| Debate |
Dialogue |
| Pre-meeting communication between sponsors and
participants is minimal and largely irrelevant to what follows.
|
Pre-meeting contacts and preparation of
participants are essential elements of the full process.
|
| Participants tend to be leaders known for
propounding a carefully crafted position. The personas displayed in the
debate are usually already familiar to the public. The behavior of the
participants tends to conform to stereotypes.
|
Those chosen to participate are not necessarily
outspoken “leaders.” Whoever they are, they speak as individuals whose
own unique experiences differ in some respect from others on their
“side.” Their behavior is likely to vary in some degree and along some
dimensions from stereotypic images others may hold of them.
|
| The atmosphere is threatening; attacks and
interruptions are expected by participants and are usually permitted by
moderators.
|
The atmosphere is one of safety; facilitators
propose, get agreement on, and enforce clear ground rules to enhance
safety and promote respectful exchange.
|
| Participants speak as representatives of groups.
|
Participants speak as individuals, from their own
unique experience.
|
| Participants speak to their own constituents and,
perhaps, to the undecided middle.
|
Participants speak to each other.
|
| Differences within “sides” are denied or
minimized.
|
Differences among participants on the same “side”
are revealed, as individual and personal foundations of beliefs and
values are explored.
|
| Participants express unswerving commitment to a
point of view, approach, or idea.
|
Participants express uncertainties, as well as
deeply held beliefs.
|
| Participants listen in order to refute the other
side’s data and to expose faulty logic in their arguments. Questions
are asked from a position of certainty. These questions are often
rhetorical challenges or disguised statements.
|
Participants listen to understand and gain
insight into the beliefs and concerns of the others. Questions are
asked from a position of curiosity. |
| Statements are predictable and offer little new
information.
|
New information surfaces.
|
| Success requires simple impassioned statements.
|
Success requires exploration of the complexities
of the issue being discussed.
|
| Debates operate within the constraints of the
dominant public discourse. (The discourse defines the problem and the
options for resolution. It assumes that fundamental needs and values
are already clearly understood.)
|
Participants are encouraged to question the
dominant public discourse, that is, to express fundamental needs that
may or may not be reflected in the discourse and to explore various
options for problem definition and resolution. Participants may
discover inadequacies in the usual language and concepts used in the
public debate.
|
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