Pivotal Conversations

Pivotal Conversations is not “Interpersonal Skills 101.” It’s a process for learning sophisticated skills that can radically improve challenging business conversations. It provides skills that managers need to engage in effective cross-functional collaboration and to combine clear leadership with participatory team problem-solving.

Pivotal Conversations is a customizable program with a successful track record that stretches back over several decades. Participants significantly improve their ability to:

• Develop strong working relationships
• Resolve differences effectively
• Collaboratively diagnose underlying issues
• Generate creative solutions to challenging problems
• Coach direct reports

Learning takes place by getting feedback on real-life conversations and by practicing more effective ways to handle them in the workshop.

What are pivotal conversations?

To achieve critical business results, executives and their managers need to  collaborate across organizational boundaries. Achieving these results requires a series of conversations where people almost always have differing views and priorities. If these conversations are constructive, they have a positive business impact. If they do not go well, they have a negative impact.

These high-impact, cross-boundary discussions are “pivotal” conversations.

Improving these conversations is one of the most powerful ways to increase organizational effectiveness. When companies develop a culture of constructive candor and collaboration, everything works better, and business results improve.

Outcomes

Participants learn how to:

• Develop and communicate collaborative intent
• Use “dialog skills” (advocacy, inquiry, framing, and illustrating)
• Increase empathy and understanding
• Persuade without manipulating
• Increase trust and openness
• Engage in creative, collaborative problem-solving
• Give and receive constructive feedback

Learning methodologies

Depending on the customized design, this program can draw on the following elements:

• Facilitated group coaching on participants’ real-life challenging conversations
• Practice rounds that incorporate feedback and coaching
• Work in pairs and triads
• Cost-benefit analysis of improved pivotal conversations
• Written self-reflection
• Action plans to continue practice after the workshop

How is the program structured?

The overall design of a Pivotal Conversations program is customized to the particular situation of the client organization. Successful formats include:

• Half-day workshop preceded by an interactive webinar
• Two one-day (or four half-day) workshop separated by a 4-week interval
• Three day (or six half-day) workshop with or without coaching follow-up
• Program with start-up, core, and follow-through workshops and coaching
• Follow-up options include coaching and/or ongoing learning groups

Participant feedback on the program

In anonymous written evaluations, participants — almost without exception — rate "Pivotal Conversations" as being among the best workshops they’ve ever experienced. All recommend that others in their organization take these workshops. A few representative  comments:

• One of the best professional training workshops I’ve ever attended. The facilitation was superb. I really value the feedback I received.
• Very professional, useful, fun, meaningful.
• One of the best I’ve ever attended. The small group format was very effective. The learning cases kept us focused. I could look at my own behaviors, etc.
• More useful than other workshops because it is grounded in reality. The learnings were tangible. Most workshops do not deal with real life cases

Evaluations of workshop leaders

Representative comments about our Pivotal Conversation workshop leaders:

• The workshop was very well facilitated. A very strong sense of trust was instilled from the outset. This promoted a high degree of participation that otherwise might not have taken place.
• He has the ability to ‘read’ the participants and use the information in each person’s case to help them focus on particular issues. Very well done!
• He was able to draw out information from the participants with a very relaxed ease. He can read your expression and tell when you need to say something, but might be afraid to do so.
• He knows the material and presents it well. He is well-organized and a good conceptualizer. He gives insightful feedback and is a good facilitator. He also has a fun personality. He had good rapport with the group.

Download a brochure on this program