Dialogue is an ambiguous term, one for which people have many different meanings.  As the Dialogue Zone defines it, dialogue is “a communicative process in which people with different perspectives seek understanding.” However, dialogue does not always go smoothly, nor is it always easy.

Dialogue involves risk.  In this post, we offer some suggestions based on our experience in the Dialogue Zone about creating an environment in which participants feel capable of disclosing their authentic and genuine selves and maintaining it once it has been established.

How can we resist this urge to avoid political topics with others, the exploration of which is so important to the well-functioning of our democratic society?  Here are seven tips for exploring these topics through dialogue rather than partisan debate.

Dialogue can function as a powerful pedagogical mechanism in a classroom.  Dialogue invites students into the educational process as active protagonists who are learning how to engage the world in which they live in ways meaningful to them rather than passive recipients of the information that someone else provides.

Dialogue can be a valuable part of a larger process of collective action.  Through dialogue, participants can build mutual understanding before, during, or after specific steps are taken.  In such cases, dialogue can infuse a line of action on the part of a group or organization with the potential for individual and collective learning.  

Dialogue provides a lens for responding to others when someone tells inappropriate, even harmful jokes.  In this post, we explore a four-step method for listening and responding in such situations.