We must learn to celebrate the idea that we are members of a species who communicate best through storytelling. In this session, Bill helps us consider how to best listen to and share stories with one another in order to make for better communication and deeper connections in our workplace and our private lives. Using ancient techniques and sharing modern neuroscience, Bill explains how the ubiquitous use of story works to build relationships in our personal lives and in the society around us.
Safe Spaces at Work: A Holistic Approach to Safety
The concept of“Safety” can mean a lot of different things to different people. In the modern workplace, safety can reflect diverse ideas that include physical, social, emotional, mental health and cultural considerations. This is the expansion of the concept of workplace safety that is thankfully taking hold in many workplaces and it needs to be taken up for all workers, at all times, in all places. Bill helps participants examine both their own and others conceptions of“Safety” and then encourages them to reflect and perhaps transform the way safety is operationalized and“lived out” on a daily basis, from accident prevention to the way that we communicate with others at work. For Bill, empathy is the key ingredient and he believes that a more holistic approach and deeper appreciation of safety is what will ultimately contribute to a safer workplace on many levels.
Thinking About Thinking: The 3 Keys to Get Beyond Either/Or
Do we ever think about what we think, why we think that way or how we can think better? That would require a lot of thinking about thinking but it is so important that we make time and space to do this. In times of change and with increased pressure on resources and time, the importance of thinking clearly, critically, and creatively has huge implications. With our leaders, newscasts and modern social discourse increasingly becoming split into the two groups of those who are“right” and those who are“wrong”, we have to learn to consciously challenge this“either/or” thinking, and try to become comfortable with the nuances, the grey areas and the unknown. Simply put, the better we think the better we can perform and the better our relationships can be at work and in life. Bill will share the 3 keys that work for him.
Act Up: 5 Steps to Resilient Living
This is an invitation to explore and expand the role we play. At work, at home we often play very different roles and rightly so. It is critical to understand not only how you play each role but also how it is perceived. Expectations in a workplace need to be managed and understood by both the“player” and the“audience”. With humour and insight Bill invites us to ask questions and find answers about who were are in the world and how our”show” is going. Shakespeare said“all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely player”. Bill also explores the very mental and emotional mechanisms at play in the act of creation itself. He also shows how resilience is both innate and learned. He shares his own 5 Steps for Resilient Living gained from what he describes as as life of“trial and error”.
Work Inspired
Bill explores research into how the brain works and how we can use this knowledge to create an environment that will nurture a creative response to change and keep a healthy perspective in unhealthy times. Bill focuses on empathy and what he calls“contagious inspiration” and discusses how nurturing our relationship with ourselves and others can re-wire our neuro-pathways and change surviving into thriving and tragedy into strategy.
Talking In Circles
Talking in Circles will be helpful for organizations who are feeling challenged by issues like: intergenerational and cross cultural communication, creative visioning for the future, team building, silos that inhibit corporate growth and effectiveness, or poor internal communication. Bill asks questions such as: • Is what we are saying what we mean?
• Is what we are saying what people are hearing?
• Where are our ideas really coming from?
• How do we talk about the“tough stuff”?
• How come I can talk to everyone but you?
• What is“Empathic Listening” and how do we do it?
Deep Service
Every industry is a service industry, every life a life of service on some level. The deep truth is whether at work, in our community, or in our home life-we do, in fact, serve somebody. As leaders and managers, we serve our company, our fellow employees and our clients; and to an important, and often neglected sense, we serve our community, our society and our world. At home we serve our families, our neighbourhoods, and again our society and the world. The depth and quality of this service is directly affected by how we see ourselves as being“in service”. Perception drives performance. When our lives are seen from a“service” perspective, it deepens our understanding of our place and mission in the world. Deep Service explores the idea of servant leadership in your specific industry context.
Seeing With Safety Glasses
Safety is a mindset. Much more than just rules and protocols, it is a way of seeing and then acting on what we see. It is about anticipation and the individual and collective responsibility for changing our workplace. Through his work with a number of diverse organizations, Bill has learned that the essential ingredient in creating a culture of safety is the development of a safety mindset. This mindset affects how we perceive our workplace and how we understand our responsibility to ourselves and our co-workers. At its core, building a culture of safety is about building an empathic and caring community.
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