The Practice of Dialogue:
A Workshop for Professional Coaches, Consultants and Facilitators of Teams and Groups in Non-profit, Corporate or Community Organizations
Friday, March 28, 2003
Bon Secours - click here for information and directions

Dialogue in the news...

Ms. Rodriguez and Ms. O'Brien conducted Dialogue training sessions for Maryland Severn Middle School staff, click here to read the article.

Success at Christiana Hospital, Wilmington Delaware, through Dialogue: “a nine percent overall performance increase and a twelve percent increase in overall performance recovery”. “This improvement is significant and means that patients are receiving services more effectively, but the really interesting part about this, in addition to the percentage increases, is the process used to achieve them.” Ray Seigfried, Vice President on the System Service Improvement team’s results using Dialogue (see website for full article in the resources section at the end of this flyer)

“Dialogue is about what we value and how we define it. It is about discovering what our true values are, about looking beyond the superficial and automatic answers to our questions. Dialogue is about expanding our capacity for attention, awareness and learning with and from each other. It is about exploring the frontiers of what it means to be human, in relationship to each other and our world.” --Glenna Gerard, 1995.

Dialogue is a foundational communication process leading directly to personal and organizational transformation . It assists in creating environments of high trust and openness, with reflective and generative capacities. One might think of dialogue as a revolutionary approach in the development of the following organizational disciplines: continuous learning, diversity, conflict exploration, decision making and problem solving, leadership, self-managing teams, organizational planning and alignment, and culture change.--Linda Ellinor , 1996

Experience in Dialogue will allow you to enter into group or team coaching and facilitation situations with new strategies for collaborative conversation, mutual insight, and co-creation.

This one-day workshop is designed to introduce the professional coach, consultant and facilitator to the fundamentals of the practice of Dialogue and Dialogue facilitation.  Dialogue has been defined as a formal, divergent, respectful conversation among a group of people, out of which may emerge a deeper understanding, something creative.  Dialogue derives its strength from the inclusion of diverse perspectives and it derives its power from the voice of the collective.  It is most effective in creating conversations that open the group to possibilities beyond what has previously been considered, and it removes the blocks to the transformation of problem into opportunity.

As a professional coach, consultant and facilitator, convening dialogue with your teams and groups will allow you to facilitate greater results, create unforeseen opportunities, and foster innovation.  The regular practice of dialogue can be used as a tool for cultural change and innovation in communities, corporations, small businesses and organizations.

In this workshop we will begin to develop our capacities in the following areas:

• Understanding the four practices of dialogue: Inquiry, Suspension of Judgment, Talking authentically from the “I” perspective, and Deep Listening
• Seeing group patterns through the evolving conversational fields
• Appreciating the role and responsibilities of the dialogue facilitator and the participant

Additionally, we will include:

• A comprehensive Fieldbook with best practices, notes and resources to effectively convene Dialogue for teams and groups and to teach others how to convene their own Dialogues.
• A special invitation to a reunion of participants of this year’s workshops to 1. share how participants have implemented their dialogue training, 2. an opportunity to be coached in your facilitation skills, and 3. networking and brainstorming on ways dialogue can be presented to your clients.
• A list of participants so you can network and support each other as you master the practice of dialogue.
• A 10% discount on future ongoing dialogue training workshops should you wish to retake the training program for more in-depth understanding or as a refresher.
• BONUS: Because we are committed to extending the Practice of Dialogue through training in these practices, we are now including a CD containing the Fieldbook Program AND the PowerPoint Presentation. You will be able to use and adapt these for your own training workshops for clients and others.

Why Attend?

• If you are interested in adding value to your offerings as a consultant, coach or facilitator in a unique way.  (Currently, there are only approximately 200 individuals formally trained in this practice of dialogue.) 
• If you are interested in a powerful and revolutionary tool for generating organizational learning and fostering cultural change.
• If you wish to integrate personal growth and mastery with what you do in the world of work.
• If you want to unfold your team or group’s collective wisdom and apply it to conflict resolution, consensus building, and/or new habits of thought.
• If you are committed to the transformational process (social, political or organizationally) as an organic, expansive process that can be replicated by others.

Recommended Advance Reading** and Informational Books

Bohm, David.  On Dialogue, Routledge. London. 1996

Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday/Currency, New York. 1990.

Wheatley, Margaret J. Turning to One Another. Berrett-Koehler, 2002.

** Isaacs, William. Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together. Doubleday, NY, 1999.

Yankelovich, Daniel. The Magic of Dialogue. Simon and Schuster, NY, 1999.

For an article on how the Practice of Dialogue transformed the culture and increased patient care of a Delaware Hospital, click HERE.

Your Presenters:

Judith O’Brien, Master Dialogue Facilitator, with a Ph.D. in Education from Boston College.  Dr. O’Brien did her training in Bohmian style dialogue at MIT’s Organizational Learning Center (now the Society for Organizational Learning) in 1992 in the yearlong Boston Urban Dialogue Project under the guidance of Dr. William Isaacs, author of “Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together”.  She went on to teach the principles and practices of dialogue to graduate education students at Antioch New England Graduate School.  Dr. O’Brien has been introducing the practices of dialogue within communities and non-profit organizations for more than 10 years. For the last two years, Dr. O’Brien has been the Project Director and dialogue coordinator for the “Preserving the Rural Soundscapes” project, a Ford Foundation funded arts-based civic dialogue initiative in Nelson County, Virginia.  In addition, she is the founder of RIVERSPEAK Dialogues, a Maryland resource center for the training of community dialogue facilitators.  Dr. O’Brien is working in partnership with SOPHIA ASSOCIATES, to bring the power of dialogue to the coaching community. 

Alicia M. Rodriguez, Personal and Executive Coach, Consultant, Facilitator, with a Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is a multi-disciplinary consultant, a writer, an impassioned Coach and an adept facilitator for personal, professional and organizational development. She is sought after as a motivational guest speaker and workshop leader who is recognized for training delivery combining humor, professionalism, information and humanism.  Ms. Rodriguez utilizes her background in corporate communications, entrepreneurship, and professional training and facilitation to be an effective Coach and resource to her clients. She is principal of SOPHIA ASSOCIATES, a collaborative of professionals who work in partnership with individual clients and organizations on leadership, performance, change, diversity and more. Ms. Rodriguez is a member of the International Coach Federation, the International Association of Career Management Professionals, American Women in Communications and she sits on the Board of Directors of the Anne Arundel County YWCA and the Annapolis Entrepreneurs Exchange. 

Registration and Payment Information:

The cost for this workshop is $350.00.  This includes a full day workshop, the comprehensive field book, special invitation to a Dialogue Reunion for coaching (May/June 2003) BONUS: CD with Fieldbook Content and PowerPointPresentation that can be adapted to conduct training workshops for clients and others.  Also included are Continental Breakfast, breaks and a working luncheon. You are also eligible to a 10% discount on repeat future trainings.

For Overnight Accommodations: Bon Secours International

Call Linda Lawrence (or her assistant Sandy) at 410-442-1320 ext 301 to book your overnight accommodations. Be sure to mention this workshop for the room rate of $47 (payable by cash or check only) per night plus meals. Visit Bon Secours web site for more information and directions.