Oh this one caught my attention immediately.  I relate to this on so many levels.  Dialogue with people is so important to me.  One thing people don’t know about me when they first meet me is this: I talk a lot, but I don’t come across that way because I’m usually afraid to share my opinions on things.  There are issues in today’s world that I’ve thought about for a while and I feel like I can have an educated discussion with someone. However, I’m much better at dialogue with people in environment that is not facilitated.  I don’t feel comfortable sharing my thoughts in formal discussions, but it interesting to see how facilitators play a key role in discussions.  Laurie Mulvey is an executive director of World in Conversation, and she explains how people often find it difficult to engage in a good dialogue specifically because we need facilitators.

We also need to have honesty and openness when it comes to having a discussion.  This is what I have the most trouble with.  I’m very open to hearing whatever someone has to say even if I don’t agree with them, but more often than not that same courtesy is usually not extended to me.  It’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older, but more outspoken people sometimes make me feel like my opinion is invalid even though I know it’s not.  In general, social media has allowed people to engage in conversation with people all over the world and it gives people a place to express themselves.  Some people even feel more comfortable expressing their opinions on social media. This is not the case for me, but I still see social media as a valuable tool for conversation when used properly.

Mulvey also discusses the importance of having a “listening mindset” and I totally agree with her.  I often feel when we have facilitated conversations people are so focused on what they want to say that they forget they are supposed to be listening to other people as well.  Half the reason I talk so much is because I go off what someone else has said and I add my own feelings on the topic.  When the other person is listening, this makes for a more dynamic and educational dialogue.  Arguing both sides is also a good thing to be able to do as a facilitator. I do this all the time because part of making a good argument is to be able to see the another side of an issue, and then being able to refute someone else’s argument (not that this would be what a facilitator is necessarily doing, but it’s still a good skill to have). This makes your claim stronger and gets the other side to think, and vice versa.  I totally agree that it’s also good to know when to stop a conversation, but hopefully this happens naturally. I’ve never been in a discussion where that hasn’t happened.

I think this podcast was my favorite out of all of them.  I think it’s crucial that we as a society are able to have good facilitated discussions, but it also important we talk about how we should have these types of dialogue.