(2009-10-01) Chris Allen Shared Language

Chris Allen on the importance of Shared Language. Every time a new group of people meet together - whether in a team, in a marketplace, or in a community - one of the first activities they must do together is create a shared language. They do this in order to communicate more effectively together, to put a context on the words that they have in common, to construct a shared understanding in their minds based both on available information and their individual diversity of experience... Some facilitators have learned that one of the best ways to help a group form a shared language is by having the group create together a Shared Artifact. I think it's important to acknowledge that the Language will change in an Iterative way, as new ideas become important, and are refined (Wiki Gardening).