worries, hopes, assumptions, and guesses they hear. They can ask the participants to tell, specify, expand, and modify their mental images of the future. In practice this means that one stops to examine what goes on in their head related to the future. Imagining the future always – one way or the other – leans on observations of the present and memories of past events. ”Yes, I believe things will get better. Now when I stop to think about it, I notice it stemming from the fact that we have yet again laughed during our coffee break. If this kind of joy gets transmitted to work as well, I believe that we will also get better results.”

Often a more careful imagining of our own future perspectives and anticipations reveals many matters that have remained hidden. Sometimes we might be surprised that we have made very far reaching conclusions about the future based on very flimsy assumptions. However, sometimes a somewhat fumbling inkling can turn out to be a justifiable anticipation of the future trends. Working on visions of the future in dialogue is an excellent way to test the accuracy of the assumptions.

Diverse experiences enrich future perspectives

Dialogue offers a significant asset by enabling us to enrich our future perspective with the experiences of others. When I hear other participants talk about how they see the future, I receive many building blocks to my own future anticipations.

What often happens in dialogue is that listening to another participant makes me question my own worries and hopes. Hearing other participants’ confidence on the future might relieve my own worries. Or, on the contrary, the dialogue might help me notice that I have been too about the threats looming in the future.

In the same way, listening to other participants can lead me to make new assumptions about the causations of things. ”I had never thought about the consequences of our decisions to the pensioners living in this condominium”. Or, ”Listening to you I realize that I had never even thought that coffee breaks have such a big significance in our work community.”

Future should be played with

Especially when the future prospects are immersed in uncertainty and unclarity, dialogue can help to examine different possibilities. In this case people’s exceptional skill of empathizing together in imaginary situations, as well as the ability to play, should be taken seriously. The playing that occurs in dialogue can be fairly serious. It is crucial that people, by continuing to develop each other’s ideas, dare to imagine together some communally chosen perspectives of the future.

In its simplicity this means that a specific assumption about the future is chosen as the topic of a deeper conversation and examined together. ”Let us assume that we decide to take a big loan for renovating the condominium’s yards more cozy. How would life be here?” Or, ”Our worst fear for the company’s economic situation comes true. How would we act?”

When we set out to examine the future with the means of playing, the facilitator should keep especially two things in mind. On the one hand, it is important that every participant of the dialogue can participate in the development of the imaginary future in their own ways and that everyone’s proposals are equally valuable. ”How do you see this situation? To which direction would you continue from what others have brought up?” On the other hand, it is important to protect the coherence of the future perspective that is being communally built. ” It seems to me that your proposal comes from a different place than this current one. Is it okay that we examine it separately if necessarily and still stay on the current starting point for a moment?”

An excellent dialogical method for playfully examining the future is the ”recalling the future”, developed by Tom Arnkil’s workgroup. In this method, a group participating in dialogue places itself in a future moment (like a year from now) and ”recalls” together how they have ended up in that situation. Which things allowed a good development and who did what? Recalling the future -method was originally created for families in difficult life situations but it can be creatively applied to many different communities and situations. Reminiscence of the future can be used in, for example, developing a work community, organization’s strategy work, or coaching a sports team, as well as searching for solutions to worldwide problems.

Communally created vision changes the world

With the power of imagination and play, we can also create future visions that guide the activities of the community in question. Dialogue helps to make the visions vivid; ambitious enough but at the same time realistic and genuinely shared. Exhilarating visions live in people’s mental images in various ways. Alongside concrete plans, a lively vision can also include powerful images, moods that evoke emotions, and intellectually bright ideas.

Dialogical conversation also helps to make the vision ambitious enough in a way that it still remains realistic enough. When creating the vision, dialogue’s participants can think remarkably carefully in which ways (and with which kinds of causations) the desired future could be accomplished in reality. However, the journey to the future does not always require a detailed map. The most important thing is that the vision of the future excites and helps individuals to steer their own powers to a shared goal.

Dialogue can also help to create a future vision that is built in a genuinely communal way. When people feel that they have participated in the shaping of the community’s future vision, they are usually also more committed to taking it forward. Not everyone has to see the vision exactly in same way. It is enough that everyone understands how precisely they can take the vision forward in everyday activities. Then even small acts help to advance the common good, and the individual can feel like being a part of a community where precisely their unique contribution has an irreplaceable meaning. Visions of the future, that deeply move individuals, can change the world – actually they are the only powers in our use to create the future we want.

FACILITATOR’S CHECKLIST

Listen to the participant’s expressions of future visions: worries, hopes, assumptions, and guesses.
Pay attention to how the participants express their relationship with the future in their physical postures, gestures, facial expressions, and tones. Ask for the meaning of these expressions if necessary. ”I notice that you are quite irritated with thing X. What kind of worries about the future do you relate to it?”
Articulate the hopes, worries, assumptions, and guesses emerging in the conversation. ”Many of you have brought up that changes in thing X would not bring wanted results. Then what will follow as a result of this change in your opinion?”
Actively encourage imagining the future. ”You are very excited about X. Tell more about how you see things developing in the future.”
Help participants to specify and refine their visions of the future with the help of the experiences brought up by others. ”After listening to each other, have your perceptions of the future somehow changed: become more precise, more diverse, or even entirely different?”
Choose some possible vision of the future and develop it with the help of a playful conversation. ”Let us stop at thing X for a moment. Let us imagine together that it will come true. What do you think would follow from it for yourselves, other people, and more broadly to our world?

