Dialogue is the most basic way to exchange ideas. Ideas lead to innovation, and without the opportunity provided by casual—or not so casual—conversations, ideas are likely to go unnoticed or unacted upon. For a company that wants to stay ahead of the competition, breakthrough conversations are a necessity.
The right environment can do wonders for supporting openness and growth. To find out more, nine members of the Forbes Business Council, below, share some of the approaches that businesses can use to encourage conversations that could improve their organizations’ operations, as well as help them achieve their goals. Here is what they advise:
1. Break Through Your Own Thought Patterns
Get out of the office. Have walking meetings. Work from a museum café, a park or another inspiring spot that can spark your imagination. Drive a different route home. Ask for ideas from the colleague you least often agree with. Then encourage your team members to do the same. I’m always amazed at the ideas that surface and the conversations that follow when I release myself from routine. - Jenny Dearborn, Actionable Analytics Group
2. Ask For Honest Feedback, External And Internal
At the end of each session, ask your client and your team the question, "What's your biggest takeaway?" This gives you two breakthroughs: Firstly, it allows them to consolidate the biggest impact, and secondly, it helps you see what is important to both your client and your team. It is beneficial to identify what people think were the best parts, so make sure to focus on that—the same applies to the bad! - Jeff J Hunter, BrandedMedia.io
3. Set Goals, Measure And Repeat
Set objectives and measurable goals, and then track against those goals regularly. If we weren’t constantly measuring data, there would be no way of knowing whether we will continue to be successful. We regularly discuss important business metrics with our teams to ensure that we’re on the mark to hit those goals. - Shobin Uralil, Lively, Inc.
4. Find Trusted Advisors
I collect trusted advisors. Some are customers or past customers, some are colleagues and industry influencers. Not only are these people whose opinion I value, they are people who I know will have strong opinions and are generous with them. I reach out to them periodically to review new offerings—generally things that I think they may benefit from, and get ideas on how to market them. - Norma Watenpaugh, PhoenixCG
5. Harness The Power Of Employee Voice
Inclusion is the key to continual improvement and success. People are the most valuable asset of any organization, and when shaping new strategies and policies, it's critical to ask for the perspectives of the employees who will be carrying out the work. If management expects people to buy into important decisions, it needs to make people part of an ongoing conversation about topics of interest. - Michael Papay, Waggl Inc.
6. Ensure Continuous And Open Dialogue
You can’t have breakthrough conversations if you aren’t having open dialogue along the way. It starts with continuous, open conversations and the willingness to deepen and iterate through challenges over time. It’s much easier to have the tough conversations if you already have those lines of communication open. If you aren’t doing that today, start. Start small and start building that muscle now. - Christine Tao, Sounding Board, Inc
7. Be Thoughtful But Brutally Honest
Radical transparency and candidness are the keys to breakthrough conversations. Being thoughtful but brutally honest in your take on a situation or person is critical—and not because you're always right, but because you're not. By staking out a firm, open position, you open yourself up to pushback during which you'll learn something new and amend your position. Or, you'll both agree. - Cameron Jacox, Lark Technologies, Inc.
8. Build Culture Conducive To Open Conversations
There's a lot of research on this topic and there's not really one right way to do this. One thing I believe strongly is one building an organization with some core foundational values, having a very open communication channel conducive to feedback both downstream and upstream. Bridgewater Associates, known for its radically truthful and transparent culture, is the perfect example. - Nishant Aggarwal, BlueWander
9. Solve For The Present From The Future
To have conversations of continuous improvement that lead to breakthrough, a business must be thinking ahead and exploring what its role will be in the future for the market and customer it serves. Imagine and rehearse living in future scenarios, think about what you did to get there, what change you made, who you changed and how, and then work your way back from the future to the present. - Kyle Hermans, be courageous