This course has been approved for SHRM PDCs
In our technology-driven world we continue to be inundated with supersized amounts of bite-sized information, making it increasingly challenging to process and extract the true wisdom from it for solving important problems at work and in our lives. Regardless of your functional role or hierarchical level in your organization, this workshop will equip and inspire you to skillfully shift from getting stuck in fragmented, unproductive communication to engaging in focused, systemic conversation with individuals and groups.
Drawing upon research and the practical application of principle-centered leadership, systems thinking, learning organizations and emotional intelligence, you will learn the structure of and the steps for preparing and leading meaningfully focused conversations in a broad variety of situations that lead to more creative collective thinking and progressive outcomes.
Course topics will include why more focused conversation is needed in the workplace and the world, the common individual and organizational obstacles to effecting focused conversation and a simple but powerful structure and process for creating the conditions for focused conversation.
This workshop is beneficial for individual contributors, supervisors, managers and leaders of teams or departments looking for practical and progressive communication strategies that engage and empower employees to proactively seek mutual understanding and creative collaboration and problem solving.
This workshop was formerly titled "Effective Listening for Everyone! Mastering the Art of Conversation"
In this workshop you will:
- Understand the cost-benefit relationship between conventional fragmented communication and progressive focused conversation.
- Learn and apply a researched-based four-stage questioning process to create the conditions for implementing and experiencing the focused conversation method.
- Gain clarity about what an intentional focused conversation facilitator / leader does and does not do and the specific skills needed to connect with others in authentic, meaningful ways to build strong relationships and drive constructive decisions and transformational outcomes.
- Develop a strategy and action plan for taking the next steps toward embracing and applying focused conversation skills and methods in your most important relationships professionally and personally.
