It was the late David Bohm, whose work with quantum physics, philosophy, and social psychology, provided the initial inspiration back in the early 1990’s with the launch of The Dialogue Group (co-founded by Linda Ellinor and Glenna Gerard). Other influences include the new sciences such as chaos theory and biology as well as ideas from Native American Council Processes, Quaker Business and Spiritual Practices.

ADG combines Dialogue with other participative processes such as Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, Future Search, World Cafe, Top Methods, Dynamic Facilitation, etc. in our design of group experiences. Participants come away from these experiences with renewed inspiration and the necessary shared meaning between them that lead to superior results.

ADG’s long-term vision is for society at large to evolve into a sustainable and coherent world in which each individual expresses and is valued for their unique individual gifts to the whole.

Our mission is to spread the practice of dialogic conversation for creating a just and sustainable world that works for all.

Because Dialogue is based on a paradigm emerging out of quantum mechanics and systems theory, our world is seen as an undivided whole that is radically interconnected. Dialogue promotes actions that take the whole and the future into consideration.

The decisions being made now will have increasingly crucial effects on future generations. ADG builds this into the work we do, helping to hold the field for its clients to see the larger impacts of nearer-term decisions and actions. Thus, climate action and the movement to a sustainable world is built into its consulting, training, and coaching services.

ADG offers our services in both face-to-face and virtual settings using high-definition video and a digital platform that builds community. This allows people all over the world to connect together in real-time settings and to share their experiences across large geographical distances.

Our values and beliefs include:

• Full participation of stakeholders (those affected by collective decisions) is mandatory
• Respect for all voices – each voice informs the larger whole
• Acknowledgement of the inherent collective wisdom arising from sustained Dialogue
• The importance of deep individual and collective reflection for social and organizational change

Incoherent shared meaning and fragmentation are the major root problems of many of our most intractable organizational, social, environmental, and political problems.

Learning together from experience and our ability to master how to think together will be a huge step forward in collective work. Dialogue can play an important role.