Learning Consortium - professional European consultants and trainers: "creating vehicles for learning".

A Masterclass with Bill Noonan

Learning Consortium is proud to sponsor a visit by Bill Noonan to Europe to work with us on developing our practice. Whilst Bill is over from the USA, we are running a Masterclass seminar for our friends, clients and colleagues in learning and development, giving a unique opportunity to work with one of the leading exponents of Professor Chris Argyris’ research on defensive routines.

27 October 2009, The Dominican Hotel, Rue Léopold/Leopoldstraat 9, Brussels, Belgium:

No-one intentionally starts a project with a plan to sabotage it, and meetings are not held with the explicit purpose to reduce morale. Yet, projects fail and morale suffers. How does this happen?

Whether on the phone, in meetings, or in cyberspace, we are constantly exchanging ideas, gathering information, and putting plans into action, all through the medium of conversation. But we very often act from habit, jumping in to try to solve problems with very little awareness of whether what we say or do will achieve our desired results.

This lack of awareness prevents us from learning how to communicate more effectively or discovering better ways of thinking. This one-day seminar shares some practical skills that are immediately applicable to deliver more Productive Business Conversations– raising awareness of those factors that either promote or inhibit communication with each other. It will build your capacity to reflect on your habits to give a strategic edge for securing valid information. You will learn to present ideas in clear, compelling, yet challengeable statements that keeps conversations agile. More importantly, you can perfect the craft of inquiry which guarantees that the best collective thinking is gleaned from multiple perspectives.

Dr. Bill Noonan:
Bill is an educator and consultant with an international practice who has worked with many leading multinational organisations. He trains and collaborates with Action Design, a premier consulting group that teaches Chris Argyris'' approach and has worked closely with Peter Senge as an expert in The Fifth Discipline area of "Mental Models," Bill is the author of the "Discussing the Undiscussable" – one of the most practical and accessible texts on Argyris’ work, which will feature strongly in