For what?
By "dialog" we mean the kind of conversations that change something in us when we participate in them and that move something between the people involved in the conversation. Dialogues are the place where we need to 'risk' being authentic and co-create a space where others can do the same (Andersen 2021). It is about challenging our habits of thinking and talking: listening with attention, speaking with intention and daring to turn the camera around to see ourselves and the roles we occupy within a system. In this dialog space, we seek to understand not through facts or intellectual knowledge, but by taking a different perspective, seeing through another person's eyes and story, and gaining a new sense of the environment to which the topic under discussion belongs. Complex topics are often discussed by experts and the management level of companies. However, giving space to the diverse voices in the company - the voices of the people who are directly affected by a decision, for example - opens up many more perspectives and blind spots can be identified.
This type of dialog needs to be exercised like a muscle on a regular basis to radically change the quality of any conversation - be it with one person or with hundreds of people.
Example
An important strategic decision is about to be made in the company that will be decisive for the coming years. The principles of dialog can also be applied to smaller decisions. What matters here is the scope of the issue and who is involved. This results in the decision as to whether and which option should be chosen for this conscious dialog.
For what?
The body scan method has its origins in Buddhist Vipassana meditation and is used as an important tool for sensing the inner state (Kirch 2021). The body scan can be performed at any time to take a look inside and become aware of your inner state by carefully exploring your own body. Through a body scan, you can find out what is going on inside on a physical level and gain access to your emotional world. After all, your inner state has a major influence on the content and quality of your interactions with others.
Example
The body scan can be understood as daily inner emotional hygiene and easily integrated into everyday life. Even when you wake up or drive to work, you can explore and consciously perceive tensions in your body with a short body scan. "How does this feel in my body? Where do I feel tension in my body?" In everyday business life, the tool can be used directly before important meetings. The exercise is also suitable for challenging situations or difficult decisions.
What matters
- During the body scan, the practitioner attentively registers all sensations that arise.
- The sensations are not evaluated, but viewed in a friendly and non-judgmental way.
- Everything perceived during the body scan is accepted, both the pleasant and the unpleasant.
- The aim is not only to reach deep inner insights through cognitive reflection, but also through the physical level, as this reflects our unconscious inner patterns.
- By taking a neutral look at our bodily sensations, we learn to react more calmly to the outside world and reduce our automatic, unconscious reaction behavior. In everyday situations that trigger us, we can consciously decide how to deal with them.
- Especially people who have lost access to their body and their emotional world can regain more awareness and perception through the body scan.
Step by step
Step 1
Creating a safe space: We often find it difficult to open the door on command.
perspective from the inside. The first step is to create a space for this. This can be a physical space, such as a room or office, or a mental space where you can switch off for a short time. With more experience in body scan, the exercise can be done anywhere and anytime by creating a mental space.
Step 2
Arrive in your body: This is about arriving in your own body and perceiving it as a whole. You can do the exercise lying on your back, sitting or standing. At the beginning, it is advisable to sit comfortably or do the exercise lying down if you are not too tired. By breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth a few times, you signal to your body to take a short break. With each inhalation, you consciously concentrate on the present moment, and with each exhalation you put aside the worries and thoughts that are still occupying you.
Step 3
Body scan: Now begin the actual body scan by mentally scanning your body. First focus your attention on your toes, then your feet, lower legs, knees and so on. Continue step by step, from body part to body part. Pay close attention to how each part of your body feels and how it makes you feel, without any judgment. Be like a silent observer. If any unpleasant or pleasant sensations arise, notice them and then let them go again neutrally. If your thoughts wander, consciously bring your attention back to the part of the body you were looking at last or help yourself
back to concentration with your breath.
Step 4
You can rest for a while after the body scan. You can
stretch briefly and then - resting in yourself - go back to work. You will become more practiced with each body scan.
Framework
Duration: approx. 5 - 10 minutes
Format: perform mentally by yourself or as part of a guided body scan with trainer:in or a sound recording
Participants: individually or in a team (e.g. before a meeting)
You can find more information on this and other tools for overcoming business challenges with communicative means in the book
