In our Dialogist training you will learn the basics of dialogue, facilitating it and adapting it to different types of work or group situations. You will learn how to act in dialogue and to affect discussions with your own actions in a way that directs the interaction in a constructive direction. You will also learn to use dialogue as a tool of self-knowledge and understand what a dialogical approach means.

At the core of dialogue is a learning process which is based on the interaction of people’s different experiences. This approach emphasises reflective investigation of one’s own and others’ experiences, listening to different views respectfully, direct speech, a constructive attitude towards conflicts and trying to find new connections.

For whom?

The training is for people who work with clients, or develop or direct the action of teams, work communities, personnel or networks, as well as for anyone interested in dialogue.

Benefits

• You will learn the basics of dialogue, and directing and adapting it to different types of work or group situations
• You will reach deeper dialogue in different groups and communities
• You will learn about using dialogue in meetings, discussions and development work
• You can practice participating in different types of dialogue
• You can conduct your own dialogical experiments
• You will get to know literature from the field

The structure and schedule of the training

The training consists of five days of contact teaching as well as reading literature, dialogue experiments and small group meetings outside the contact teaching days. In addition to the contact teaching days, you should reserve time for planning the experiments, implementing them and reflecting on them, as well as for small group meetings between training days.

Price

The price of the training is 900 euros (+ VAT 24%).

The price includes the contact teaching days as well as the materials shared to participants and the instructions for working between the training days as well as morning and afternoon coffee on the training days.

Trainers

Olli-Pekka Ahtiainen is an experienced professional in dialogical work supervision and training. He has broad expertise in using dialogue in leadership, work supervision, developing work communities and networks and training. He also coaches many managers in different fields of expert work.

Anne Kansanaho is a work supervisor and trainer who has introduced dialogical methods in practice to countless work communities and work groups.

Katriina Lehti is a trainer and work supervisor. She has many years of experience in working with different types of groups, work communities and managers.

Contents of the contact teaching days

1. The basics/fundamentals of dialogue

During the first training day, the participants will be introduced to the basics of dialogue. Dialogue is approached as a discussion with a focus on learning from people’s different experiences. This is supported by cooperational skills such as listening, connecting, direct speech, addressing tensions, and observing new connections. Already on the first day, the participants will get to practice dialogue.

2. Directing dialogue

During the second training day, we will focus on directing dialogue. Here we focus on both directing a group as well as specific questions related to directing dialogue. The participants gain tools to plan and implement directing dialogue. The participants can practice these methods together during the training day.

3. Dialogue in work community structures

During the third training day, we delve deeper into using dialogue in the everyday work of communities and organisations, especially in meetings, discussions and development. The participants learn to create situations that enable dialogical interaction at work and they understand their significance to cooperation.

4. Challenging situations

The theme of the fourth training day is using dialogue in challenging situations. Dialogue can help to address tensions in communities and can prevent conflicts from escalating. The participants gain tools to participate in challenging situations as well as for working as a director in these.

5. Ending seminar

During the final day we discuss the practical experiments conducted during the training process and learn from others’ experiences.

Small groups

The participants from groups of 3 to 4, that meet in between the contact teaching days. In these groups, the participants help each other plan and implement experiments. The small groups also act as reading groups.

We recommend

After the Dialogist training we recommend either the Timeout facilitator or Dialogical Leadership training as well as joining the group formed from the participants of the training.

You can also request a tailored training for your own organisation.