Considered Conversations

Moderator Training

Running team meetings? Developing action plans? Creating innovative solutions for challenging problems or Organisational Change Management initiatives? Need to create an motivating legend or to authentically recount experiences and situations to mobilise the team?

The Kitchen Table Conversation (KTC) methodology training helps participants build knowledge and skill around elements that ensure lively debate, higher team commitment, interesting discoveries, and reliable outcomes. The training provides participants with skill in:

  1. establishing an atmosphere of information sharing and knowledge creation that is fun and lively,
  2. wisely crafting authentic legends to motivate and catalyse a group,
  3. supporting disagreement, debate and airing differences gracefully and respectfully, and
  4. employing processes that encourage and support meaningful and results-oriented dialogue.

Conversation Series

If you have some exposure to KTCs, we’d love you to join us for any of our bi-weekly 90-minute conversations.

EMC Topic #8: Productive Disagreement and Divergent Thinking

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EMC Topic #2: Environments for Meaningful Conversation

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€1800

Kitchen Table Conversation Moderator Training (Virtual)

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    Training Format

    We believe in learning through doing. This course is designed to ensure you have maximum opportunity to participate in Kitchen Table Conversations. Each KTC is designed around at least one element that is critical to repeatable success. The training takes place over 6 weeks. Modules are usually taken in standard order, but it is possible to join a future cohort if you are unable to attend a session. The time commitment includes:

    • 1 x 45-minute intake interview
    • 1 x 3½-hour instructor-led virtual session / week (14:00 to 17:30, or 15:30 to 19:00 CET)
    • Approximately 60 to 90 minutes of class preparation (homework)/week
    • Participation in 1, 90-minute virtual public or private KTC / week

     

    Who Should Attend?

    Kitchen Table Conversation Moderation training can benefit anyone who wishes to engage in more meaningful and fruitful discussion both professionally and socially, but it will be especially helpful to individuals who:

    1. have previous presentation, facilitation, and/or influencing skills training but want to take their skill to the next level
    2. are key influencers in their organisation or association
    3. regularly engage in public speaking, round-table discussions, or other open-forum dialogue
    4. are called upon to manage meeting, moderate or negotiate solutions between individuals & groups
    5. wish to showcase well-honed communication skills to advance their career

    Upon registration each participant will receive the book: Innovation at the Kitchen Table: Better Business Through Conversation.

    Not ready to sign up?

    Not sure if this course will fit into your schedule? Complete your details and we will contact you to answer all your questions.

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    Module Details

    More than just teaching you to be a better moderator for round tables and forums, the KTC methodology will change the way you look at and approach conversation and dialogue. With this approach, participants find a more open and meaningful way to communicate expectations, but also to receive negative and positive feedback. This course encompasses knowledge and skill acquisition related to negotiation and influencing skills, meeting planning and organisation, group dynamics – including dealing with difficult personalities, and team management. It is a must for anyone whose goal is to become a better key influencer and/or manager in an organisation.
    Session 1 - Intro to KTCs
    In the 90s, Organisational Change Managers were told to create a ‘burning platform’; to use a ‘call to action’ that was underpinned by some type of critical urgency and, perhaps, an undertone of doom. It was used to force movement within the team/organisation, even for those who were not on board. Today we know that the most successful projects and initiatives in any organisation are those that mobilise and engage key stakeholders, from the beginning, not only in the outcome, but the process. In this module participants will:
    • learn to identify and engage with stakeholders’ needs and concerns more effectively
    • adopt a specific process to test potential messages that ensures not only a higher degree of connection to key target audiences, but sets the tone for meaningful interaction throughout the company
    Session 2 - The Centre of KTCs
    Integral to any successful Organisational Change initiative or team planning session is your ability to inspire and include all actors in the vision. Crafting your message to fit your audience’s expectations and to address their needs, is an important step in ensuring your viewpoint, and direction resonates with all key stakeholder groups. In this module participants will:
    • Leverage the KTC process to develop a keen awareness of triggers and challenges within target audiences
    • practice foundational KTC interaction approach that leads to better conversations and more honest outcomes, in any situation
    Session 3 - Setting Up for Success
    There are so many elements of personality and group dynamics that come into play during any conversation… especially in a business setting. Exploring the subtleties of individual and group interaction allows moderators, managers, and team members to better understand how personal motivators and values influence the conversation and what can be done to even the playing field. In this module participants will:
    • enhance their sensitivity to, and understand, subtle body language cues
    • leverage conversational cues to encourage individual and group participation to enhance dialogue clarity and the quality of conversational outcomes
    Session 4 - The Process of Conversation
    More than just improving roundtable and forum moderation, the KTC methodology brings added awareness and understanding of each person’s role in creating and enhancing meeting outcomes. The process becomes part of the fabric of the organisational landscape and supports an environment of rich and solution-focused conversations. It enhances your ability to pinpoint when an authentic narrative can be used as a model for behaviour, or when a legend that can guide interaction emerges. This module provides the tools to recount situations and experiences. In this module, participants will:
    • use the critical elements of excellent conversations to produce positive outcomes
    • develop their personal conversational aids that can be used to make a point effectively and efficiently or to move a group in a specific direction (eg, using metaphors, anecdotes, storytelling & legend construction, etc.)
    Session 5 - Scripting Your KTC
    Any meeting management training will extoll upon the virtues of setting ground rules and boundaries. The KTC methodology goes a step further by providing successful strategies and concrete tactics that will enhance your ability to create successful outcomes, in even the most challenging situations. In this module participants will learn:
    • The important scripting elements that add to successful engagement and resolution of the pressing questions that are tackled each day in business meetings
    • To identify & understand their personality & traits that influence engagement and outcomes
    Session 6 - Spectrums of Engagement
    Tuckman’s 4 stages of group development (forming–storming–norming–performing) are seen very clearly in most Kitchen Table Conversations. In fact, the KTC affords a group of individuals the chance to accelerate their ability to come together and perform as a team. In this module participants will:
    • understand the cohesion arc that permeates the KTC process and adds positive potential to the group
    • increase their ability to employ the spectrum of KTC engagement methods to produce effective outcomes