Online Dialogue Guide

The necessity, across every industry, to quickly and effectively adapt to online communication during the pandemic has ushered in new methods and practices addressing a variety of needs—from internal communications via email and chat applications to external communications like hosting webinars or conducting important meetings.

But, what about the difficult conversations? Those that, in non-pandemic times, you would only conduct in-person if you wanted a positive result? For navigating those conversations in a virtual world, insights from experts could be key to a breakthrough. Convergence, an organization committed to “convening individuals and organizations with divergent views to build trust, identify solutions, and form alliances for action on critical national issues,” has introduced an Online Dialogue Guide. The guide provides a blueprint for translating those difficult (but necessary), in-person conversations to virtual platforms through targeted techniques, tips, and tools.

Categories covered include Doing Your Homework before inviting participants, Shaping Conversations for Collaboration, Creating Ground Rules, Sharing Values Fears, and Interests, Creating Opportunities for Learning Together, and much more. The guide was created to support “dialogue-leading-action-work” that focuses on identifying common ground across diverse perspectives. It’s an incredibly useful resource for educators and learning communities eager to help young people grow their effective communication, debate, collaboration, and leadership skills. And, for community conversations aimed at developing a new vision for education and learning.