What can be learned from the need for ORID Focused Conversations and for attention to the ladder of inference?

In Focused Conversations (Stanfield 1997, Nelson 2001) a group, which could be a class, a grass roots activist organization, or a business, addresses some challenging or difficult situation by proceeding through four stages:

• 1. Objective (getting the concrete facts, things observable by all)
• 2. Reflective (eliciting feelings and associations)
• 3. Interpretive (considering the meaning and significance)
• 4. Decisional (formulating a decision or an action)

ORID & 4Hs in Taking Yourself Seriously

Is there an equivalence between the ORID of the “Technology of Participation” and Head-Heart-Hands-Human Connections that is a framing theme (and graphic — see below) for the new book Taking Yourself Seriously: Processes of Research and Engagement?  (Jo Nelson of the Institute of Cultural Affairs, http://ica-associates.ca, suggested this.)

In the Technology of Participation, a Focused Conversation moves through a series of questions that begin with concrete things you Observed and move through feelings and associations (Reflective), on to Interpretations and finally get to the overall implications (Decisional).  Taking Yourself Seriously (p. 1) proposes that “for your research and writing to move along well, you need to align your questions and ideas, your aspirations, your ability to take or influence action, and your relationships with other people. These concepts can be shortened to head, heart, hands, and human connections.”

The correspondence might be:

• Objective (concrete things, actually observable by all) = Head
• Reflective (associations and feelings) = Heart
• Interpretive (meaning and significance) = Human Connections
• Decisional (implications for the future) = Hands

Now, ORID is a sequence and the 4Hs are intended to be underpinnings of research and writing that have to all work together.  It would be interesting to think about bringing the 4Hs — the gears — into alignment in the same order as ORID, that is, do that sequentially, not all at once.

Balance advocacy with inquiry in blogs?

“Balance advocacy—making a statement—with inquiry—seeking clarifications and understanding” is a basic guideline of the Dialogue Process. “In advocating do not impose your opinion, rather simply offer it as such. In inquiry seek clarification and a deeper level of understanding, not the exposure of weakness.”