THINKING CLEARLY, ENGAGING CONSTRUCTIVELY
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Practical Tools for Reflection, Dialogue and Collective Thinking When the Stakes are High
When we experience pressure, uncertainty or conflict, it is easy to fall into familiar patterns. We react without pausing to think about what’s going on. We make assumptions – commonly negative – about others and what’s driving them. We shy away from difficult conversations or push harder for our own view.
Individually and collectively, these habits can limit our thinking and make challenging situations harder to work through constructively and safely.
This website offers a different approach. Drawing on more than 25 years of work in leadership, organisational development and professional learning, I (Don Dunoon) provide practical frameworks, tools and learning experiences to help people think more clearly, engage more constructively, and work more effectively with others.
Thinking Clearly
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Thinking clearly is not just a matter of being logical and analytical. It involves paying close attention to what is actually going on – noticing, rather than relying on what we assume, hope or fear is happening.
It involves becoming aware of our interpretations and letting go of certainty - staying open to the possibility that we can more fully understand challenges through learning from others.
This perspective has been especially influenced by my collaboration with noted Harvard psychologist and mindfulness researcher Ellen Langer, whose work highlights the importance of active noticing, curiosity and remaining open in our thinking.
When we think more clearly, as individuals and groups, we are better able to understand complex situations, make sound decisions and respond thoughtfully rather than on autopilot.
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Engaging Constructively
Most of us know deep down that many of the challenges we face cannot be solved by a single individual. They are not simply technical. These challenges require people to think together, work through differences constructively, and learn jointly and individually.
Instead of seeing other people as barriers to us achieving our objectives, constructive engagement means approaching them as people whose perspectives may help us understand a situation more fully. It involves listening, inquiry, dialogue and a willingness to examine our own thinking as well as that of others.
At its heart, this is relational work: thinking and acting jointly with others rather than separately from them.
When people engage constructively, they create the conditions for better decisions, stronger relationships and more effective collective action.
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A Practice-based Approach
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What People Are Saying
Sandy Pagotto is Director of Strategic Solutions with CHA Learning, part of HealthCareCAN (Canada)
Dylan Forbes is Director Leaderskill Group Pty Ltd
Gena Major
I experienced the effectiveness of OBREAU back in 2018-19 when I was involved in strained conversations with our union leadership regarding the introduction of a new technology for bus pre-trip inspections.
Using the method helped me better understand what was concerning the union leadership and aided me in gaining perspective on my own reactions, interpretations, and assumptions. As a result, I was able to engage with the representatives more positively than I might have previously. Beyond that experience, I can recommend OBREAU as a structure for illuminating almost any contested topic in a workplace and creating a basis for useful action.
I can vouch for Don Dunoon as a workshop presenter having seen him in action in his joint session at the World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Seattle in 2018. I presented on OBREAU with Dr. Rick Van Doel at the same conference, in Fort Worth, in 2019, and the participants seemed to share my view about the power of OBREAU.
Trisha Gott
Since 2019 I have been engaged in work with Don Dunoon and specifically, the OBREAU Tripod. For a practitioner committed to leadership learning through adaptive practice the OBREAU Tripod offered an avenue into adaptive work on the personal and organizational level. I have since shared it with students, faculty, and staff from across the university with great response. The tool provides a meaningful process and practice for navigating difficult conversations while maintaining commitments to adaptive practice and leadership.
Clare Drake
I have had the pleasure of working with Don Dunoon since 2017 in the leadership and management development space for our organisation with a focus on improving relationships through conversations and building leadership capability.
Don has a switched on and approachable style. In his sessions he listens attentively then offers questions or challenges according to what he has heard. The way he uses language, especially in the OBREAU Tripod model, to create understanding and raise the level of thinking in a group session is impressive. His level of knowledge in leadership and communication within the business context is exceptional. Match this with his ability to hold space for people to grapple with shifting mindsets from technical to relational and adaptive makes his approach a deep and enriched learning experience.
Exploring the OBREAU has been a game changer for many of the managers in our organisation. Having a majority technical and scientific workforce has sometimes meant the more human side of leading has been undernourished, which is why OBREAU has worked so well in our context. It has given a framework for understanding and a tool to refer to but also just to try and understand the self and communication on a different level.
The use of blended learning as part of the exploration of OBREAU has meant that the understanding has deepened, and practice enhanced because the participants can come to the workshops raring to go. I was able to be trained as a facilitator of these sessions and have only just finished leading my first cohort through. It was great to see how the online modules got people thinking first then in the sessions they were sharing of how they had been experimenting with the concepts and what had and hadn’t worked.
The feedback we continually receive from the programs Don has designed, delivered and worked with us on has always been a cry for “we want more”!
Human Resources Manager (New South Wales government agency)
Don has presented many leadership workshops with staff across my organisation to embed a culture of staff thinking about leadership and their role as leaders and how they can make a difference. I love it when I go into a manager’s office and they have a picture of the OBREAU Tripod on their wall or when a staff member tells me about a challenging situation where they framed their discussion around the Tripod.
I have attended many of the workshops as a sponsor and always learn something new and hear something I have never heard before. Don is nurturing and caring in his delivery, always working at coaxing involvement from the most introverted of staff.
Read more “Human Resources Manager (New South Wales government agency)”
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