FIFTEEN STRATEGIES FOR DIALOGUE

From The Magic of Dialogue, by Daniel Yankelovich

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1. Err on the side of including people who disagree.
   
   
2. Initiate dialogue through a gesture of empathy.
   
   
3. Check for the presence of all three core requirements of dialogue—equality, empathic listening, and surfacing assumptions nonjudgmentally—and learn how to introduce the missing ones.
   
   
4. Minimize the level of mistrust before pursuing practical objectives.
   
   
5. Keep dialogue and decision making compartmentalized.
   
   
6. Focus on common interests, not divisive ones.
   
   
7. Use specific cases to raise general issues.
   
   
8. Bring forth your own assumptions before speculating on those of others.
   
   
9. Clarify assumptions that lead to subculture distortions.
   
   
10. Where applicable, identify mistrust as the real source of misunderstandings.
    
    
11. Expose old scripts to a reality check.
    
    
12. Focus on conflicts between value systems, not people.
    
    
13. Be sure trust exists before addressing transference distortions.
    
    
14. When appropriate, express the emotions that accompany strongly held values.
    
    
15. Encourage relationships in order to humanize transactions.

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