My junior year, I took the course on the topic of intergroup dialogue, and learned more concrete life skills than ever before in a classroom. Senior year I joined the program as a facilitator, leading a section of the course with 2 co-facilitators.

The difference between discussion, debate, and dialogue matters.

What is dialogue?

It's a conversation with the goal of mutual understanding and finding connection. Dialogue is a steady state, remains open-ended and sometimes unresolved.

In my mind, it's a method of engaging in conversation that mitigates the defensiveness that may come along with certain topics. Hopefully, using dialogue can make it easier for participants to maintain open minds when presented with new information.

see more definitions here

How to engage in dialogue?

A common motto in the program is "replace judgement with curiosity." One way to do that is with the LARA method— not only is this a tool for dialogue, but it's also a good place to start with helping someone in emotional distress.

• Listen with empathy while suspending judgment, truly trying to understand without analyzing how to respond & setting agendas aside
• Affirm the speaker's feelings or values that you may share or appreciate. This can be done without agreeing with the speaker, as you're just making observations.
• Respond with "I" statements and without assuming the experiences of others.
• Ask &/ Add more. Open-ended questions in particular can help you clarify the speaker's perspective and dig deeper (if the speaker is willing to share).

Some general guidelines for dialogue

• Accept that things may remain unresolved. The only goal of dialogue is to try to understand others, not to convince.
• Avoid labels, along with assumptions & judgments (and perhaps, share what those preconceived notions may be).
• Speak to personal feelings grounded in lived experiences.
• Be open to reconsidering when presented with new information.