In 2005, Degerfors Municipality in central Sweden received financial support to develop an education programme to stimulate better staf communication, and to make its work teams aware of their responsibility for setting goals in the organisation. The programme was also aimed at promoting a good workplace climate, increased understanding of our diferences and awareness about how we would succeed. We focused on a three-day training in Dialogue. All staf members in the municipality’s care and nursing department, together with their managers, spent three days together without interruptions for tasks other than those included in the course. ‘Be present’ was a keyword, and we learned in the event how important our presence together was. Managers and staf, side-by-side, worked in groups and used feedback to gain insight into each other’s diferences. Our facilitators were trained by the Komanco consulting company, which at the time was owned by the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union. The facilitators worked systematically in pairs, organising the training as a process. On the first day, in addition to presentations, we carefully considered the expectations and concerns we held for these three days. We also went through value-creating practices in our approach to each other so that everyone would feel safe and in no way feel attacked or undervalued. We were all placed in a Dialogue circle without the opportunity to be ‘protected’ by a table. Each of us had the same ability to see and be seen by each other. The size of the groups varied, but ranged between 20-25 people.
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