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In this episode I am joined by Dr. Olen Gunnlaugson who is an Assistant Professor in Leadership and Organizational Development in the Department of Management at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. The conversation begins with Olen sharing his life story in terms of what inspired this work personally as well as professionally. We then go on to explore some of the leverage points for enhancing the quality of conversation in groups. For instance, what is the role of silence, stillness and how can one skillfully overcome habitual and less creative conditioned patterns of communication? We also explore the inherent challenges and opportunities of working with presencing and dialogue-based methods inside academic and business settings. Olen then goes further into his thinking concerning conversation as an improvisational art form and social practice. Towards the end of the interview, Olen speaks about the creative potential that emerges from this work and we close with reflections concerning our process. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts after the interview.
We reference the work of Otto Scharmer several times and draw attention to the “four fields of conversation,” which has been apart of Olen’s research, MBA and graduate teaching and more recently, apart of his emerging work in conversational leadership, a form of collective leadership that brings about collective intelligence processes and outcomes in coaching, groups, teams and organizations as a whole.
(Image: Presencing Institute)
Episode links:
Olen Gunnlaugson CV
Otto Scharmer
David Bohm
A complexity Perspective on Presencing, article by Olen Gunnlaugson (pdf)
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