How to have good conversations? cooperate culture #31 with Robert Poynton

In this episode of the cooperate culture podcast, I spoke with Robert Poynton. Robert is a highly experienced facilitator, an associate fellow at Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford, and the author of four books that I all read with great interest. In his work, Robert focuses on the application of ideas from improvisation to everyday life, the relationship with time and the everyday miracle of conversations. We talked about the ingredients of real dialogue, the role of questions and responses, and some of the major challenges when talking with each other. Robert shared stories about his work as a facilitator, some of his favorite interventions to spark conversations, and why wearing funky animal slippers will change any board meeting. We also explored how to improvise when facing uncertainty, the role of playfulness in professional settings, and the importance of pause. And along the way, we both realised that good conversations not only depend on what you say, but how you say it, and that we can really practice our capacity to sense what a conversation needs from us, and what we need from a conversation. If you are interested in the dynamics behind great conversations or just want to listen to one, I think this episode could be for you. This podcast is brought to you by emtsev cooperation. Ready to make work a better place? Visit ⁠www.emtsev.com⁠ to get started.