If you want to keep the lines of communication open, you need to be flexible and humble enough to keep an open mind. Remember, you are not ALWAYS right!
In dialogue you stand your ground but you also have to be profoundly open. Just as you express your opinions, feelings, values, and ideas clearly, you also need to be willing to listen openly to those of others.
Why should I be open?
Littlejohn and Domenici in their book Engaging communication in conflict write that by listening to others who are different from you with openness, you may:
- Learn more about your own experience and why you believe as you do.
- Understand the position and experience of others better than you did before.
- Discover important differences among people who take the same side on the issue.
- Discover share concerns and common ground among those with whom you disagree.
- Come to respect the other participants in the dialogue.
- Come to realize that the issue is far more complex than you thought.
- Come better able to live with ambiguity and fuzziness.
- Learn new ways to frame the issue.
- Discover new ways to talk productively about the issue.
- Discover that old animosities and hostilities can be reduced.
- Find ways of working together despite your differences.
In dialogue you have to be willing to open your mind to try and see things from the other person’s eyes. As a leader you can promote that type of openness
in your emails,
in the way you conduct your meetings,
in the time you employ listening,
in the physical spaces you create to encourage conversations,
in the inspirational message you deliver at company-wide meeting. . .
you get the idea!
It takes discipline to park the ego at the door and remain open to hear and seek other's thoughts and input. Encouraging openness in dialogue will help in harvesting the diverse thoughts of your people into something useful.
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