Dialogue skills
Dialogue skills are essential for joyful, productive collaboration and meaningful connections across personal, professional, and community settings. Rooted in respect for human dignity and inspired by Nonviolent Communication, Marjeta’s approach empowers individuals to connect at the level of deeply held values, needs, and aspirations—fostering understanding and sparking innovative solutions.
Dialogue skills encompass both an inner game (mindset, self-awareness, and personal choices) and an outer game (the words we choose, actions we take, and our impact on others).
The inner game involves cultivating openness, curiosity, and empathy, while the outer game focuses on clear expression, respectful listening, and actions that align with our intentions.
Together, these skills create an ‘operating system’ that enables genuine connection and fosters collaborative solutions.
Where dialogue skills make a difference:
- Building meaningful and effective partnerships and collaborations
- Resolving workplace tensions and fostering team alignment
- Bridging divides in polarized settings
- Facilitating multi-stakeholder strategic dialogues on complex issues
- Enhancing leadership effectiveness and decision-making
- Engaging respectfully with challenging participants, clients, or colleagues
- Promoting open, inclusive learning in educational environments
- Creating safe spaces in social and civic activism
- Strengthening family and personal relationships
Nonviolent Communication (one of the key inspirations for Marjeta's dialogic approach) was developed by Dr Marshall Rosenberg (one of Marjeta's direct teachers), and has been rapidly spreading around the world. Marjeta belongs to the global community of CNVC-certified trainers.
Key dialogue aspects and skills:
- What makes dialogue transformative
- Intention and impact in dialogue
- Needs-based awareness and choice-making
- Seeing the bigger picture – together
- Deep listening and empathetic understanding
- Speaking truth without blame
- Balancing advocacy and inquiry
- Integrating agreement and dissent
- Prioritizing connection before solutions
