Connecting, Collaborating, and Facilitating Change Through Transformative Conversations
The Advanced Collaborative Success Circle is an intensive, powerful small group learning and coaching program. It is for experienced trainers, leaders, and other professionals working with collaboration and change.
I will enable and support you to succeed in creating new ways of thinking about difficult or persistent challenges. You will learn how to focus your energy and intention to create and sustain collaboration and change. By actively participating in transformative conversations you will discover your own approach to change in a way that feels natural and assures success. It is for people who are already competent in influencing others for change and want to become virtuosos of change and collaborative processes.
The Advanced Collaborative Success Circle can be delivered in a retreat setting, as a workshop, or as a virtual (phone and internet based) transformative learning experience. It will feature and model a collaborative-reflective-transformational learning process combined with practice and application of advanced skills and tools.
Our Promise
We will Develop Relationships and Conversations that make a difference. As our collaborative process advances and the conversations deepen you will find powerful ways to impact others for change at a higher level of mastery.
We will create a safe collaborative space in which we can enter into inquiring loops. Through the ensuing dialogue and collaboration there will be opportunity to engage in a systematic process of inquiry, discovery, learning, and interpretation. This will foster new insights, new possibilities, practical applications, problem solving, and personal growth. Our circle will be a good model of how you can be a more effective and efficient collaborative change agent.
Key Features
In the Advanced Collaborative Success Circle, experienced leaders will:
- Practice and refine advance collaborative skills (both with your team and your clients or subordinates). Bring your knowledge and be prepared to share, explore change, and stretch your limits
- Engage in active experimentation using real-life issues. You will get immediate feedback from me and the group as we engage in shared inquiry, mutual exploration, and development
- Become more comfortable with asking the right collaborative questions to foster change
- Understand, see differently, and positively engage your own and others "resistance" to change. We will examine the role of objections, alternative behaviors and objectives from new perspectives. You will develop the capacity for “integrative awareness”
- Lead sustainable change more effectively utilizing a collaborative approach
- Identify and clarify core issues that can facilitate or hinder change
- Articulate clear goals and develop collaborative strategies for successful change
- Master collaborative communication and listening skills translating theory into immediate practice
- Acquire a greater understanding of systems processes to better guide the collaborative change process
- Discover and enhance your own creativity and strengths as well as that of others
- Build bridges between change strategies and people
What Makes The Advanced Collaborative Success Circle so Powerful?
For any change process to be successful, it needs a supportive practical structure with sequence, connection, and fluidity that facilitates the reflective process, generates fresh and creative ideas, and opens new possibilities for action and successful outcomes.
I see the collaborative success circle process as, well. . . circular (see Figure 1): in any generative conversation you could go through the whole circle or only a segment of it, you could go back and forth between the different elements, or you could spend the whole time in only one of them. I put dialogue at the center, because I believe that internal and external dialogue is the foundation on which the whole collaborative success circle process is anchored and what makes change possible (inser Figure 1here-this is the figure I sent you on an email).
Following that model, at any given moment in the circle all participants (including the leader) will be expected to:
- Gently confront others in a supportive way to help interrupt old patterns.
- Improve accountability to deliver on commitments.
- Explore different change styles to find your natural path for change.
- Take initiative and move out of predictable patterns that don’t work.
- Shift attitudes from helplessness to empowerment.
- Address tough dilemmas and competing priorities.
- Build trust in the face of diverse thinking.
- Explore signature strengths to better harness them in leading change.
- Generate support and collaboration while respecting differences
- Strengthen personal and group vision enrolling others in the change process.
- Establish a safe container where the group can expand the ability to reflect, observe, learn, and change.
- Influence positively to generate hope, energy, and joy in the process of change.
- Participate fully in the collaborative coaching circle for greater synergy.
What Distinguishes the Collaborative Success Circle from Other Programs
My framework for collaborative coaching is grounded in the human potential movement, and theories of adult development, systems, dialogue, collaborative coaching, and transformative learning. [1]
As a result, the program takes into consideration individuals, context, and systems. It is not a canned class with inflexible curriculum, but a tailored program to fit the needs of the participants. Through the program you will:
- Learn appreciative inquiry methods to jump-start change processes.
- Engage in transformative learning experiences with real situations utilizing what arises in the moment to fully explore opportunities for change.
- Give and get immediate feedback that is direct, supportive, and collaborative.
- Discover and create advance strategies for leading lasting change efforts.
- Integrate learning into practice through coaching and real-life case studies.
- Benefit from my expertise, support, and caring about you and you success. For more than 20 years I have been empowering people for change and growth in collaboration. My life and business have benefited from the support I’ve received while learning to be a leader of collaborative change. Now you can have that same level of caring focused on your success!
- Learning from and with other leaders and change agents who have substantial experience and skill. The forums and one on one peer feedback will provide this opportunity.
My style is direct, honest, loving, inspiring, collaborative, and down-to-earth. I’m always looking for ways to harness your strengths to help you create and/or effectively manage collaborative change.
Retreat Modality
The Collaborative Success Circle Retreat is delivered over 3 days with a small selected group of participants in a retreat format. The intense, creative, and flexible time spent together creates trust and cohesiveness. Exploring the above topics in an intimate environment provides support and rapid transformative learning. It is very individualized to the needs of the group. After the retreat a follow up virtual coaching group will be established to consolidate learning and support change. Contact us directly for more information. Write collaborative circle on the subject line. You can also call Dr. Ada Gonzalez at 302-399-3915.
Virtual Modality
The Collaborative Success Circle is a four-months program with a small selected group of participants (to ensure enough individual focus). It will provide the support, challenge, knowledge, and accountability that can make a difference for greater success in leading collaborative change. The basic structure of the program includes:
- Program launch. A one-hour orientation session introducing methods, tools, and participants. This sets the stage for the intense and enjoyable collaborative work ahead.
- Eight conference calls with all participants (45-60 minutes each, twice per month for 4 months.
- The first 10 minutes of each call will follow up from the last session assignments. The next 10 minutes of each call includes learning a major strategy or tool for collaborative change and practicing it live on the call.
- Then in the next 15-30 minutes we engage in coaching a live related issue brought by a participant while the rest of the circle listens “as if” (we will explain this on the first orientation call). As part of the process we will pause to discuss progress, enrich the conversation, increase the collaboration, and analyze how to facilitate change. The discussion about the topic can continue in the forums.
- One private Master Mind one-hour phone collaborative coaching session. Just you, me, and a very small group (no more than 5, less if possible) of other motivated individuals on these calls. You get my devoted time and attention PLUS the benefit of hearing what other individuals are going through while they lead change in their professional work places. These calls are inspiring, motivating, and really get you into focused action!
- Interactive forum for you to buddy-coach with your peers, share tips, successes, and gain valuable feedback from an exclusive community of individuals dedicated to “lifelong growth in collaborative change.”
- Visioning as a trigger for successful change action planning
- Are a high achiever who is an experienced trainer, leader, coach, or other collaborative professional leading change and wanting to know how to get to the next level of expertise for more efficient and effective results with change.
- Are willing and ready to become vulnerable and take action once you feel comfortable and know exactly what to do.
- Have a “yes, can do!” attitude and want to be highly successful.
- Want to get to a higher level of expertise and this is a high priority for you.
- Are willing to make significant, positive changes in your life and work experiencing and modeling what you want others to achieve with change.
- Love to learn, are self-motivated, and willing to try something different.
- Have difficulty showing up on time or honoring your commitments to yourself and others.
- Are unwilling to collaborate and change.
- Are too fearful of changing to a more fully collaborative change model to ever take action.
- Think that you know everything and are not open to learn from others.