Improving the Quality of Conversations

Conversations lie at the heart of managerial work. Managers talk. It is through talk that they teach and inspire, motivate and provide feedback, plan and take decisions. Conversations lie at the heart of how companies develop new ideas, share knowledge and experience, and enhance individual and collective learning.

Yet, in most companies, very little attention is paid to the quality of conversations. As a result, a vast majority of conversations tend to be dehydrated, ritualised talk that add no value to anyone. Most conversations in most companies tend to be either uninteresting or irrelevant.

What does it take to build a context in which exciting conversations can occur, so that people can learn something new about themselves or others, discover new insights, hear and make counter-intuitive arguments, and come to creative and novel solutions to problems? How can companies improve the quality of conversations in their organisations?

A MAP OF CONVERSATIONS

Over the last five years we have been listening to conversations in companies all over the world. Some of these conversations were positive and exuberant, others dark and brooding. Certainly many were dehydrated and ritualised, simply re-visiting old topics - the same people saying the same things. But others were not. At OgilvyOne, we saw how chief executive officer (CEO) Reimers Thedens engaged the executive team in a conversation about the future which was to be the key to the success of the endeavour. At BP, we heard how people from across the organisation participated in rich and meaningful conversations within their peer groups about how to improve the performance of their businesses.

Some of these conversations were purely rational. They were conversations in which hard facts were debated and agreed, and often were the precursors to the making of decisions. Much of our understanding of the rules and norms of these conversations date back to 500 BC, when Socrates strolled the avenues of Athens cross-examining his fellow citizens. He used conversations to analyse matters in a systematic way: by examining facts and beliefs in a logical manner. We saw this systematic logic and analytical rigour in Royal Dutch Shell, as managers considered a new investment proposal. Such conversations build a shared understanding of the situation and create the foundations for rational and robust group decision making. Here the god is reason.

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