Conversational leadership: An organization development pathway for inner and collective growth

PAUL NYAUSARU

Leadership in the twenty-first century is being redefined.

No longer can it rest on command-and-control practices that isolate authority at the top. The challenges organizations face—complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change—demand new approaches grounded in collaboration, trust, and shared meaning.

Conversational leadership, seen through the lens of Organization Development (OD) and the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), provides such a pathway.

It repositions leadership as a collective and dialogic process, where conversations are the medium of both individual transformation and organizational change.

Conversations as the Core of OD Practice

Organization Development has long recognized that dialogue is not peripheral to change—it is the very substance of it. From Edgar Schein’s process consultation, which emphasizes “helping through humble inquiry,” to Appreciative Inquiry, which builds on stories of strength and possibility,

OD practice has consistently placed conversations at the heart of transformation. Conversational leadership builds on this legacy, framing everyday conversations as interventions in themselves. The tone, questions, and spaces leaders create are not neutral; they either reproduce existing patterns or open up new possibilities.

When leaders approach dialogue with presence, authenticity, and curiosity, they embody the Being dimension of the IDGs, strengthening self-awareness and relational trust. This is more than communication—it is OD in action, because it reshapes culture through micro-level interactions.

Dialogue as a Mechanism for Sensemaking

One of the enduring contributions of OD is the idea that organizations are social systems. As such, they thrive not on top-down directives but on shared sensemaking.

Conversational leadership aligns with this systemic view by treating dialogue as a process where meaning is constructed collectively. In IDG terms, this is the Thinking dimension—embracing complexity, perspective-taking, and systems awareness.

By holding conversations that invite multiple voices and perspectives, leaders create opportunities for systemic insight. This is especially important in times of uncertainty, where no single leader or expert holds all the answers. Dialogue thus becomes an OD intervention for navigating ambiguity, fostering alignment, and co-creating a shared narrative about the organization’s direction.

Building Relational Capacity

OD practitioners know that sustainable change rests on relationships. Trust, empathy, and connectedness form the foundation of collaboration and resilience. The Relating dimension of the IDGs underscores these same capacities. Conversational leadership cultivates them by fostering listening, empathy, and humility.

In OD terms, every conversation is a moment of “organization building.” How leaders relate in dialogue directly impacts levels of psychological safety, which in turn determines whether people engage honestly, innovate freely, or withhold their perspectives. Thus, conversational leadership is not a “soft” skill but a strategic OD lever for enhancing the quality of relational capital in organizations.

Conversations that Enable Collaboration

A core goal of OD is to create participative, inclusive, and democratic systems. Conversational leadership directly supports this goal by enabling Collaborating, another IDG dimension. I

n practical terms, this means shifting from monologues and information dumps to processes that engage diverse voices in co-creation. Tools such as World Café, circle dialogues, and Appreciative Inquiry interviews are not just techniques; they are OD interventions that give structure to collaboration and allow collective intelligence to emerge.

In this way, conversational leadership operationalizes OD values of participation, inclusivity, and empowerment, while simultaneously building the inner skills of humility, openness, and dialogue.

From Conversation to Action

OD insists that conversations must ultimately connect to purposeful action. Without follow-through, dialogue risks becoming performative rather than transformative.

The Acting dimension of the IDGs highlights courage, resilience, and the capacity to translate insight into action. Conversational leadership fosters this by hosting generative dialogues—those that not only exchange ideas but also inspire commitment to collective goals.

In OD practice, this means moving conversations beyond analysis into co-creation of solutions and experimentation with new practices. Here, the leader’s role is to hold the space, align action with shared values, and ensure that dialogue becomes a catalyst for real change.
Conversational Leadership as OD Philosophy

When aligned with OD, conversational leadership becomes more than a communication approach—it is a philosophy of organizing. It reframes leadership not as a heroic individual endeavor but as a distributed, relational, and systemic practice. It honors the OD values of human potential, participation, inquiry, and democratic dialogue, while grounding them in the everyday act of conversation.

Through this lens, conversational leadership strengthens both *inner capacities* (as outlined in the IDGs) and *organizational capacities* (as pursued in OD).

It bridges the inner and outer dimensions of change: cultivating self-awareness and empathy within individuals, while simultaneously transforming culture, structures, and practices at the organizational level.

A Call to Leaders as OD Practitioners

The call to today’s leaders is to embrace their role as conversational hosts. Every dialogue becomes an opportunity to practice presence, to invite diverse perspectives, to build relational trust, and to co-create action. In so doing, leaders act as everyday OD practitioners, facilitating growth and transformation not through grand interventions alone but through the cumulative effect of thousands of conversations.

As David Whyte reminds us, “The conversation is the relationship.” In Organization Development terms, the conversation is also the intervention. To practice conversational leadership is to embody OD values, cultivate IDG capacities, and build organizations capable of evolving in ways that honor both people and purpose.