2014 - Facilitating Dynamic Change in the Workplace

Overview: This webinar offers protocols and skillful practices that can optimize our capacity to participate with and facilitate dynamic change in the workplace. You will learn how to participate with change through the use of stories, examples, tips, guidelines, and experiential exercises. A highlight of the program is the introduction of a unique model of communication, based upon the tenets of Aikido, which, with its supporting principles, can serve as a "map" to help you navigate the difficult terrain of dynamic change.
Why should you attend: Traditional peoples over the millennia have grown accustomed to dynamic change as the norm - being so closely tied and exposed to the unpredictability of Nature and its mysteries. As such, over the centuries some cultures have developed protocols and skillful practices that when facing dynamic change has allowed them to survive, some to thrive - preserving their culture and their heritage.
An example of one such culture is the Moken, the sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea, who have lived for hundreds of years on the islands off the coast of Thailand and Burma. They have recited the legend of "the Seven Waves" from generation to generation around their campfires, which describes what to do when seawater acts "strangely," when it recedes from the shore in an unnatural fashion, when a tsunami is on its way. "Head for the hills," the story advises. When the deadly tsunami of 2004 hit their island, the Moken people, having seen the signs, climbed to higher ground, and were saved, untouched by the tsunami's devastation.
Unfortunately, very few of us as professionals have employed in spirit the same kinds of protocols and practices that our ancestors used when dynamic change is upon us. Instead, we prefer to align ourselves with Woody Allen's humorous yet poignant comment, "I don't mind dying (i.e. experience dynamic change). I just don't want to be there when it happens."
Why do we feel this way? One might be because change is unsettling; it shakes things up: there's something new on the horizon, but what that is exactly or what that will be is unknown. And for most of us, this uncertainty elicits fear, and as a result, we try to cope with this as best we can, seeking to ease our own and others' concerns. We want to feel confident and assured that everything is going to be all right, even though at the moment that's not our actual experience.
Ultimately, the wisdom of our ancestors tells us that we can't manage change anymore than we can control the tides. We can, however, as professionals, learn protocols and skillful practices that can enhance our ability to participate with dynamic change consciously; so we don't merely get dragged through the changes. And when our capacity to participate with change increases, we can then more readily facilitate change for others.
Areas Covered in the Session:
Why we generally view dynamic change as a negative - as something to fear - and how to transform our perspective into one that optimizes our potential as professionals
How to find the courage to "keep our faces towards change," especially when we have lost heart and our resistance stifles our ability to move forward
To increase our ability to accept dynamic change on its own terms and ways to become more respectful of other's and our own experience with change
How to develop a new relationship with the process of change
How to participate with dynamic change from a courageous place in ourselves
To utilize a creative, dynamic model of communication that will help us stay focused on what's most important while participating with and facilitating dynamic change
Guidelines to support the facilitation of change i.e. make the experience easier, for others and ourselves.
Who Will Benefit:
Senior Management Team
Directors and Administrators
Supervisors
Employment Managers
Training Director
Human Resources staff
General Managers and CEO's
Team Leaders
Team Members
Instructor:
Speaker Profile:
Robert Elliott has worked with individuals and groups throughout North America, Asia, Micronesia and Europe as a speaker, corporate educator and leadership coach. He has conducted his Creating Quality leadership, communication, and relationship building programs with executives, middle management, and support personnel from Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller companies in the fields of technology, healthcare, insurance, entertainment, and manufacturing. In addition, he has worked with federal and state agencies, the military, law enforcement, and county and city governments. He has also served on the business faculties of UCLA, UC Irvine, San Diego State University and Loyola Marymount University Extension Programs.