I personally like to have discussions in the spirit of the Socratic method. Instead of declaring my opinion, I ask a relevant question. How about this situation? What about this case? This has two possible outcomes.
- The other person explains to me how things work in that case. I realize that I misunderstood, and we both come out enriched and in agreement.
- The other person realizes that those situations are not covered. They realize they misunderstood, and we both come out enriched and in agreement.
In both cases, it could have been a conflict, egos crashing together. But by asking questions, it becomes a collaboration to find the best answer. Even the simple act of asking a question in the first place says, "I care what you have to say, we can agree on this." That said, I have noticed that it is definitely still possible for things to go wrong within this framework. How can this happen?
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