Sometimes we get caught up in the structure of things. What we do and how we do it. Sometimes we have a blueprint of doing things but have forgotten why that is the way we do it. The same goes for our discussions and communications when it comes to solving problems or brainstorming new solutions. 

We sometimes put the "dialogue" in such a strict format of control that we forget how important free conversation is for productivity, innovation, and creation. We forget the value of "just talk".

The activity, inspired by Patricia Shaw's chapter Changing conversations in Organisations, is a workshop technique that seeks to not organize the talk but think of the talk as organizing. 

• Freeing up the conversation is about having meetings that are unstructured or unorganized if you will. Think of long water-cooler talks or breakroom chats.
• Start simply by asking questions based on your circumstances, like "Where are we now?", "where do we want to go?" and "how do we get there?"
  Then allow the conversation to go where it goes. 
• Facilitating spontaneous conversation allows us to share experiences and often understand possible anxieties, unknowns, or discomforts, and how we, as different people, make sense of our circumstances. 
• Freeing up the conversation might feel like going nowhere without a structure, but most often patterns or themes will emerge from the conversation, which we as people are good at recognizing.
• You don't have to have someone take notes, but you should ask the team members to make a summary together of the meeting. That way, you also create a shared understanding of the conversation that happened.