Exchange Reticence for Honesty
It can strike like lightning, but mostly we have to spark it ourselves. Let us help you grow and sustain authentic engagement through the use of inclusive conversations.
Superficial Culture?
Conversations are the invisible driver of workplace culture. If you want to instill an inclusive and constructive culture or need to sustain a major change effort, your success often relies on the interactions of people at all levels of the organization, one conversation at a time.
Meaningful Conversations
Paradoxically, to achieve honest and inclusive conversations about important business topics within an organization, you have to structure the conversations carefully. We are experts at enabling meaningful conversations that can scale within your organization.
Spark! Discussion Starters™ Explained
We believe authentic engagement involves honest conversations about the business issues that your company faces and the implications of those issues for managers and employees.
Discussion Starters facilitate meaningful conversations and promote an inclusive & high-performance culture. Four key benefits of Spark! Discussion Starters:
- They provide the right amount of structure to successfully facilitate conversations
- They can be used in a variety of situations and audience groups
- They can be used for 10-minutes as part of a team meeting or designed to engage participants in a longer conversation
- They are easy and fun to use
Discussion Starters are used to initiate and guide a group of people through a focused discussion. Discussion Starters are used to build individual capability, improve team effectiveness and achieve organizational alignment.
Seven Components to a Spark! Discussion Starter™
Virtual Session
In-person Session
1. Purpose — We provide the business and organizational reasons for why a series of Discussion Starters have been provided.
2. Introduction — An introduction to today’s discussion topic that includes the goals for the module and how the module fits within the customized series of Discussion Starters.
3. Directions — Discussion Starters are designed to be ‘plug and play,’ and the discussion leader is given simple, clear instructions about how to use them.
4. Discussion Questions — Structured questions provide the structure and guidance needed to conduct a successful conversation. These questions will be focus group tested with people from your company.
5. Graphics and Visuals — To raise the level of interest and accelerate learning, we provide memorable graphics and visuals.
6. Activity Cards — To include the tactile learner, we provide activity cards that participants use to solve questions.
7. Commitment Forms — At some point within a module or multiple times throughout a series of discussion starters, we ask participants to translate what they have discussed into personal changes of behavior and/or decision-making.
We provide the business and organizational reasons for why a series of Discussion Starters have been provided.
An introduction to today’s discussion topic that includes the goals for the module and how the module fits within the customized series of Discussion Starters.
Discussion Starters are designed to be ‘plug and play,’ and the discussion leader is given simple, clear instructions about how to use them.
Structured questions provide the structure and guidance needed to conduct a successful conversation. These questions will be focus group tested with people from your company.
At some point within a module or multiple times throughout a series of discussion starters, we ask participants to translate what they have discussed into personal changes of behavior and/or decision-making.
To include the tactile learner, we provide activity cards that participants use to solve questions.
To raise the level of interest and accelerate learning, we provide memorable graphics and visuals.
Clients that have relied on our Spark! Discussion Starter™ solutions:
Your Challenge
Bring us your challenge and let’s talk about what we can do for you.
Whether you need to improve everyday interactions, develop others or build momentum behind a strategic initiative, enabling meaningful conversations will bring you much closer to your goals.
Spark! Discussion Starters: Strategy Execution
We believe that strategy execution requires leadership alignment as well as emotional buy-in at the employee level. We help align leadership teams and equip them to address the people aspect of strategy across your organization.
Spark! Discussion Starters can deliver strong results as a stand-alone solution or they can be integrated into a comprehensive solution to address the needs arising from the four phases of strategy execution.
Sample client outcomes and benefits:
Discussion Starters provided the structured process for getting executives to talk openly and candidly about the strategy.
Managers valued the ‘plug and play’ nature of Discussion Starters to initiate a strategy conversation with teams and keep the strategy alive over time.
Conversations are the invisible driver of strategy execution and customized Discussion Starters have ensured employee conversations about strategy stay focused and execution-oriented.
Changing processes to reflect strategy is more about changing behavior than updating process graphs. Discussion Starters facilitated a smooth transition by individuals and teams through the change effort.
Spark! Discussion Starters: Strategy Execution
Spark! Discussion Starters can deliver strong results as a stand-alone solution or they can be integrated into a comprehensive solution to address the needs arising from the four phases of strategy execution.
Sample client outcomes and benefits:
Discussion Starters provided the structured process for getting executives to talk openly and candidly about the strategy.
Managers valued the ‘plug and play’ nature of Discussion Starters to initiate a strategy conversation with teams and keep the strategy alive over time.
Conversations are the invisible driver of strategy execution and customized Discussion Starters have ensured employee conversations about strategy stay focused and execution-oriented.
Changing processes to reflect strategy is more about changing behavior than updating process graphs. Discussion Starters facilitated a smooth transition by individuals and teams through the change effort.
Spark! Discussion Starters: Leadership Development
Our guided process of creating a tailored, experiential leadership development program includes proven frameworks and authentic conversations; all set within the business context that will achieve desired program goals. Learn more
Spark! Discussion Starters: Business Acumen
We provide expertise in knowing how to create authentic and engaging learning experiences that instill sound judgment at all levels of your organization. You can specify the program details or choose from proven business acumen frameworks that we offer. Learn more
Spark! Discussion Starters: Culture and Performance
We partner with leaders to grow and reinforce a healthy culture that is aligned with company goals. Our guidance and custom-designed tools will ensure that your desired culture is vibrant across your organization. Learn more
Spark! Discussion Starters: Operational Excellence
We have supported operational initiatives with hundreds of clients. We offer expertise in creating tailored, experiential programs that align and engage employees so you can achieve world-class quality, service and delivery. Learn more
Client Success with Spark! Discussion Starters
A Guided Path Forward
We guide you through our process of custom designing a Spark! Discussion Starter suited to your audience. We will modify the following process to suit your business need and audience.
- Understand your business challenge and goals
- Develop profiles of the various audience segments
- Draft a strategic framework
- Determine the appropriate ‘voice’ and tone
- Develop the appropriate artistic style and design
- Prototype discussion starter modules
- Test with focus groups and incorporate feedback
- Integrate discussion starters into other solution formats
- Validate final designs
- Launch and provide ongoing support
- Measure results and make adjustments
- Communicate key issues and opportunities
A Partner in Your Success
Our goal is to partner with you so that you can be successful. We offer world-class creative talent and adult learning expertise to ensure that our partnership is exceptionally productive.
Let’s Talk.
We can discuss your business needs and guide you to a solution that is best for your situation.
