This Dialogue Guide provides step-by-step instructions for planning, organizing, and facilitating a Timeout Dialogue.
Here you’ll find practical guidance on how to organize a dialogue, tips for facilitators, and useful wordings for different facilitation situations. You can find additional ideas and support in the Tools section.
Every Timeout Dialogue is a learning experience – and what you learn in one dialogue can be applied in the next. The more dialogues you facilitate, the more you’ll learn. Learning never really ends, and that’s perfectly fine. A Timeout Dialogue is always shaped by the people who take part in it. It’s a moment for reflection and connection, not perfection.
Take time to read through this material carefully before each dialogue. Prepare a facilitation script that supports your dialogue’s specific goals. You can use the ready-made Timeout scripts and the Dialogue Card as guidance and inspiration.
You can also print this Dialogue Guide and use it as a checklist during your session — marking each step as you complete it. However, keep in mind that not every facilitation tool or step is needed in every dialogue. Each dialogue is different. What matters most is agreeing on the Ground Rules together with participants and ensuring they are followed throughout the session.
We’d truly appreciate it if you could share your experience with us after the dialogue. You can tell us about your session by filling in this form.
