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Talking in Teams
...get more engagement and clarity, raise the calibre of your team-talk and make every Team Conversation really count
Teams that talk well together tend to stick together. Many of us work together for years on end yet never take time out to work on our team-talk. If your team never discusses openly how we come across to each other or the way we talk together, you’re probably perpetuating errors and omissions in the way you see and relate to each other…
About this Program...
Communication or the lack of it, is a constant complaint in most teams. At the bottom of better teamwork is the ability to have better conversations. They’re at the core of constructive teams – the way we stay in touch, build bonds, exchange ideas, sort out plans, fix problems and take action.
Better conversation means better teamwork. The way teams talk together is a telling indicator of morale, culture, climate, performance and team cohesion. It’s a key element in the effective functioning of any team.
Yet while we engage in them all the time, the importance of becoming more skilled at conversations seems to escape us. Many of us work together for years and never take the time to reflect on how we come across or talk to each other.
It’s as though conversations are so fundamental to everyday life, most of us never stop to think how we might become better at them. If your team’s never talked openly over how you work in with, and come across to, each other, you’re probably perpetuating errors and omissions in the way you see and relate to each other. And that’s what this clinic is all about…
Purpose and Profile:
This 1-day fast-track of our longer Leading through Conversations program, covers 7 principles for improving your team-talk along with a useful set of foundation tools to replace dysfunctional debate with the art of more skillful discussion.
Talking in Teams aims to help you and your colleagues learn how to:
- Make team-talks more meaningful and think together
- Help people talk up openly, share ideas and say what’s on their mind
- Engage in skillful discussions that stay on-topic and on-track
- Challenge other’s views without falling into the argument trap
- Get to the bottom of issues instead of frothing around on top
- Make it safe to be more open and raise hard issues
Talking in Teams - what we cover
Whether you’re a team leader or team worker, you explore how to apply a range of easy-to-learn discussion tools you can deploy in all sorts of settings in a supportive, safe and fun practice environment.
Topics and tools we touch on include…
Talking in Teams
- The 7 Principles for Constructive Conversations
- You in conversations - what’s your team-talk like?
- Staying in dialogue & out of the argument trap
- Getting in touch with your inner voice
- Level-headed questioning & the lost art of listening
- Conversational gears - perspectives, positions, assumptions
- Balancing your say with hearing what they say
- Asserting yourself positively - say what you need to say
- Engaging others & using strategies to get them to speak up
- Raising levels of openness and disclosure in discussions
- The 5-P model of skillful discussion
- Setting conversational improvement goals for self & team
- Post course: Conversational Coaching Scorecard
What Can you Expect?
Part of the appeal of our clinics is you get to practise in a safe, small group environment on new strategies for managing conversations in a more mindful and effective manner.
We think people learn best by doing, so we give you lots of practice to build your confidence to use the tools back at work, backed up by a comprehensive self-coaching guide to support your continued learning
What People Say...
More Themes for Learning
Is this course for you?
Whether you’re a team leader or team member, knowing how to use different tools to have more constructive conversations is a vital yet overlooked area for better teamwork, better leadership and better performance. This clinic is suitable for both team members and leaders. And we find leaders who come along with a contingent of their team representatives often gain a lot more from this clinic
Ideally, for leaders wanting to become more adept with conversations generally, we recommend coming along to our full 2-day Leading Conversations program. If you’re looking to develop better skills for handling difficult conversations, see our long running 2-day Dealing with Difficult Discussions program for leaders or its 1-day fast-track Tackling Tough Talks. For conversations about performance, our Positive Performance Conversations clinic is for leaders and for staff our in-house clinic Making Performance Conversations work for You prepares people for better outcomes with these often troublesome conversations…
Talking Effectively in Teams Pocket Guide
COMPLIMENTARY WHEN ATTENDING OUR CLINIC
Take-away handy-sized pocket guide full of tools and actions you can tap into to build on what we cover in this session…
More about Conversations...
The Change Forum offers a number of learning programs to help leaders and teams improve their Conversational Mastery, including handling difficult conversations better. Follow the category link above. We also provide a number of free FactFiles, Articles, Newsletters and other resources to subscribers to our membership site. Subscribe Today to enjoy the full range of resources we offer.
Upcoming Courses & Events
See our online Course Calendar for where and when this program is next available publicly; as well as other Change Forum programs on offer in your area. If you’d like to arrange an In-House event tailored to suit your needs, get in touch below.