Archive for category: Self-Improvement

This Changes Everything (Kathy Taberner)

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We live in a complex global world where demands of leaders are increasing everyday. With a focus on transparency, inclusion, equality, agility, possibility and collaboration, how can leaders leverage themselves to live, work and play in a way that is respectful, sustainable, and most important, fun?

The answer is simple. Curious conversations. Hiding behind texts, emails and social media, conversational skills are the most important skills leaders are failing to engage in. Research out of Stanford is showing that 9 out of 10 conversations miss the mark. Research is also showing organizations are focused on ‘soft’ skills that have hard impacts: communication skills, critical thinking, agility – all of which require curiosity. These are skills that are expected of leaders but are never taught. Curious conversations are the disruptor needed to thrive in our global, multigenerational workplace.

In our interactive workshop, participants will experience how curious conversations are at the forefront of innovation and collaboration in a time where demands are high and resources are low. Participants will experience and learn: -The value of different perspectives, there is never just one way to do anything – Communication skills to shift leaders from reacting to intentionally responding – Self-awareness, clarity around how they are showing up as a leader, their impact and turning barriers into bridges – The skills needed to collaborate, innovate, problem solve & manage emotions. Skills that are currently expected of leaders but have never been taught Canada’s success lies in our leaders’ ability to confidently disrupt the status quo, step out of comfort zones while also being inclusive and collaborative, as they reflect rather than react.

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Deep Democracy – An approach for Change Management (Caspar Fröhlich)

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The aim of the workshop is to present the ‘Deep Democracy’ approach and to show how that this philosophy can be applied to change management projects. The workshop consists of a short input presentation and a group exercise in which one goes through the classic phases of a (process-oriented) group process. Finally, a joint debriefing takes place. Deep Democracy is an approach that explicitly focuses on making cooperation patterns in groups transparent. There are different application possibilities, among other things in the organizational context. One possible application is change management. It is aimed at people who deal with change on a collective and individual level. Deep Democracy is more than a tool or a method. It can be relevant for OE’ler, change managers, PE managers, organizational consultants and executives (who are entrusted with comprehensive change projects).

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Eroding the Power from within: Activist Communication (Esther Barfoot)

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Get a load of this: in the Netherlands a police officer isn’t allowed to choose the partner with whom he is teamed up in the police car. He has no say in the choice of partner who might or might not save his life in a life or death situation. Police people, nurses, teachers and many other professionals are often prevented from doing their work properly by all kinds of rules, regulations and interference by managers and other staff, based on an inherent distrust of the healthy judgement of professionals. Fortunately, in many organisations, professionals are standing up and forming movements to reclaim their own professionalism, judgement and space to do their work properly. These movements, of course, want to spread the word and communicate with the people inside and outside the movement. This calls for a different kind of communication than the classic, top down corporate communication. It is what Esther calls ‘activist communication’.

Activist communication does the following:

  • It stands between and is co-created with the innovators and change agents
  • It harvests stories from the undercurrent
  • It gives words to new concepts
  • It spreads valuable ideas
  • It keeps the dialogue alive
  • It kisses the future awake

It does this in many, often creative forms. Activist communication searches for ways to appeal to the right brain, the intuition. In this workshop Esther will talk to the participants about activist communication and her experience at – among others – the Dutch National Police (illustrated with many photos and examples). Then the participants will do the activist poster workshop she has done many times at the police and, for instance, in health care organisations. The participants develop an interesting quote or motto about something that really frustrates them in their work, makes them an feel rebellious, or alternatively something that really inspires them. Through (street) art they turn this into an appealing poster. The workshop is designed to empower participants, as well as search for ways to make progress, break down faulty systems and move from distrust to trust, while staying in conversation with the main order of things.

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Conversation Catalyst (Nathan Bragg)

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People often avoid talking about thorny issues together. This workshop provides an avenue into nonviolent discussion.

Treating a given space like a giant piece of graph paper, participants position themselves in specific places to silently declare their opinion of a concept. Individuals are then offered the opportunity to create a sculpture to help illuminate why they have chosen their position; this image is further defined in words by viewers outside the given sculpture. This is important because when viewers “read” a sculpture, they short-circuit any judgement which might arise from a Sculptor who would otherwise use spoken words. In addition, when those at the opposite pole help describe offered images in words it effectively humanizes all individuals who might otherwise appear to be in bitter opposition.

