Strategic Conversations Bootcamp

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April 30 at 12:00 pm to May 2 at 2:30 pm EDT - Virtual Event

Strategic Conversations Bootcamp Event Schedule

SESSION 1

SESSION 2

TUESDAY
April 30, 2024

THURSDAY
May 2, 2024

12:00pm-2:30pm ET

9:00am-11:30am PT

12:00pm-2:30pm ET

9:00am-11:30am PT

Please note: ALL virtual sessions for the will be recorded and saved for participants who are unable to attend a scheduled webinar. Links to the recordings will be provided so that participants can view/listen to the recording at a time that works best for them.

Foster Whole System Strategic Thinking, Planning, and Leading

A lack of strategic thinking and planning in organizations is costly. The greatest expense is the investment of time and resources into activities that do not support company goals or the mission. In addition, employees show up, do their work, and go home. This results in missed opportunities. Without a context for their work, employees are not inspired to think or plan creatively about process improvement, innovation, or cost savings. And anyone who has tried knows, it can be a struggle to get teams to buy-in to strategic goals, much less think and work in alignment with those goals.

Developing your leadership ability for strategic thinking and planning, coupled with the communication skills to engage in effective strategic conversations significantly improves your value as a leader. The days of hiring an outside agency to create a strategic plan for your organization are over; so too should be strategic plans developed at the top and handed down for others to implement. Organizations poised for growth and success have leaders who are adopting strategic thinking as an on-going way of doing business and strategic planning that engages employees across the whole organization as well as external stakeholders. They engage everyone in developing agile plans, cycles of experimentation and learning, innovation, and measuring actions against relevant metrics.

Strategic Conversations Bootcamp will invite you to explore the ways a living systems mindset influences strategic thinking and action, teach you how to use the SOAR framework to support strategic conversations at all levels of an organizations, deepen your understanding of the value of scaling strategic conversation to include the whole system, and introduce you to four whole systems engagement processes: The AI 5D cycle, Design Thinking, World Cafe, and Open Space Technology.

Learning Outcomes

This training will encourage you to bring a living systems mindset to organizational design, strategy, and success. It will prepare you to engage teams in strategic conversations that can:

  • Respond effectively to continuous change, complexity, and ambiguity.
  • Inspire productivity, engagement, and organizational effectiveness.
  • Reduce costs, misalignment, and conflicts.
  • Enhance customer service.
  • Innovate in the face of challenges.
  • Make a positive contribution to the triple bottom line.

After completing this bootcamp, you will have the tools to engage teams from a whole system perspective in conversations to:

  • Develop an organizational system as the system’s north star.
  • Address short- and long-term challenges, systems, and innovation.
  • Explore strengths, dynamic capabilities, and opportunities.
  • Develop or re-evaluate organization’s values, vision, and mission statements.
  • Set goals, objectives, strategies, and action plans.
  • Clarify roles, relationships, and expectations.
  • Track progress through regular cycles of action learning.

Course Modules

Click the session titles below to learn more about each session’s overview and learning outcomes.

PURPOSE: Reassess the nature of what it means to be an organization, explore the impact of adopting a living systems mindset, and what that means when it comes to the nature of business conversation.

OBJECTIVES:

  • Rethink the nature of organizations, see them as a living system, nourished by hubs of conversation and action.
  • Adopt a living systems mindset and an Appreciative Inquiry conversational framework.
  • Recognize 3 key factors for supporting strategic conversations and organizational flourishing.
  • Practice framing and asking generative questions for strategic conversations that align with a living systems mindset.

PURPOSE: Learn to use the SOAR Framework to foster strategic conversations at all levels of an organization.

 OBJECTIVES:

  • Adopt a SOAR Framework for strategic thinking and planning.
  • Experience SOAR as a positive approach for strategic conversations.
  • Practice positive framing and generative questions using SOAR at various levels in the organization.

PURPOSE: Understand the importance of whole systems engagement and explore strategic conversations at scale using the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) 5-D Cycle to engage all stakeholders in strategic planning or whole system change.

 OBJECTIVES:

  • Understand the need for whole systems engagement.
  • Understand the AI 5-D Cycle.
  • Practice framing an affirmative topic and creating an appreciative inquiry.
  • Identify opportunities to engage whole systems in strategic conversations.

