Building Individual and Organizational Capacity
Our clients choose us because they are committed to the path up on-going improvement. So are we. Our passionate commitment is to go beyond merely providing clients with top quality services, but to also transfer enough of our capacities to our clients so they can truly build upon what we have shown them and continue their development long after our provider/client relationship has ended. Because we believe deeply in the power of healthy dialogue to create more successful people, organizations and communities, our capacity work typically focuses on refining analysis of challenges, strengthening communication, modifying organizational cultures, resolving obvious and subtle conflicts, and ensuring that decision-making is efficient and appropriately inclusive. The focus of our capacity building efforts has included:
Individuals and Small Groups
Many of our client organization have been sought our expertise because they are filled with individuals and small groups who need dialogue skills so that they can function better within as individuals, families, and small groups. In these cases, our objective is to create a stimulating educational atmosphere where each person becomes motivated and more importantly equipped to embody practices of dialogue that foster positive changes in relationships and systems. We have been called upon to deliver such trainings military chaplains who needed to teach conflict transformation to sailors, for school systems concerned about parent/teen relationships, and to neighborhood safety programs intending to teach skills to conflict resolution to youth from tough neighborhoods.
Change Agents and Champions
Our clients know that for sustained widespread organizational change to exist, there must be a cadre of informal champions who help spread the idea that the organization will be helped by better dialogue about divergent perspectives. We work with clients to prepare agents to embody dialogue principles and to effectively persuade others that an improved culture of dialogue will benefit them and everyone. Our skill building workshops (on-line and/or in person) are often delivered in a short series that allows for greater accountability around change.
Entire Systems
Sometimes decision-makers realize that best way to boost to a system’s inclusion journey to make sure that everyone in the system become familiar with a few basic concepts and skills. Clients have engaged us to large scale town hall settings or rolling trainings serve as cultural reset that to get everyone in a system on the same page. Our approach in these instances is to deliver events that are enjoyable, that inspire interest in inclusion, and that catalyze dialogue between participants, both during the session and after.