The participants will:

  • learn the power of making interactive non-verbal polls
  • practice creating images to illustrate a deep truth
  • be encouraged to practice deep, empathetic listening
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Curiosity & Disruptive Change (Nik Beeson)

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Real disruption is a deep wound to the integrity of organisational identity, so real disruption requires radical adaptation, structural transformation… a transformation in identity. The question that disruption is asking is not ‘what is the problem?’ or ‘how do I survive?’ or ‘how do I make it go away’, the question that disruption is asking is ‘Who are you?’. How you navigate that question determines the path of your evolution. Will you react or respond? Or will you deflect, dismiss, resist, deny or hide? Will you be willing to wrestle with it and, more importantly, with yourself? Will you seek to understand it and, more importantly, seek to understand yourself?

‘Curiosity & Disruptive Change’ focuses on curiosity as the strongest motivation and most useful aptitude for navigating and instigating disruptive change. We will explore what it means to be disrupted, how we react to disruption, what curiosity is, and how to cultivate a curiosity towards disruption that enables us to discern the possibilities and realise the potentials in any challenge. Myth, fairy tales, problem solving, perceptual challenges, crafts & play, current affairs… any or all are possible approaches we might take. Prepare for a little disruption… We’ll create situations which will instigate your curiosity, and we’ll analyze and reflect on our experiences and how they apply to your current situation.

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The Act of Creation – Working with Dilemmas in Organizations (Jacques Chlopczyk)

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Seemingly incompatible alternatives and either/or problem definitions are common in consulting and managing organizations. Starting with Arthur Koestler’s theory of humour and creativity we will explore concepts and tools to understand how these dilemmas offer a great starting point for the development of creative and novel approaches. This workshop will introduce a powerful framework to address and harness these dilemmas as an opportunity for development on a personal, team and organizational level. The approach is based on three distinct models from

a) the field of intercultural consulting,

b) personal development and

c) systems thinking.

The workshop provides a great setting to experience how the approach can be facilitated with groups before we will discuss its conceptual background and the application of the framework in organizational, personal and team development – and in telling jokes.

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Increasing your capacity to collaborate and communicate (Charo Lanao)

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“The world is getting more crowded. Depending on the circumstances, conversations across boundaries can be delightful, or just vexing: what they mainly are, though, is inevitable.”
   Kwame Anthony Appiah

Today’s rapidly changing and interdependent world has included a global migration where our society is increasingly ‘diverse’. In order to function effectively with a range of colleagues, service users, students and clients it is essential to improve one’s intercultural sensitivity (working with, understanding and being sensitive to cultural differences). Effective Intercultural Sensitivity is crucial to successful and optimum practice in all workplaces.

This training offers:

  • Tips and tools to improve specific intercultural communication skills
  • Visible and Non visible aspects of culture
  • Cultural self awareness: Own perspective on culture, cultural values, rules and behaviour
  • Cultural boundaries: influences in work, management, teams, meetings
  • The different ways people negotiate, communicate, agree and resolve conflict
  • Understanding the Five Frameworks for cross – cultural interaction

Tailored training modules specific to your particular working needs and circumstances are also available.

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Stimulating Conversation: How to Get People Talking (Jeffer London)

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Changes happen better when people can talk about them. Stimulating Conversation is easy. But it takes practice. This session helps you examine your own conversations, test out ways to converse, and get feedback to enhance your style. You may very well become a better conversationalist, but our real goal is for you to help other people to enter into conversation – conversations about change, about working together and about your shared future. By getting other people talking, you will find the secret to Stimulating Conversation.

Get ready to:

  • Rethink the questions you ask. – Be more present for those around you.
  • Find more meaning in your exchanges.
  • Jump into this conversation and find insights, stories and tips from others who see the value in getting people talking.
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Theory U as a change catalyzer (Barbara Zuber)

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Experience Theory U by Otto Scharmer, MIT as a tool in an interactive setting to deeply understand its implications and collect ideas how you can implement it into your own work. Why Theory U? It implies Co-Initiating, Co-Sensing and Co-creation. It provides a sound orientation in change processes as it shows you where you are in your own process and what could be the next meaningful step. It helps you to generate solutions  from different perspectives, get in touch with your Future potential and activate the courage to prototype.

In our approach „ Facilitating Change“ we are using Theory U by Otto Scharmer as a change guideline. We combine it with the art of facilitation to deal with complexity and change dynamics.

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Trusting the Power of YOU! (Minna Taylor)

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This workshop will focus on developing authentic leadership skills through the distillation and experiential activation of core brand values and personal value propositions. We will explore tools and techniques for understanding and implementing leadership skills. We will seek to ultimately transform the personal perception of power, the fear associated with holding power, the fear around assertion of power, and responsible tactics for execution of power.

This experiential training aligns to the theme of building trust in power, through techniques and strategies for empowering emerging leaders to more effectively and authentically engage with organizations and communities to lead, make clear and focused decisions, and execute with confidence. The objective of this workshop is to help participants define their personal brand, explore and shatter limiting beliefs, & optimize their communication strategy to execute within teams, organization, and communities with confidence.

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