Dialogue
Engage in earnest, empathetic and meaningful communication with others.
collaboration requires meaningful communication, but our skills were mostly developed in a context of competition where clear communication is a disadvantage.
When human conversation a based around talking at each other rather than with each other, relationships are damaged and starved for connection.
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Dialogue comes down to two, maybe a few more (trialogue?) people talking to each other. It differs from other forms of talking—argument, discussion or debate—in its intention to create shared understanding between the two parties. It’s a cooperative form of conversation, used among people trying to work together toward a common goal, even if they disagree how to get there.
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According to an article by Glenna Gerard and Linda Ellinor, “The core skills and practices of dialogue are suspension of judgment, listening, reflection, assumption identification, and inquiry.” In this book, “inquiry” refers to the practice of looking inward, so I would suggest Clarifying Questions as an alternate phrase.
Therefore:
Engage in dialogue to learn from others and clarify what you are trying to accomplish together.
The base skills of Suspended Judgement, Listening, and Clarifying Questions are useful in many human interactions