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 | Empathy: (4 minutes)
This video is situated in a hospital but the experiences are everywhere!
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" Conversational Leadership is the leader's intentional use of conversation as a core process to cultivate the collective intelligence needed to create business and social value." Carolyn Baldwin, Educator". . . conversations are the most important form of work . . . so much so that the conversation is the organization." Alan Webber, "What's So
New about the New
Economy",
Harvard Business Review
"A leader these days
needs to be a host --
one who convenes
diversity; who
convenes all
viewpoints
in creative
processes
where our mutual
intelligence can
come forth."
Margaret Wheatley,
The Berkana Institute
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Greetings!
Welcome to the monthly Fearless Conversations newsletter -- information and ideas to support and inspire us to create a world in which fearless conversations are common. I am excited to tell you about a new service I am offering: Fearless Conversations RETREATS. The first of two articles below is an announcement with some information.
Communication is the one aspect of organizations that everyone always wants to address. Wherever we are -- service agencies, businesses, faith communities, schools, volunteer organizations -- even if we rate our communication on the high end of an assessment scale, we still want it to be even better. I believe, as do those who are proponents of "Conversational Leadership", that how we talk to one another and what we talk to one another about is at the heart of professional success and personal satisfaction. I look forward to sharing Fearless Conversations Retreats with you. Thank you for reading - Shyrl
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 Fearless Conversations Retreats!
Listening with Curiosity
Using Fears to Open Up Conversation
Replacing Judgment-laden Language and Attitudes
Handling Triggers and Hot-buttons
Responding Rather than Reacting
Using Personality Differences Constructively
Identifying and Managing Polarities
Receiving and Giving Empathy Asking for What You Want These retreats are recommended for : - Faculties - Staffs - Management or Leadership Teams - Boards - Faith Communities - Membership Organizations - Informal Groups of Friends or Colleagues
Fearless Conversations Retreats are planned to help participants experience support in making practical applications.
The retreat formats are designed for 5 hours, a full day, or two days.
The location is arranged by the participating organization or group.
Fees generally range from $800 - $2400, depending on the format and length of the retreat. The fees are negotiable and are never meant to be prohibitive.
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Talking About What We Care About
Writing this piece, I thought initially that I wanted to eliminate the clumsiness in the phrase: "talk about what we care about". A synonym search for "talk about" yielded few choices: whine, moan, complain, nag. Yikes! No wonder people apologize: "I'm sorry, but I really need to talk about . . . ". Honestly, when someone says those words in a meeting, I assume the group is about to experience a breakthrough. Why? Not because I'm advocating whining or complaining in meetings, but because talking about what we care about opens up collaborative thinking and leads to more ease in planning and decision-making.
This truth was surprisingly verified by Atul Gawande, surgeon, journalist, and a recent guest on the San Francisco public radio program, City Arts and Lectures. Unintentionally, but gladly,
I heard him twice in the last couple of weeks. At the end of the interview, he spoke about the complexity involved in helping patients with end-of-life issues -- an area, he said, for which most doctors are  not prepared. Instead, they are trained to steer their way through a maze of medical and legal protocols. He enthusiastically declared that medical professionals are discovering the importance of asking one question: What do
you care about? He affirmed that when patients are able to talk about what they care about, they are able to clarify their choices. The enormous decisions patients have to make fall into place with more ease.
In some ways, to talk about what we care about sounds so simple -- like a "no-brainer". I see, though, that even in volunteer organizations with very life-affirming missions, we are caught up in  agendas and projects, and spend little or no time talking about why we care about those agendas and projects in the first place. We create energy when we talk about what we care about. When an organization or group releases that energy, the "nuts and bolts" of agendas and projects fall into place more easily.
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| Thank You!
I appreciate your connecting me with non-profit service organizations, schools, faith communities, small-to-mid-size businesses. Typically, I contract for design and facilitation of visioning or team-building retreats, strategic planning, meeting facilitation, transition planning, design and facilitation of decision-making processes.
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