Many executives and senior leaders often find themselves pulled into situations in which they are called to help colleagues resolve conflict or solve problems. Many report that they spend a great deal of valuable time in such conversations, a great number of which tend to recur over and over as problems initially dealt with don’t “stay solved.”
This workshop provides an empowering and powerful set of distinctions and tools for dramatically improving effectiveness in these conversations. Chalmers introduces three key “speech acts” and provide participants with a powerful new framework for engaging in productive conversations, solving problems, resolving conflict and establishing clarity moving forward. The ways employees talk to each other at work have dramatic impacts on the results organizations are able to produce. This session provides new tools and a shared vocabulary for sustainable improvements in the quality of workplace conversations.
Virtually all of us have an intuitive understanding of the difference between objective facts and subjective opinions. However, in practice, it’s often the case that sloppiness and lack of attention as to when we and others are stating facts, vs. when we and others are stating opinions causes unnecessary problems, misunderstandings and decreases in team effectiveness and cohesion. Additionally, improved clarity around boundaries of authority and responsibility related to key workplace declarations yields predictable improvements in performance – no matter how that improvement is measured.
Participants will acquire new tools that they can begin using immediately, as they learn to distinguish three powerful speech acts – assertions (objective facts), assessments (subjective opinions) and declarations. They will be able to “ground” their assessments and in doing so, enable themselves and their teams to move into the future in a much more productive way. Problem-solving, conflict-resolution and performance management also improve, with a new clarity brought about by these new distinctions. Boundaries of authority and responsibility are improved as participants learn to use declarations much more purposefully. Participants will be equipped with a tool kit that can enable them to improve the quality and effectiveness of virtually all workplace conversations.
