Description: Whether for a company retreat or an annual conference, kick things off with a team-building workshop that will get their adrenaline going and their creative juices flowing.

Session Achievements (partial list):
• Collaborating with colleagues on activities that build trust, understanding and spirit
• Pulling together, and why it’s about more than everyone’s combined assets
• Assessing the team’s current strengths and weaknesses, along with areas where all would like to improve
• Practicing ways to manage up, down and sideways for best results all-around
• Learning the value of listening to and respecting all members of a team
• Establishing a CAIRO matrix to streamline your group’s workflow
• Generating a team contract that all will help create, as a guiding document moving forward

Description: When trouble bubbles to the surface, is your crew equipped to calm the waters? (Or does friction threaten to sink the entire operation?) If tensions are rattling nerves at your office, it’s time to address the causes and restore an environment of understanding.

Session Achievements (partial list):
• Deescalating troublesome conversations and situations
• Steering clear of “terms of resistance”
• Learning to listen attentively rather than jumping to conclusions
• Setting the stage for greater understanding of your viewpoint
• Identifying and rephrasing blunt wording for more professional interactions
• Knowing when to get involved in the battles of others and when to step back •Bearing in mind that your accepting a loss can be a long-term win for both

Description: Enhance your team’s effectiveness when interacting. As they identify their own preferred means of communicating, your colleagues will discover new ways to avoid misunderstandings and how, instead, to make true connections. Along the way, they’ll gain practice and insight into asking for what they need in language that consistently breaks through.

Session Achievements (partial list):
• Identifying and recognizing one’s own communication style through a proprietary self-assessment exam
• Bolstering workplace friendships as individuals come to understand what motivates colleagues to speak and act as they do
• Exploring the strengths, patterns and weaknesses of each of the four main communication styles
• Applying techniques for seeing the needs of others through a new lens
• Developing strategies for making conversational and relational breakthroughs with those where past interactions have not been successful
• Practicing the magic words that will open doors with each of the communication types and knowing which words will close them
• Tapping the strengths of each of the communication styles to make for a stronger, more well-rounded organization