From Debate to Dialogue: Using the Understanding Process to Transform Our Conversations

This book provides a direct method called the "Understanding Process" for moving us from debate into dialogue about any issue, especially difficult or controversial ones. As an alternative to debate in which we seek to win or be right, when we use the Understanding Process we make an effort to understand others from within their frame of reference. We also learn ways to speak our own truths without polarizing issues, invalidating others and fostering defensiveness. A key to practicing the Understanding Process is the knowledge that understanding someone from their point of view does not necessarily mean agreeing with them. Nor does deeply understanding another perspective require that we surrender our own beliefs and values.

Replete with examples and case studies that illustrate the transforming potential of the Understanding Process approach to dialogue, this book shows how we can: * Convert conflict into understanding, * Increase our confidence and competence in dealing with difficult situations, * Improve relationships at work and home, * Enhance respectfulness and civility in our public conversations without sacrificing truthfulness, * Express different points of view without becoming polarized, * Replace destructive stereotyping of each other with understanding and concern, * Listen so that positive change occurs, and * Create innovative inspired solutions.

Dr. Deborah L Flick is an internationally recognized diversity expert, author, educator, communication consultant, keynote speaker and founder of Flick & Associates, an international consulting firm specializing in dialogue and diversity. Dr. Flick consults to corporations, local and federal governments, non-profits, colleges and universities, and unions. A consultant and trainer for over two decades, for the last 15 years she has specialized in dialogue and diversity issues. As part of this work she developed both "The Understanding Process Approach to Inclusive Dialogue" and the "Diversity Journey Maps" which guide individuals and organizations over the often rugged terrain of valuing diversity and creating inclusion.

During the fourteen years she was on the faculty of the Women Studies Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Dr. Flick taught courses on workplace diversity and on the legal and social, and psychological aspects of sexual harassment. Additionally, she initiated several innovative programs including the Women Studies Internship Program and the Gender Theater and Dialogue Project. In 1977, Dr. Flick founded and directed Denver Safehouse for Battered Women. Today she volunteers her training expertise to the Valuing Diversity Program for the City of Boulder.

Frequently invited to give presentations at conferences, Dr. Flick has presented to the Annual Conference of the American Association of Higher Education, Hewlett Packard Technical Women's Conference, Annual Colorado EEO/AA Conference, National Gender Diversity Conference, and the Annual National Diversity Conference.

Dr. Flick earned her Ph.D. in Communication form the University of Colorado, Boulder and her M.A. in Psychology from Sonoma State University, Rhonert Park, CA. She received the "Teaching Excellence Award" from the University of Colorado and appears in Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges, 1983 and Who's Who of American Women, 1995-1996.

Dr. Flick resides in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and dog. In her free time, she enjoys gourmet cooking and is an avid traveler and reader.