Productive Conversations and Relationships

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In this course we focus on people and the human element as the central dimension of the organization. We understand that the organization is a human community that exists in several dimensions. One of those dimensions is the need for human beings to form productive and meaningful relationships and communities. Another dimension is the essentiality for people to collaborate in a productive manner in order to achieve results.

We see that conversations are at the heart of any interpersonal relationship or social system, whether it is a team, a community, or an organization. In a sense, an organization is a network of conversations.

We will focus on seven conversations that can facilitate the transformation of individuals, teams, and community. These seven conversations facilitate the following processes:

• Building personal mastery and personal responsibility.
• Building relationships.
• Exploring men’bout models.
• Inventing possibilities
• Conversing for action and results.
• Coping with Breakdowns and conflicts.
• Cultivating communities of practice and team learning.

The objectives of the course are:

1. To develop your personal vision and mastery.
2. To build trust and productive relationships.
3. To examine the big assumptions that influence men’bout models.
4. To create productive teams and team learning.
5. To learn to create a culture of collaboration and creativity.

These conversations are the foundation for building trust, collaboration, productive relationships, and more satisfying work environments/cultures. When human beings have the conversational tools for transforming themselves and work, creativity, innovation, and extraordinary results are possible.

Course length: 2 days.

Recommended readings:

• You Are What You Say. Matthew Budd and Larry Rothstein.
• How The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work. Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey.
• Dialogue. William Isaacs.
• The Fifth Discipline. Peter M. Senge.
• Cultivating Communities of Practice. Ettiene Wenger, Richard McDermott, W.Snyder.
• Building Trust. Fernando Flores and Robert Solomon.