Conversational Leadership Short Course 2022
Date: Monday 09 May to Friday 13 May 2022
Time: 08:00 to 14:00 EST each day
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Location: Online (Zoom and Miro)
Price: $2,295 USD
Registration: The Project Management Center for Excellence at the University of Maryland
About This Short Course
We live in a hyperconnected world that has led to a massive increase in complexity. In turn, this has given rise to increased volatility and unpredictability. It is an uncertain world where it is impossible to predict the future or the correct course of action with any certainty. Furthermore, it is ambiguous. Events are open to more than one interpretation. Confusion and frustration appear to be on the rise.
Conversational Leadership is a response to this complexity. It is a practice where we appreciate the transformative power of conversation, practice leadership, and adopt a conversational approach to working together.
In this five-day workshop, you will learn how to practice Conversational Leadership alongside the guidance of four experienced facilitators.
You will learn that to work effectively in a complex world, all of us need to take responsibility for the problems and opportunities that we see in our work. We must each take responsibility for the whole.
We need to see leadership in a new light – as a choice and practice and not a position of authority – what Henry Mintzberg calls communityship. An organization is a community of human beings, not a collection of human resources.
Furthermore, we need to employ the power of conversation and social reasoning. No one person can know everything or be smart enough to address the complexity of the challenges we face. The primary way to make sense of an issue and make better decisions is through “collective sense-making.”
What You Will Learn
- The Conversational Leadership framework and principles for high performing teams
- How to create an environment of psychological safety, bravery, and courage for conversational interactions
- How to design, convene, and engage in difficult or seemingly impossible conversations
- How to design and run a Knowledge Café – a powerful, adaptable conversational tool, especially for collective sense-making
- How to speak more respectfully, improve relationships, and help create the conditions for community
- And potentially much, much more …
You can find more information and register on the The Project Management Center for Excellence at the University of Maryland website.
Upcoming Events
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Event: Gurteen Knowledge Café Workshop Tuesday 20 October 2026, 14:00 to 18:00 BST (UK time) - Organizations rely on meetings and workshops to think together, explore issues, and make sense of complex situations. Many sessions drift… Conversational Leadership is the practice of creating space for what needs to be said. Coaching helps you develop this capacity in real, grounded ways.