Beginning of coaching (step 1)

The participants prepare themselves for dialogic work and for developing their dialogic competence by creating a confidential atmosphere of interaction, by opening a door to conscious observation of their actions, by being more open when sharing their thinking and by opening themselves up for the thinking of others through the creation of common understanding. These actions can be advanced with the help of the dialogical method cards for warm-up (for more information, see www.hamk.fi/diale):

• Spontaneous participation (establishing trust)
• Cultural scripts (awareness of one's actions and behaviour)
• Giving presents (sharing and receiving thinking)
• Perspectives (creating common understanding, not necessarily consensus).

These warm-up methods help the participants to get to know one another so that when the collaborative work begins, it can be built upon a foundation where the participants trust one another and take one another into consideration.