Dialogs

What are Dialogs and How Can You Optimize Them?

Dialogs are highly interactive, team-based, open and collaborative.  Information bounces around the room; it does not all go through the leader.  Dialogs drive problem identification, discovery and problem-solving. They build team pride – they show that the organization is progressing and that individuals are making a difference.  Peers have high expectations regarding individual preparation and performance.  Dangling items are captured, and there is follow through.  Dialogs bring people and functions together to discuss progress-to-plan.  They provide a forum for reinforced accountability.  They create a team-based conversation around what people need to do to keep those functions moving successfully forward.  Of equal importance, they celebrate success and problem-solve any shortfalls.  They also build organization pride and productivity.  And the ringmaster who drives this pride and productivity is the leader.  

1. Individual Dialog (Monthly) – Mentees meet with their mentors to discuss personal development, insights, and concerns. Key takeaways from these meetings are shared in Department Dialogs.

2. Project Dialog (Bi-Weekly) – Teams working on projects meet every two weeks to review progress and challenges. Important insights from these discussions are also brought to Department Dialogs.

3. Department Dialog (Monthly) – Key department personnel gather to review findings from Individual and Project Dialogs, ensuring alignment and addressing broader departmental concerns.

4. Organization Dialog (Monthly) – Strategic planning takes place at the organizational level, incorporating insights from Department Dialogs to guide decision-making and long-term goals.

This structure ensures a continuous flow of communication, allowing insights to move from individual and project levels up to department and organization-wide discussions.

The organization, department, project and individual connections can all have dialogs. You can find the list of dialogs under the {Page Type} Dialogs tab, such as Organization/Department/Project/Individual or your equivalent keyword, on any of those pages.

How to Create / Edit / Delete

• Use the button in the page title for the dialog list page to create a new dialog for the current page. Fill out the fields in the form and use the Save button in the top right to save.
• Right click the dialog in the list to edit or delete a dialog.

Additional Information

• Dialog Completion:  In Connections, a dialog is marked as completed when either a new follow-up task or comment has been created on or after the dialog date has arrived.
  1. Create a follow-up task for the dialog.
     • These are usually tasks related to feedback in the dialog or preparation for the next dialog. If the task does not have a projected end date the PM dashboard will assume that the task is to be completed by the next dialog.
  2. Enter a comment on the dialog.
     • This message is usually related to content not covered in the agenda or comments about how the dialog went. Whenever a dialog cannot be held due to leave of absence or another reason, placing a comment in the dialog explaining why it couldn't be held will keep you from being dinged on the charts later.
• PM Expectations: it's expected that the organization, each department and individual has a dialog each month. For projects each active project (has an actual start date and no actual end date) is expected to hold a dialog every other week. These expectations will show on the dialog charts at the top of those respective page's dashboards and in some reports such as the individual performance report.
• Dialog Report: available on the dialog page under the page actions ⋮ button in the top right of the page. This report is a printer friendly version of the dialog data with options to hide content that's not needed.

Webinar: How to Create a Culture That Supports Dialogs