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Session M - Pre-Conference Session
Friday, June 9th, 9am-12pm, 1:15-4:15pm

Self-Organizing the “Inquirer”- Better Questions – Accurate Sensing – More Effective Response
Presented by Peter Stonefield

Format: Workshop
Primary Focus: Innovation
Secondary Focus: Mindfulness

   
 

Description: Acccording to a report in the Harvard Business Review, 80% of problems encountered by organizations are related to human relationships.The biggest problem is unproductive conversations resulting from misunderstandings. Better questions lead to accurately sensing or understanding the context, problems, mindsets, needs, opportunities, threats, purposes and complexities in play.  Building shared understanding requires thinking together in a way that both affirms and challenges beliefs, inferences, assumptions, conclusions and mindsets. For example, it is much harder for minds to come together and see or understand what is causing a problem than one mind figuring it all out and then persuading everyone else to go along.

Target Audience: This workshop is designed for those who would like to become more agile, adaptive and effective in different contexts by learning how to more accurately sense or understand situations and facilitate greater understanding in others.

Organizational Issues:Thinking together requires leadership in the form of a fully present “Inquirer” who asks questions that builds shared understanding of context, problems, purposes, vision, commitments and plans. More often than not this involves exploring and challenging the thinking, mindset, reasoning of others in a way that prevents unproductive conflict and maintains a positive climate. Bringing minds together this way creates a ME to WE environment.  Everyone is more likely to end up on the same page, aligned, motivated, responsible and able to respond or act effectively.  Everyone also is more likely to learn from outcomes. Keep in mind, the performance of all organizational systems is driven by the quality of the interaction between its parts.

Objectives: There are many for this seminar include;

* Understand the role of identity and mindset on thinking and the need to self-manage defensiveness when faced with different points of view and criticism. Even your best questions can be easily misinterpreted when you appear defensive.
* Learn a proven leadership communications architecture that organizes better questions and facilitates ME to WE thinking.
* Self-organize your role / identity as an “Inquirer” by understanding the purpose / mindset and creatively discovering an “attractor” to accelerate learning. Identify and align potentially limiting parts.
* To begin the actualization of your “Inquirer” you will role play inquiry strategies-approaches, language, and opening lines for the following situations / contexts:
* “Inquirer” Presence- establishing rapport and trust/inferring mindset
* Clarifying your interpretations and understandings
* Understanding a problem
* Evoking understanding from a systems perspective.
* Clarifying / exploring other’s thinking / reasoning - facilitating dis-identification / objectivity
* Treating proposals, suggestions, options or ideas
* Addressing negative inferences / toxic statements
* Seek closure and confirm commitments
* Facilitate learning from outcomes

Cost: $15 materials fee. Each participant leaves with an iPower- awareness CD and self-management workbook.

Pre-work: None

Materials Needed: None

Handouts: Available only to session attendees

Peter Stonefield

Biography: Peter Stonefield holds a B.S.E.E. , M.A. , Ph.D. and is President of Stonefield Learning Group. In this capacity, he serves as an executive and technical staff coach, consultant and trainer. He was an electronic engineer, marketing and sales executive for the Bunker-Ramo Corporation before becoming a psychologist. He taught graduate-level courses on Cognitive and Creative Process, Psychosynthesis and Counseling Psychology. He has successfully completed over 200 consulting engagements, created more than 20 different training and development programs and coached over 300 executives and engineers. Some of the training programs he developed are Managing Innovation, TQM, Agile Communications, Agile Leadership, Knowledge Management, Managing Change, Creative Thinking and Architecture for Teamwork. He has also facilitated the development of 10 knowledge leveraging “Communities of Practice” in engineering and marketing organizations. His client list includes Apple Computer, Baxter Laboratories, Dow Chemical, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Stanford University , PPG, Sun Microsystems, U.S. Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency and General Services Administration. He was the principal consultant to, the U.S. Department of Labor, the winner of the U.S. President's Quality Award for Managing Change and the G.S.A. Administrators Award for Managing Change in Government.

His mission is to catalyze and accelerate the evolution of organizations and people.

Contact: Peter can be reached by e-mail at peter@slgllc.com for additional information about this Pre-Conference session.

Website:
www.slgllc.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-stonefield-phd/0/2a5/348

   
       
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