Nancy Dixon has a meaty post up about some of the things that undermine group conversations. I’m often inclined to say “can’t we just talk” when offered a complicated way of organising things, but of course it’s not as simple as that as Nancy’s post elaborates.
I was particularly interested in the bits about how power(status) differentials diminish the effectiveness of groups. It reminded me of Matthew May’s story which really dramatised this point.
I also liked this reference to research Nancy found:
Culture is localized. It is not the culture of the organization that encourages or discourages the learning behaviors needed for effective reflection on complex issues, it is the culture developed within each specific team.
