Why is Navigating Challenging Dialogue a Movement?
Navigating Challenging Dialogue a movement because people should not be forced to endure the burden of unskillful leadership.
When I was finding my way as a leader of people, it was uncomfortable. Both for me and for others. In hindsight, I see that my management technique was based more in trial and error than was healthy for anybody.
Learning what was and was not effective happened at the expense of staff engagement and motivation. It wasn’t only the school of hard knocks for me. It was for my team as well.
Does this sound familiar to you?
When there is a belief that successful leadership must be learned on the job through trial and error, that literally means that you are saying it is okay for your people to get emotionally banged up.
That it is simply the “cost of doing business”.
This is an expensive and inhumane way for any organization to grow leaders, and yet it is the way it is done more often than not.
Why? Because at the pace of change and growth we are experiencing, what effective leader has the time to appropriately mentor and grow others? No one I know.
Infusing Navigating Challenging Dialogue into your work culture is essential.
Our staff partners with your organization so that we carry the burden for developing effective people management skills while your organization carries out its business.
There are real losses to your organization when trial and error is the pathway to developing leadership skills.
People’s sense of self, engagement, confidence, and their ability to use their unique skills and talents gets damaged.
Some people leave, some people grit their teeth and get through it, and some become angry and resentful -- all while leaders are figuring out how to lead.
That is unacceptable to me, and it’s unnecessary.
We can no longer expect people to passively accept unskilled leadership.
Proof that there is another way forward is demonstrated by organizations we’ve worked with who use Navigating Challenging Dialogue.
The NCD process is a way to develop leaders and managers who are effective because they understand how and why to communicate and collaborate. They understand the value of empowering their staff, and managing their own emotions.
They develop this skillfulness by applying the NCD process to the real challenges they are facing right now with the confidential guidance of our expert team of coaches and trainers.
The movement of Navigating Challenging Dialogue is changing the trajectory of how people engage at work, and how work gets done.
When Navigating Challenging Dialogue is the basis for the way in which your organization communicates, leads, and engages, everyone is able to:
Have a shared understanding for acceptable interpersonal communication and behaviors
Lead with curiosity and engagement rather than command and control
Reduce energy and time wasted putting out fires and unraveling drama
Be seen, heard, and valued, even in conflict
Listen deeply without defending, blaming others, or shutting down
Avoid the distraction of negative emotional reactions
Make and communicate decisions based on fact not emotions
Lift up and empower the genius, skills, and talents of their staff
Challenge their own biases and those of others
Coach themself and others
Grow, change, and lead, even in uncertainty
Work in service of the good of the whole
How Navigating Challenging Dialogue Began
I founded Navigating Challenging Dialogue after my own frustrating, school of hard knocks, leadership journey.
Although I was viewed as highly successful in driving people to get work done, I am a bit ashamed with how my leadership often failed the people I served.
Through study, research, observation, and practice, I discovered how easily leadership can be done completely differently.
Navigating Challenging Dialogue is unique in that it is the first and only program of its kind to lead a movement that is changing how people in the workplace engage with each other. This work is informed by research and analysis in the areas of human motivation, adult growth and development, social and emotional intelligence, diversity, and inclusion.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a priority for our internal work as a company and as individuals. We expect it to be top of mind for our clients as well. We can guide you to resources and support to begin that work if it is not currently in place. Navigating Challenging Dialogue works in tandem providing frameworks for navigating these dialogues in the workplace.
Our company chooses what work we do by asking ourselves this question, “Will doing this work benefit the highest good for society as a whole?”
If you, your team, or your company is ready to stop wasting time with the day-to-day fires and drama, and instead empower and lift up all staff to engage in healthy ways and work toward desired outcomes, call us at 916-436-5299
There has never been a more important moment in history to join the Navigating Challenging Dialogue movement.