The 5 Ds of Conversation are as follows (from changingminds.org)
1) Dictating: Telling what to do.
2) Debate: Arguing with zero sum.
3) Discussion: Open conversation.
4) Deliberation: Joint decision-making.
5) Dialog: Exploring one another.
It’s very likely that you’ve had a number of conversations today which resembled and morphed between multiple, if not all of these types of conversation. Kind of how it works. Where that breaks down, however, is when different people are on different settings at the same time in the same conversation.
In other words, if I think we’re having a discussion and you think we’re having a debate, you may take my statement as a rhetorical attack against you rather than its intent, fodder for discussion and further exploration. Likewise, if my boss is dictating something that needs to be done, but I am interpreting the conversation as a dialog about what I want to work on, there will be glaringly unmet expectations and thus, dissatisfied conversation partners. Just some food for thought. Okay, now a sixth D: done.
Murphy's Code 