March 28, 2017
How Thriving Conversations Work
In his best-selling book The Big Leap, author Gay Hendricks describes what he calls “the upper-limit problem.”
“Parts of us are programmed to stay safe – not shine or stand out from the crowd. In this way, we each create our own internal glass ceiling. We limit our fullest expression for fear of the consequences. We hold ourselves back because of a core set of beliefs that we will fail, we will be alone, or success will be burdensome.”
“And this paralyzes us from making the ‘big leap’ into our greatness and our genius.”
The upper-limit problem can be responsible for making us do one great thing — and then immediately a more regrettable thing. We get a promotion at work, then get into a car accident — our fault. We practice healthy habits and then we sabotage it with a big greasy meal. We get into a loving relationship with a great person and then pick a fight with them.
The question is, how do you move beyond the upper-limit problem? How do you keep yourself from self-sabotaging?
It begins with a question you need to ask yourself: Are you ready to thrive?
Our Work At Culture Counts is All About Helping You Succeed
At Culture Counts, our passion is helping leaders grow and thrive in their business and personal lives. One of the ways we do this is through a workshop called Thriving Conversations.
“We partner with leaders to create great business results and we do that through a variety of ways,” says Thriving Conversations Coach Sarah White Carr. “In the workplace, one of the reasons you might find your results falling short is because your relationships get weighed down by stuff that hasn’t been expressed or handled. So, at Culture Counts, we help leaders increase their self-awareness and their ability to deal with things directly in a way that builds relationships and gets results.”
“We weave these skills into our all our work and the Thriving Conversations workshop is a way to introduce this set of skills in just one afternoon.”
Thriving Conversations is an engaging, three-hour workshop that addresses the issues of drama and lack of communication in the workplace that block people from their creative and collaborative abilities.
“I really saw a need for people to increase their ability to communicate with skills that they could learn quickly and could use right away,” Sarah says. “And I wanted it to be an on the ground method, instead of just preaching theoretical leadership concepts.”
Who should take Thriving Conversations?
Participants who take the Thriving Conversations workshop range from office managers to employees to HR directors, though the workshop brings value for everyone.
“Before the workshop, I was a little nervous, curious, and skeptical,” says Tracy Morrissey, Director of Human Resources at Ascent Geomatics Solutions. “I’ve had experience with workshops and leadership training before, and I know that some are not as effective as others. At my urging the workshop was mandatory for all of our leaders so I was especially hopeful for a valuable experience for all of us.”
“With Thriving Conversations, it was exactly as advertised. I thought to myself, if we could actually go through this three-hour, highly affordable workshop and learn these skills like they say we would, that could really make a difference for our team and give us a common approach and language to working with and effectively managing others. This is exactly what we experienced.”
“I left the workshop more energized, excited, confident, and passionate about wanting to have others I work with to have that same experience.”
Thriving Conversations isn’t the average leadership workshop. It’s interactive, which propels participants into having real thriving conversations with others in the room.
“I loved the fact that it wasn’t scripted,” says Tina Dietzmann, Director of Office Operations at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. “Sarah was great. She was being herself and having a real conversation. I appreciated that, because it made you want to open up and share.”
Others saw value in being able to apply these valuable skills to real-life business initiatives.
“After a few of our management team took the Thriving Conversations workshop, we actually had Sarah come into our office and meet with myself and our leadership team,” says Bill Farris, Director of Projects at Ascent Geomatics Solutions. “Sarah helped us talk through a real-life client issue that the whole team had collaborated on. It was really true for everyone and it was good to be able to see the group recognize these tools and accept them. That made it really powerful for us to be able to work through the issue.”
If you’re interested in testing your upper-limit threshold; if you desire to create less drama and more effectiveness in your workplace; if you’re feeling the “drag” of low productivity; then Thriving Conversations is for you.
“Anyone seeking a more effective ability to communicate as a leader — who is trying to get better results with less effort — will benefit from this,” Tracy says. “Too often, the struggle in trying to get better results means working harder and going against the grain. But creating a thriving conversation is simple. It’s something that our leaders practice each day and continues to be part of our mandatory leadership curriculum.”
Our next Thriving Conversations Workshop will be held on April 19, 2017 from 2-5pm and will be facilitated by Sarah White Carr at the Culture Counts office. Space is limited so please contact us if you’re interested in attending!
