Creating Productive Conversations


	"At Netflix we value and encourage candid, open feedback at all levels of the organization. We realize, however, that the most productive of those conversations don't just "happen", they occur when people are aware of the effectiveness of their interactions and have the skills to have them. The Catalyst team helped us to not only provide structure, thinking and methodology but more importantly real time practice with real issues happening in the organization. The sessions also provided us a common language helps us to continue to reinforce the skills we learned and collectively become more proficient as an organization. Did I also mention the sessions were fun and insightful?" Patty McCord VPHR, Chief Talent Officer Netflix

The effectiveness of workplace conversations - from strategy meetings to staff meetings - determines in large part how successful a company can be. Organizations must create an environment in which information can be openly shared and discussed so that decisions are well-developed and informed. Unfortunately, many executives fail to understand the "technology" of human conversations and interactions, and the result is that non-productive behaviors are repeated and reinforced. Creating Productive Conversations is a course that helps leaders hold conversations that get the desired results.

Effective leadership requires that we reframe our communications to be something more than a means of solving problems and influencing others. In Productive Conversations, we are constantly exploring, challenging and testing our ideas and solutions with others. To do that, it takes a change of mind and set of skills about how we communicate with others to shift toward productive exchange and reasoning. These exchanges expedite informed decision making.

The learning process consists of:

Analysis of transcribed meetings, identification of unproductive patterns, and re-crafting of dialogues
Development of productive alternative behavioral patterns
Execution of these alternative behaviors in future meetings. Coaching continues until the executive or manager is regularly and reliably getting desired results from their interactions with others

This two- or three-day course was created for executives, managers and project leaders.

Learning Objectives

Understand defensive habits that lead to unproductive interactions
Gain the ability to design communications that produce desired results
Learn to listen for the productive reasoning and logic of the conversation
Learn to advocate views and openly test ideas with others