John Dewey said it best, “Theory without practice is empty; practice without theory is blind.” Why? Because theory informs practice, and practice informs theory. That’s why my posts include some of both.

Thinking together is the ultimate core competency. Two things your team can do to do a better job of thinking together are to employ conversation mapping tools and to master the practice of inquiry.

Conversation mapping enables you to keep track of the topics, issues, positions, and reasons that progressively unfold during a conversation. While any diagramming tool will do, Compendium is a software tool specifically designed to map the elements of a dialogue.

Collaborative thinking requires a space—be it a napkin, flipchart, whiteboard, or some other medium—where the collaborators are able to share their thoughts.