Mindful Dialogue for Facilitators and Coaches

(ICF 24 CCE units)

 And here is the rest of it.

Dialogue is an in-depth conversation into the assumptions that structure and interpret our everyday experiences.  Dialogue practice involves suspending judgment, listening deeply, and balancing advocacy and inquiry. These are skills we teach as authentic communication. These can be practiced in 1:1 coaching, mentoring and team conversations.  

Dialogue creates a group field in which members explore potentially un-discussable issues and are able to express their thoughts and feelings without fear.  Dialogue moves a group beyond polarized “right/wrong”, “us/them”, “win/lose” thinking that leads to misunderstanding and communication breakdown. Dialogue produces a deep shared understanding that ultimately helps a group make faster decisions that are better informed, with a stronger commitment to follow through than usual team learning approaches which focus primarily on problem solving and decision making.  Perceiving the Dialogue present within an individual and with their coach opens art of coaching to a deeper level of exploration

For individuals

Dialogue helps create rich work-life relationships and strong personal-life relationships.

Dialogue increases access to innovation inside your organization.

Dialogue skills help you to advocate ideas in ways that generate understanding and commitment.

Dialogue helps develop buy-in instead of defensiveness and resistance.

Introduction to Dialogue offers the skills and motivation to work through tough issues in ways that bring shared understanding and commitment. It builds trust, strengthens relationships, and secures the best thinking as well as new cooperation of all parties.

During the six sections we review the theories about why dialogue is such a powerful personal and team-learning tool.  We use ourselves as a learning team to develop practical dialogue skills for use in your own organizations and communities.

Skills in Listening + Awareness:  As we build a sense of community, concepts of dialogue and organizational learning are experienced and understood.

Practicing Inquiry and Advocacy:  We introduce a practice "clearness committee” in small groups with actual individual issues as a focus.

Fishbowl and Operational Skills:  We introduce practical examples of dialogue in the workplace, demonstrating as individuals and teams how to utilize dialogue in everyday situations.

Practical Result:

Practice dynamics of dialogical process

Understand the flow of ladder of inference

Connect deeper dialogue levels of conversation with coaching role

Experiential intent

Experience I YOU and WE dynamics of dialogical process

Experience distinction of in the flow of dialogue with a client

Time: 05/ 19-21/2017 ( Beijing)

          06/ 16-18/2017 ( Shanghai)

          

Feedback from learners of Dialogue:

From Jun Xue: This three-days program for me was a wonderful journey, not only did I learn about dialogue, but also harvested so many unexpected results! From the beginning, via two activities of "Childhood Memories" and "My Life” with my partner, I opened the innermost memory of mine. Besides, I, experiencing dialogue practice with partners time and time again and then coaching conversation, made myself go deeper to see and learn from the past. It enables me to choose courageously facing everything I had encountered; the most important part was learning how to let them go... Everything was well arranged! Thanks to facilitators leading and setting up a free and open field with love, It helped me to witness how fascinating   dialogue can achieve. The integration of mindfulness, U theory and coaching technologies help us a lot to enhance my sensing, listening and questioning ability. Appreciate again for sharing all knowledge, skills with no reservation!

From Fang Jun: Till now I still can feel the ripples out of the course like “bomb in deep water”. I profoundly experienced how I perceived facts, feeling and values from activities of “Compassionate Listening”. Another practice - “Fishbowl game”, it helped me to face the problem. In inner circle of fishbowl, I felt very safe to speak out what I was thinking on my problem. I noticed everyone was able to express freely, to explore assumptions behind, and to validate others. I truly believe this process is helpful to our future daily conversation and personal coaching.

From Frank: Along with Paulina’s facilitating ‘History of My Life’, I had an opportunity to explore what I had lived from the past to now. I was very much impressed by experiencing ‘be present’. I sensed the benefit of being mindful in meditation exercises. It helped me to feel calmer, freer, and refresher. The course lasted for three whole days, but I felt time flied. I decided to implement more to fortify my learning results.

From Sally: In my work, I understand facilitation as a method, and a skill too. It is quite important and useful when dealing with team problems or building team consensus at work ; however, it also takes lots of effort to facilitate group of people enjoying the process. Whenever I did it, it likes I have to consume all my energy that day to put it into reality. In the course, I observed Larry and Paulina demonstrating a field with free and relax during their facilitation; it just like listening to a country music, I felt very relax, comfortable and being touched by our dialogue too. I am so glad I leant how to enter into a facilitation field without keeping myself in tense. Also, I sensed my self-awareness getting higher than before.