Conversation Theory

Gordon Pask (1928-1996) was a psychologist who contributed an important theory in the area of instructional psychology. So why do we care? The theory is called Conversation Theory and the fundamental idea is learning occurs through conversations about a subject matter which serve to make knowledge explicit. Due to the pace of change and the high level of service demanded by customers, learning in organizations is becoming more and more important. So, there are three interesting concepts I want to discuss about Conversation Theory that apply to how businesses works today.

First, knowledge is not explicit until both people understand it. That sounds circular, but its important to think about this. Whenever two people are talking they come from different backgrounds and experiences. Since everything we learn is informed by what we already know, then if we don't share a common history,  or common background of understanding, then we won't have the same understanding of what we are talking about. We call the common background of understanding "group norms". When someone from outside the group tries to participate in a conversation, they might not understand all the implicit concepts that the conversation is built on. You will see this whenever people from different specializations are dealing with each other. Sales doesn't understand the field. The field doesn't understand IT. IT doesn't understand Finance. Instead of forcing the other participant to understand something "obvious", take a moment to understand why it isn't obvious to the other person.

Second, concepts build on each other. You can't force the next concept until a dependent concept is understood. When Frank, the best man at my wedding, was trying to get his four year old daughter, Devon, to learn French, he had a teacher walk her around the neighborhood. The teacher walked around saying, "The French word for tree is [whatever the French work for tree is]." "The French word for house is ..." She spent about 30 minutes going through this with Devon. When they finished the walk, the teacher asked Devon if she had any questions. Devon responded, "Yes. What is a word?" The lesson was lost because they didn't share a common context for knowledge to become explicit in. Looking for what is not explicit in the background of understanding is a key step in resolving many conflicts and breakdowns in organizations.

Finally, Pask says we participate in different conversations in different ways. So we participate in conversations differently with our children then we do with our business partners or the rude person in the parking lot. The way we participate has to do with what we have seen or experienced as successful in other conversations. What's compelling here is that very few people take anytime to understand how they are participating. So while we might choose a way of participating that is in the best interest of the situation, we might not. If I had a dollar for every person who said, I can't understand this because I'm not technical or I'm not for the field I would have a lot more dollars that I do. They are making a choice to participate in a way that they prevents knowledge from becoming explicit. Understanding how we and others are participating in a conversation has a lot to do with how successful the conversation will be.

As you run into situations where there are breakdowns in communication, problems with understanding, or conflict between individuals, apply these two concepts. Instead of driving the "obvious" point home of assuming the other person is stupid is will never get it. As you work in your job, look for what is not in sync in the common background of understanding, try to understand what concepts are needed and relevant to make the point, and practice participating productively. With the growth of diversity, rapid changes, and the integration of concepts from multiple fields this is an important skill to begin to develop. If both parties can learn to look at these three concepts, tremendous advances can be made in improving collaboration. Do you see any points where these concepts would prove useful?