01
Listen
Who needs to be heard?
Invite the relevant voices, including people who may disagree. Restate the other person’s concern and ask whether you understood it correctly.
In practice: “Let me check that I understand what matters most to you.”
The Open Dialogue® Method
Understand more.
Choose thoughtfully.
Follow through.
Seven practices for bringing people into the conversation and using what you learn to shape what happens next.
Be open to an answer
that changes your own.
Open Dialogue® asks everyone to examine their assumptions, including the person with the most authority. Invite disagreement. Check meaning. Explain how what you heard influenced your judgment.
Equal dignity does not require identical authority or unanimous agreement. Someone still owns the decision, and everyone needs to understand the next step.
02
Observe
What do we know, and what are we assuming?
Separate what you can verify from your interpretation. Check the situation with people closest to the work.
In practice: Compare the record, the reality, and the perspectives of those involved.
03
Reflect
What could change my view?
Examine your first interpretation and your own contribution to the problem. Invite other explanations and develop alternative ways forward together.
In practice: “What have I missed? What else could we try?”
04
Decide
Which way forward, and why?
Compare workable options. Name the decision owner, explain the choice, and acknowledge concerns that remain unresolved.
In practice: Make clear how others’ input shaped the decision, even when the final choice differs from their preference.
05
Plan
Who will do what, by when?
Agree on responsibilities, timing, and evidence of success. Define a Plan B, the condition that triggers it, and who will activate it.
In practice: Turn “we should” into a commitment that people can check.
06
Act
What happens next?
Carry out the commitment. Raise obstacles early and tell the people affected when the plan changes.
In practice: Report what happened, what is blocked, and what support is needed.
07
Measure & Adapt
What changed, and what did we learn?
Compare the result with the goal. Review your understanding and behavior as openly as you review the work of others.
In practice: Keep what helped. Adjust what did not. Listen again when new information changes the situation.
The circle stays open. New information may take you back to an earlier practice; a simple conversation does not need a complicated procedure.
See it in a real situation
An urgent request.
A different response.
In the book, a production lot was missing from its recorded location. V acknowledged the production manager’s workload, asked for help, and involved another experienced manager. They found the lot in about five minutes.
What would applying the method look like?
Start with the people and the facts
Ask what is already in progress and what the request would interrupt. Compare the record with the team’s knowledge. Question the assumption that your urgency should set everyone else’s priorities.
Choose, act, and review
Compare a focused search with a wider trace. Agree who will coordinate, when to review, and when to change the plan. Then examine what the conversation taught you about making the next request.
The production-floor event comes from the book. The application above is an illustrative rehearsal, not a claim that every step occurred in the original event.