Practicing Dialogue/Daily Practicing Dialogue Checklist

Two people practicing dialogue

Here’s a daily practice checklist inspired by the Practicing Dialogue course from Wikiversity. It’s designed to gradually build your dialogue skills, aligned with the course’s structure and assignments.[1]

1. Reflect on What Dialogue Is

  • Start your session by recalling the essence of dialogue: a candid exchange where pure listening, mutual understanding, and co-creation thrive.
  • Set an intention for the day—e.g., “I’ll practice balanced inquiry and advocacy today.”

2. Balance Inquiry & Advocacy

  • Think of how you’ll ask questions (inquiry) and share your thoughts (advocacy) in a balanced way during your exchanges.
  • Daily action: Notice one moment when you speak up and one when you genuinely listen.

3. Adapt Dynamic Roles

  • Recognize the shifts between speaker and listener, or between sharing your view and opening space for others.
  • Daily action: Practice both roles consciously, even within the same conversation.

4. Differentiate Matters of Fact

  • Identify statements that are facts, not opinions, and treat them as such—use evidence, not debate.
  • Daily action: In a conversation or written note, label one statement as “fact” and one as “opinion.”

5. Recognize & Overcome Obstacles

Cultivating dialogue may encounter several barriers:

  • Fear, distractions, external constraints, poor communication, bad faith interactions.
  • Daily reflection: Which obstacle affected you today? How might you address it tomorrow?

6. Recover Dialogue When Needed

  • If a conversation goes off-track, pause, recalibrate roles, or explicitly ask to refocus on mutual understanding.
  • Daily action: Practice a gentle redirect, e.g., "Can we slow down for clarity here?"

7. Manage Conversations with Strategic Phrases

Incorporate effective conversational tools from the “Phrases for managing conversations” section:

Category Example Phrases
Opening space “Can you tell me more about that?”“Could you give an example?”
Keeping focus “I think we're getting off topic—let's return to the main point.”
Clarifying “Can you clarify what you mean by ___?”
  • Daily action: Choose one phrase to consciously weave into a conversation.

8. Affirm Your Practice

Anchor yourself with affirmations drawn from the “Wise Affirmations” inspired by this course:

  • Select 2–3 affirmations and repeat them, either silently or aloud:
    • “You listen to understand during dialogue.”
    • “You are guided by curiosity and discovery.”
    • “You balance advocacy and inquiry.”
  • Daily action: Choose affirmations that resonate today and reflect on them during or after dialogue.

9. End-of-Day Reflection

  • Journal for 5 minutes: Which practice felt most natural today? Where did you notice progress—or need more practice?
  • Note at least one highlight and one area to build on tomorrow.

Sample Daily Template

Step Activity
1. Mindset Reflect on dialogue as co-created thought and set today’s dialogue intention.
2. Role Balance Share and listen in a recent conversation—spot the balance.
3. Identify Facts vs. Opinions Label one factual statement and one opinion as such.
4. Obstacles Check Recognize any barriers that came up today.
5. Recovery Practice If conversation stalled, how did you steer it back?
6. Phrase Use Use one strategic phrase (e.g., “Can you clarify…?”).
7. Daily Affirmation Repeat 2–3 affirmations like “You listen to understand…”.
8. Reflect Journal briefly on what went well and what to build tomorrow.
  1. ↑ ChatGPT generated this text responding to the prompt: :Generate a daily practicing dialogue checklist based on the materials at: https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Practicing_Dialogue”.
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