Session Overview:

“Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication. Communication does not always occur naturally, even among a tight-knit group of individuals. Communication must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one.“ Coach K. - Men’s Basketball Coach at Duke University

Using material from the world of improvisation and Annette Simmons’ work on dialogue, this session promises to be one of the most productive team meetings ever experienced. The first part of the class is spent learning what dialogue is and what typically blocks authentic conversation. Once those escape strategies are called out, and the team has a chance to identify how members would prefer to engage, and the team puts the new learning to practice with a two hour dialogue session. Upon completion of the group conversation, the team forms an action plan to move forward with true collaboration and effectiveness.

“Dialogue is different from normal conversation, and there are specific skills that, when everyone does them together, dramatically change the way you communicate as a group.” A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths by Annette Simmons

Session Length: 1 Day

Who Should Attend this Event: Teams of all corporate levels

Session Outcomes:

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Integrate needs and wants of all team members
• Recognize the stages of dialogue
• Recall and reduce escape strategies
• Build trust among team members
• Examine and compare their thought processes via the Ladder of inference
• Employ authentic listening skills
• Express and question individual expectations to form collective team objectives
• Prepare and produce collaborative dialogue with team members

Session Topics

• Dialogue
• Definition
• Individual “Wants” and “Don’t Wants”
• Stages of Dialogue
  - Listening
  - Content – Process Model
  - Most Respectful Interpretation
  - Escape Strategies
  - Ladder of Inference- Chris Argyris
  - Team Rules for Dialogue
  - Team Dialogue
  - Closure and Action Plans

Your facilitator: Jane Schuette