Category Archives: Meetings-2024

Dialogue in Organizations:    
Be Curious & Seek Shared Understanding    

A lot is happening in organizations and ecosystems today. Change is moving at a head spinning pace. Sometimes in our haste to get things done we forget that to align and coordinate to get things done we need to focus on building constructive, nourishing human connections.

Are we curious enough to wonder how an issue looks from another person’s perspective? Do we wonder about a perspective we lack that might make a huge difference?

Listening to understand, rather than to respond, is a way to unlock better options and enlist others to join us in collective action.

So how do we go about developing such a shared understanding? Is there an approach that is foundational to collective progress?

Yes, there is an approach, dialogue, which increases the possibility of building shared understanding by asking us to “hold our ideas lightly” and to recognize that the other is “a person first and an opinion second.”

Those are big asks, not easy to do and they take practice. We’ll get started on that practice when you join Nancy and Pete as we collaboratively explore an approach to Dialogue in Organizations that can work!

Please join us on April 11 for this important conversation!

Speakers:  Nancy Dixon and Pete Sorenson     {see Bios below} 

(Please join our LinkedIn Group if you haven’t yet done so, and comment on the discussions.)

Schedule for Thursday Evening April 11:  (CT)    
   –  6:45  Virtual setup and Networking
   –  7:00  Announcements / Intros  
   –  7:15  Program Begins Promptly    
   –  8:45  Closing and Wrap Up
   –  9:00  Program Ends

Zoom Link to Join Virtual Meeting will be sent to all who register.

Speaker BIOs:  

Nancy Dixon:     I’m a long time academic turned consultant and coach.  I’m a runner, a committed yoga practitioner, a meditator, a mother of two and a grandmother of three. What I care deeply about is that the people who work in any organization have a voice to influence what their organization does and what it stands for. My aspiration is to help make organizations worthy of organizational members putting their life’s blood into their work, because all of us have a desire to have our labor serve something that we view as worthy. I believe that happens when organizations learn how to hold meaningful conversations among their employees.

At heart I’m a writer and have written eight books and over 80 articles about how to make those conversations happen in organizations. My latest thinking is in my blog called “conversation matters” at www.nancydixonblog.com/.

Pete Sorenson:     I’m a freelance designer of teams, organizations, systems, networks, and ecosystems. I have been doing this for a long time and I am still trying to figure things out. I am curious, have a sense of adventure, a penchant for experimentation and innovation, and a sense of humor. I listen well. People having a voice in organizations is important to me. It is important as a part of people fulfilling their potential as humans. It is important as a way for organizations to tap into the information, perspective, and engagement that can help organizations fulfill their potential.

I will be starting a Substack soon called “Puzzling On Organizations & Ecosystems.”  I am puzzling about Human Centered Artificial Intelligence a lot lately.

 Compassion at Work:  
Dispelling Myths & Creating Compassionate Communities 

Compassion at work may sound like a paradox or oxymoron but there is a growing body of research that suggests that is exactly what we need to create healthy organizations with engaged, innovative employees who create strategic competitive advantage.  Too often the workplace is a source of suffering despite our best attempts to create diverse, equitable, and psychologically safe organizations.

In this session, we’ll look at the latest research to understand suffering at work and attempt to dispel the myths leaders tell about why compassion won’t work in their organizations.   We’ll also discuss sources of pain that require compassion, and how to:

• notice pain and suffering at work,
• interpret what is shared,
• turn on feelings and empathy, and
• act in compassionate ways.

We will discuss the term Compassion Competence at an individual, group and organizational level, and how to create a plan to build more compassionate workplace communities.  The discussion will also look at current resources for the foundation of this discussion including the 2017 book: “Awakening Compassion at Work: the Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations” by Monica Worline and Jane Dutton (University of Michigan, Ross School of Management).

I hope you will care to join us on February 8 for this timely topic!

Speaker:  Carly Riehle, MSOD       {see Bio below} 

         
(Please join our LinkedIn Group if you haven’t yet done so, and comment on the discussions.)

Schedule for Thursday Evening February 8:  (CT)    
   –  6:45  Virtual setup and Networking
   –  7:00  Announcements / Intros  
   –  7:15  Program Begins Promptly    
   –  8:45  Closing and Wrap Up
   –  9:00  Program Ends

Zoom Link to Join Virtual Meeting will be sent to all who register.

Speaker Bio:  

Carly Riehle is a recent graduate of the Pepperdine University, Gradziadio School of Business program, Master of Science in Organizational Development. She has nearly 20 years of experience as a covert OD consultant having worked inside organizations in multiple industries including for-profit education, shipping, residential construction, and banking.  She is a project manager at heart, who thrives on helping others meet their goals and has been PMP certified since 2014.  Carly currently manages the Strategic Program Management Office for a $5B privately held bank in north Texas.    She is also a steward for the Socio Technical System Roundtable; and is serving as Project Manager for a book to be written by the non-profit organization, CCMV.

In her personal life, Carly is an avid researcher and a passionate collector of the stories that leaders in organizations tell that help or hinder their success.  While her primary roles of wife, mother, church youth leader, friend, manager and employee fill her days, she looks forward earning her Ph.D. in the coming years to satisfy a desire to continue to learn and scientifically test her theories about the impact of stories on personal and organizational effectiveness. For more information: carlyriehle@gmail.com

 Is Future Search in your
(or your client’s) Future?  

Future Search uses the wisdom of the whole system to create a shared vision, validate a common mission, plan action, and commit to implementation. It brings representatives and stakeholders from all parts of an organization and its ecosystem together in one place.  In same and mixed groups and as a whole group individuals explore and align on what they want for the future and plan to achieve it.

In our session we will:

• Experience a Future Search process
• Learn about the Future Search methodology
• Explore possibilities for a Future Search – what’s possible when people or parts of a system that typically disagree can find common ground

Please join us on January 11 to kick off the new year with a fascinating look into our potential Futures!

Facilitator:  Rosalind Spigel,  SpigelConsulting.com        {see Bio below} 

         
(Please join our LinkedIn Group if you haven’t yet done so, and comment on the discussions.)

Schedule for Thursday Evening January 11:  (CT)    
   –  6:45  Virtual setup and Networking
   –  7:00  Announcements / Intros  
   –  7:15  Program Begins Promptly    
   –  8:45  Closing and Wrap Up
   –  9:00  Program Ends

Zoom Link to Join Virtual Meeting will be sent to all who register.

Facilitator Bio  

Rosalind Spigel, MSOD, ACC, brings creativity and insight to organizational systems to support engagement and alignment of stakeholders to achieve shared goals in their shared vision. In consultation with her clients, Rosalind designs and facilitates customized strategic planning and implementation, board development, leadership coaching, DE&I initiatives, capacity building interventions, and workshops. A certified Standards of Excellence© consultant, Rosalind is also a consultant with several nonprofit organizations.

Rosalind earned her MSOD from the American University/National Training Laboratories and received her coach training from the Gestalt International Study Center. She is trained to lead Future Search conferences and is certified in DISC. She is the recipient of the Hal Kellner Award for contributions to issues of diversity and social justice and has published on leadership, gender bias, and most recently as a co-author, Dissecting Meaning, Scope, and Roles of Social Justice and Social Action. For more information, SpigelConsulting.com.