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Topic: Developing Conversational Skills

When:  Saturday June 18th from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific Time

Fee:   Free 

Summary:  
Conversational capacity is the ability to converse in an open-minded and learning-focused way in challenging circumstances. It allows those who are participating in a discussion to balance their candor with curiosity, and their courage with humility.  It is a high-impact skill that embodies research in cognitive neuroscience, human factors, emotional intelligence, mindfulness and management science.

Description:  
Systems engineers must be holistic thinkers, strong communicators, and maintain a broad view of systems and how they are being used.  These roles require team building and effective communication skills to clearly communicate complex ideas and technical designs. Effective communication skills are essential to openly debate root causes, design tradeoffs and risk assessments.

Conversational capacity is a nuanced approach to effective communication.  When someone shares a different point of view, we get curious: “What can their perspective teach me about how I am looking at this issue?”  If we can be curious about another point of view, we expand our options and range of potential solutions to a problem.

This approach strengthens every activity that depends on open, clear, effective dialogue – from running design reviews, making complex decisions, giving feedback, to crafting strategy, facilitating change and fostering innovation. 

Learning Objectives:  
Participants will engage in small group activities to practice how to build healthier, more adaptive teams and working relationships and learn how to:

• Exert greater influence and help good ideas get the traction they deserve.
• Enable teamwork with less conflict and more collaboration; less rigidity and more agility; less defensiveness and more learning; less frustration and more fun.
• Remain levelheaded and learning-focused in high-stakes situations
• Sharpen their emotional and social intelligence.
• Strengthen core skills in problem solving, decision-making, and change management.
• Boost their competence and confidence when dealing with difficult issues under stress.
• Improve levels of trust, civility, and psychological safety.

Schedule:  
9:00 am     Agenda for the Day
1:00 pm     Dismissal 

Presenter Bio: 
Craig Weber is on a mission to empower people striving to make their workplaces and communities a better place.  Hs is founder of The Weber Consulting Group, an alliance of experts committed to helping people build more resilient, healthy, and agile organizations.  His client list includes Boeing, SAIC, PWC, Pfizer, US Air Force and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

Known for his distinctive and engaging style, Craig is recognized by the Boeing Company for facilitating the Systems Engineering Leadership Program, to strengthen communication among teams and the technical integrity of systems engineering, so critical to successful programs and supplier relationships.

His unique work is outlined in his best-selling book, “Conversational Capacity: The Secret to Building Successful Teams that Perform When the Pressure is On,” and its sequel, “Influence in Action: How to Build Your Conversational Capacity, Do Meaningful Work, and Make a Powerful Difference. Video (4 min): 

Venue: Virtual, register by clicking here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ej6qguir0baea14e&llr=l4ihvgeab