Finnish dialogue is spreading around the world

Timeout-Foundation

Text Kai Alhanen, Janne Kareinen

Julkaistu 29.1.2021

At first it may sound surprising that dialogical practices from Finland are spreading around the world, as Finns do not usually consider themselves particularly skilled in conversation. However, this spread is no made-up advertisement nor even a completely new phenomenon. Dialogical practices and knowledge about dialogue developed in Finland have been valued for a long time. In recent years, this interest has grown significantly.

Read the article on Timeout-Foundation’s website.

Life in Finland during the lockdown

Text

Julkaistu 27.4.202027.4.2020

Anxiety about others and oneself, the strengthening of communality, the blaming and the guilt, the astonishment and joy in relation to the digital leap, the acknowledgement of social injustices and the reflecting on an uncertain future. These were all issues at the front of people’s minds on the first in a series of Lockdown Dialogues arranged to take place on a single day in different parts of Finland.

Over 200 people took part in the dialogues, which consisted of diverse participants: parents of young children, teachers, young people, pensioners, association activists, prisoners on parole, immigrants, managers, entrepreneurs, freelancers, cultural workers, researchers, state and municipal workers. Life in Finland during the lockdown was examined from the viewpoints of a variety of individuals and communities; simultaneously revealing a general view of the new state of our society.

What became evident in the dialogues is that – even though each individual is experiencing the lockdown in their own way – almost everyone had similar anxieties and safe havens. On the one hand, the crisis is revealing the significance of the roles of family, home, work and school. On the other hand, participants’ worries extended beyond their immediate surroundings, notably towards the vulnerable in Finnish society and those suffering in other countries. The crisis seems to have brought to the surface both an awareness of privilege and the will to help others less fortunate. For many individuals, however, the kinds of practical channels through which they might help seem difficult to access.

What is apparent is that the crisis brought on by the corona virus has obscured any clear view of the future for individuals and communities. The dialogues reflected upon how lives have been and will be further altered due to the crisis, and, moreover, how Finland and the whole world will also change. A general feeling amongst participants was that we have arrived at a turning point and there is no going back to what was previously considered the norm. Nonetheless, many expressed a hope that something good may also come out of this.

The Lockdown Dialogues

The general concept

The Lockdown Dialogues offer citizens and communities the possibility for constructive dialogues during the strains of the lockdown. The concept is to hold a regular series of discussions that will continue for as long as necessary. These dialogues will help to build an understanding of what it is like to live in a world under these unusual circumstances.

The numerous dialogues will help form a comprehensive overall view of how different communities experience these unprecedented circumstances; what are their challenges and strengths, as well as how public authorities are responding to the continuously changing situation. The synopses of these dialogues can be utilized in different ways by states and municipalities and can also aid the work of operators in civil societies. The Lockdown Dialogues can help maintain peace in societies during these demanding and unsteady times.

The benefits

Citizens are offered a safe space to collectively reflect and analyse their experiences of the lockdown.
The dialogues offer relief to peoples’ worries and anxieties in the midst of the uncertainty brought on by the crisis.
Potential support for new ideas that citizens come up with for sustaining oneself during the crisis.
Authorities can gain current and extensive reviews of citizens’ experiences.

Target groups

All citizens are invited to participate in the dialogues. Particular attention is paid to assure that people from different demographic groups are invited to participate, especially individuals in vulnerable circumstances.

The agents

The core agents are the steering groups of the Lockdown Dialogues, the people who arrange the dialogues, the authorities who utilize the reviews, the facilitators, support groups, and members of media. The people who organize the dialogues are assisted by written instructions and are expected to commit to delivering a synopsis of the discussions held. The facilitators’ support group will consist of dialogue professionals. The steering group will ensure that the organizers of the dialogues will reach agents from the public, private, and third sectors.

The implementation

The dialogues are to be held every second week. The topic of the dialogues is: “Life in a locked down world”.

The discussions will be structured around three questions:

What are you worried about at present?
What makes you feel confident at the moment?
What kind of ideas could we share and develop to ease being in lockdown?

The dialogues will continue for as long as the situation and its effects continue to prevail.

The schedules and organizers of the dialogues will be displayed publicly for citizens to see in good time before the dialogues take place. The dialogues will be carried out according to valid instructions from authorities either online or face to face. Each dialogue will be documented, and a comprehensive synopsis will be sent to the steering group, who will then compile a review every two weeks.

The tasks and the configuration of the steering group

The Lockdown Dialogue entity will be directed by the steering group, which is responsible for coordinating, planning, negotiating and passing on the reviews to the authorities. In Finland, the steering group members are Dialogue Academy, Ministry of Finance and Timeout Foundation.

The frameworks of the dialogues and support materials

Every agent can arrange the dialogues at a suitable time for themselves. The topic of the dialogue can be defined to suit each agency. The organizers will receive support materials which will help the process of inviting participants and provide tips to assist in the facilitation of the dialogues. The facilitators of the dialogues will receive help with how to manage challenging discussions and will be given personal coaching.