Technique: Question, Dialogue, Weave, Synthesize

1. Open-ended (not looking for yes or no)
2. Invite sharing about what is known on a particular topic
3. No right or wrong answers
4. Question should be open to many possible answers, different points of view
5. Questions that 'encourage' participation
6. Powerful opening for conversation
7. Questions designed to draw distinctions

Caution: Only ask questions to which you truly want to know the participants answers. If you know THE answer to a question, don't ask it -simply give the information.

Expertise is a blessing and a curse - the more you know about your subject the less genuine your questions will appear to be.

When asking questions, put yourself in learner mode. The most effective TeleClasses are ones in which the facilitators want to learn new things as well -every class can be this opportunity.

Some helpful suggestions:

1. In order to access your creativity and wisdom we suggest you use the following types of questions: Who, What, When, and How?
2. It is usually the "What" question that forces us to be specific in our query and being specific leads to awareness and solutions; on the other hand, asking "Why?" leaves you with only the question.
3. We suggest open-ended questions (no right or wrong / Yes or No answers). This shuts down the flow of connection and conversation. We want to avoid judging and create space for conversation. This is not Q & A.
4. Encourage people to share personal experiences that will relieve the pressure of giving a wrong answer (this also encourages situational application of information fro integration).
5. To find the appropriate "What" question to ask, you must change the focus from details & information to outcomes.

Key Point - Good questions pull your participants into the conversation and give you the opportunity to share your key points as you interact.

Examples:
'What is it about leading a Teleclass that interests you?'
'What do you most want your participants to learn from you?'

Note: Research shows that the general length of time a learner will take to formulate an answer to a question is 10-60 seconds (average 30 sec), depending upon the depth of the answer or whether they have ever been asked this question before.
What is the average length of time that the questioner usually allows for the response? 3-10 seconds. . .

Those participants who are formulating the answer are not feeling the silence. They are thinking about the answer. The facilitator is usually the one who is uncomfortable. The basis of your questions needs to be one of curiosity. Always have a reason for your question.

"Genuine listening means suspending memory, desire and judgment--and, for a moment at least, existing for the other person."
-Michael P. Nichols

As a TeleClass leader it is important to encourage dialogue and discourage one-to-one conversation. This is known as cross-talking. Encourage all comments to be directed 'into the group' and all questions directed to you.

Each voice, both the facilitator's and the responder's speak 'into the group'. One voice will speak the minds of many of the callers and a new piece of information is also available to everyone.

If callers start speaking to one another, interrupt and participate in guiding the comments so that they will have the net effect of being part of the general exchange of information.

Facilitating a dialogue is a one-person job. If co-facilitating choose beforehand who will facilitate each segment. The Leader can then respond directly to the person who has shared and begin the weave.

What is the difference between discussion and dialogue?
Dialogue is a way of being in conversation.

"When they are productive, discussions converge on a conclusion or course of action. On the other hand, dialogues are diverging; they do not seek agreement, but a richer grasp of complex issues."
-Dialogue vs Discussion - Excerpt from The Magic Of Dialogue by Daniel Yankelovich

Dialogue assumes that many people have pieces of the answer and that together they can craft a solution.
It is collaborative conversation: participants work together toward common understanding

1. About exploring common ground
2. Listening to understand, find meaning and agreement
3. Re-examining all positions
4. Admitting that others' thinking can improve on one's own
5. Searching for strengths and value in others' positions
6. Discovering new options, not seeking closure

The difference between dialogue and discussion?
Mutual trust needs to be built before participants of unequal status can open up honestly with one another.

Three distinctive features of dialogue differentiate it from discussion. When all three are present, conversation is transformed into dialogue.

When any one or more of the three features are absent, it is discussion or some other form of talk, but it is not dialogue.

1. Equality and the absence of coercive influences -all participants must be treated equally. Outside the context of the dialogue there may be large status differences. In the dialogue itself equality must reign.
2. Listening with Empathy - the ability of participants to respond with unreserved empathy to the views of others. The gift of empathy - the ability to think someone else's thoughts and feel someone else's feelings - is indispensable to dialogue. If there is discussion without participants responding empathically to one another, it is discussion, not dialogue.
3. Bringing assumptions into the open - without judgments. The theorists of dialogue also concur that unlike discussion, dialogue must be concerned with bringing forth people's most deeply rooted assumptions. In a dialogue participants are encouraged to examine their own assumptions and those of other participants. Once these assumptions are in the open, they are not to be dismissed out of hand but considered with respect even when participants disagree with them.

Weaving Introduce, anchor and / or reinforce key points by responding to a participant contribution and then segueing into the group:

We are all speaking in to the whole circle:
i.e. "Thank you Linda. That is an important element of a good question. What I like about what Linda has said is. . ."
Some other elements of great questions are. . ..
Weaving is up to the facilitator:

1. Weave the points of content that are not spoken.
2. Paraphrase rephrase, anchor, reinforce the key points from the participants.
3. Artful weaving includes balancing the talking and the listening.

In addition to weaving points raised by participants, this technique provides an opportunity to creatively add in other pieces of information through the segment rather than reciting a list at the beginning or the end.

Synthesizing

Learners rave about gaining the ability to synthesize 10 different things people are saying into a single crystallized statement and this can be modelled consistently by the facilitator.

Ask YOUR participants to talk about how they would do this. Meaning:

1. Ask any question, get different answers/view
2. Ask participants where they would go NOW given the 10 answers.
3. Challenge them to find a way to crystallize/synthesize to come up with a solution/answer that includes the best of everyone's thinking.

Summarizing at the end of Call Segments - after each section of Q-D-W summarize the key points that were made during the dialogue.