PURPOSE: Understand key factors for successful whole systems engagement and learn the basics around three popular processes for engaging large groups or whole systems in conversation.

 OBJECTIVES:

  • Recognize key factors to successful whole systems engagement.
  • Understand Design Thinking, World Café, and Open Space Technology.
  • Explore when, where, and how you might use these processes.
  • Identify other resources and processes for whole systems engagement.

Method of Delivery for the Strategic Conversations Bootcamp

These live events will be delivered and recorded using Zoom. You can participate in these live events using any device: computer, tablet, or mobile. Please participate using the dial-in method you feel most comfortable with. You will receive the meeting login information from your trainers in two separate emails. First email will be sent two weeks prior to the event; the second to be sent the day before the bootcamp.

Affiliate Program Offered in Partnership with:

We invite you to learn more about the Conversation Bootcamp also offered in partnership with Conversations Worth Having.

Event Registration

Select the number of individuals that will be attending.

The numbers below include tickets for this event already in your cart. Clicking "Get Tickets" will allow you to edit any existing attendee information as well as change ticket quantities.
This event is full and registration has closed. Please contact us to be placed on the wait list.

Registration Includes

Registration includes:

  • Two 2.5-hour webinars, plus applied learning and practice.
  • Access to recorded webinar sessions (should you miss a session or wish to revisit content covered).
  • Participant Handbook. One week prior to the training, your trainers will email you an electronic version of the handbooks so that you can begin to skim the materials prior to the training.
  • Though not necessary, based on feedback from previous participants, we recommend you read Conversations Worth Having and Learning to SOAR before attending the webinar session.

AI Practitioners

Cheri Torres understands that relational dynamics inform any group or organization endeavor; therefore, she works with leaders and teams to co-create positive, strength-based relationships capable of achieving extraordinary outcomes. She emphasizes excellence and success as an evolving target that is best achieved through continuous appreciation and inquiry. Working with Cheri means learning to use a simple set of tools and practices that generate human connection, positive relational dynamics, broad-based inclusion, creativity, collaborative action, and collective impact.

Cheri also partners with communities and organizations for whole systems change and strategic planning, bringing all stakeholders together for planning, design and collaborative action.  She has worked across all sectors: education, social profit/NGOs, government and corporate, supporting their capacity for learning and innovation, shared leadership, teamwork and collaboration. She has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Experiential Learning, Appreciative Inquiry and other strength-based practices with a particular focus on leadership development, teamwork, creativity, and collaboration. In addition to North America, she has worked in Mexico, South America, Europe and India. Learn More>

Jackie Stavros’ passion is working with others to discover their strengths, identify opportunities and create a plan with meaningful results for positive change! She is internationally recognized for her creation of SOAR, a positive approach to strategic thinking, planning, and leading that focuses on strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results in strategic conversations. The heart of her work is using Appreciative Inquiry (AI), one of the most popular approaches to positive change – that is bringing out the best in people, their organizations, and communities to fuel conversations worth having that produce meaningful engagement and results. She has presented her research and work in over 25 countries.

Jackie has been integrating strengths-based, whole system practices into her research, teaching, training, coaching, and consulting work to strengthen relationships, impact performance, and create positive change. She works with organizations in leadership development, team-building, and strategic planning. She helps organizations identify and articulate their values, vision, mission, strategy, and strategic initiatives and build collaborative teams and communities for results-oriented action. She has worked across all sectors including for-profit, non-profit, government, and a wide spectrum of industries. Learn More>

Event Cost

STRATEGIC CONVERSATIONS BOOTCAMP: 

  • Early bird discount: $679.00 USD (discount ends March 26, 2024)
  • Regular price: $749.00 USD

CONVERSATION BOOTCAMP: (learn more)

  • Early bird discount: $679.00 USD (discount ends March 26, 2024)
  • Regular price: $749.00 USD

BOTH BOOTCAMPS (save when you enroll in both)

  • Early bird discount: $1,398.00 USD (discount ends March 26, 2024)
  • Regular price: $1,498.00 USD

Please note: ALL virtual sessions will be recorded and saved for participants who are unable to attend a scheduled webinar. Links to the recordings will be provided so that participants can view/listen to the recording at a time that works best for them.

Venue

Virtual Event

Organizer

Kelly Stewart
Email:
Kelly@CenterForAppreciativeInquiry.net