NextNow Member Blog

From: —— —Jeff Conklin at CogNexus Institute <Jeff_Conklin_at_CogNexus_Institu@mail.vresp.com>

Dear Bill,

Our next Issue Mapping Webinar Series begins on January 13th, 2010. We have tailored this Series to the interests of leaders, consultants, facilitators, organizational development professionals and change agents who are involved in highly complex projects and “Wicked” problems. The Series is a 6-session course that will give you experience and skills you can use immediately to change the way you work with issues and their outcomes.

Your Problem Isn’t What You Think it Is
It’s not that you and your staff or clients haven’t been calling the right meetings. It’s that you’re just not getting traction on the issues. This Series teaches Issue Mapping (the foundation for Dialogue Mapping) and a way to get out from under the usual chaos, organizational stumbling, communication breakdowns, and gridlock that so many leaders (and those who support leaders) experience. It’s about making progress with entrenched issues that have been avoided or have a history of inertia and failure.

Get Your Hand on the Throttle
Many of us like to define problems as technical and problem-based. But in reality it is the social complexity of our problems that obscure things and keep them stuck in an often maddening and unproductive state. The Issue Mapping Webinar Series can help you get your hands on the throttle of overcoming stakeholder deadlock. It will teach you the mechanics of creating shared understanding and crafting shared commitment, the keys to real progress.

Support Better Decisions
Past Issue Mapping Webinar Series participants say that, because of the course, they are able to work more effectively with highly complex and “Wicked” problems. They are able listen in conversations with a new discipline, approach problems in a new way, and make better decisions as individuals and groups. Since adding Issue Mapping to their repertoire, they have been able to positively affect the quality of their work from the beginning of their projects and impress clients with their results. After the Series is over, they have a new methodology and tool they can bring to their meetings and their client engagements.

Get Results During the Course
So that you complete the course with something you can use, during the Issue Mapping Webinar Series we ask participants to practice the art of Issue Mapping. Part of the course homework is to create a “topic of interest” map – usually about a work related issue or project — which you will then continue to work on for a large part of the Series. You will get individualized feedback and coaching on all of your homework maps, offering you the chance to directly see and experience the power of your new skills on something that is relevant to you and your work.

The Issue Mapping Webinar Series boosts your collaborative literacy, giving you the professional skills and tools for designing coherent and effective action. It can help you become a better leader, a better listener, and a more rigorous and creative thinker.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or just register for this fun, engaging and challenging Series!

Sincerely,
Jeff Conklin

P.S. I posted a video on YouTube that speaks to why Issue and Dialogue Mapping are so effective. They work because they facilitate the natural flow of how humans really think, talk to each other and solve problems. We may want our problem-solving, conversations and meetings to be tidy and linear, but the truth is that natural intelligence tends to go “all over the map”. Take a look!