Instructor Training for
I-SkillsZone/Collaborative Team Skills

Cities & Dates

Denver, CO — February 19 & 20, 2009

Denver, CO — September 24 & 25, 2009

(Also see Instructor Training at Your Company) 

Eligibility for Instructor Training

Instructor training is open to human resource, performance improvement, organizational development and management-supervisory personnel with experience in at least one of these areas: training, teaching, facilitating, coaching, consulting, or counseling.

Workshop Objectives

The propose of the workshop is to prepare instructors to teach I-SkillsZone/CTS systems by:

• Gaining familiarity with the major concepts and skills taught in the I-SkillsZone/CTS.
• Identifying the competencies for successful instruction of the frameworks, skills, and processes.
• Practicing skill/process coaching methods (including the use of skills mats) with real and simulated issues.
• Discovering ways to transfer and apply I-SkillsZone/CTS skills and processes on the job (including the use of learning tools).
• Acquiring strategies for developing learning contracts with and within a company.
• Exploring guidelines for engaging special circumstances (e.g.,dealing with resistance, working with highly conflicted teams).
• Learning how to select/create instructional designs to match learning objectives.

Workshop Learning Methods
One engaging aspect of I-SkillsZone and CTS system instructor training is that participants choose their own real challenging work issues/situations (not other peoples’ circumstances or case studies) for practicing and applying the material. Other methods include: brief presentations; live demonstrations; use of innovative, interactive skills mats (to accelerate learning) with feedback and coaching on the skills and processes; discussion exercises; and application of reinforcement tools.

Agenda

2-Day Instructor Training Workshop Agenda

Day One
8:00 am
Registration/Check In

8:30 am
Introduction
      Creating a Collaborative Human Operating System
      Increasing Capacity to Handle Complexity
      Teaching/Learning Guidelines
      I-SkillsZone Assumptions
      Ground Rules
Exercise: Someone You Want to Influence
      Overview I-SkillsZone/CTS Systems

Module I
Communication Styles Map® — Functional and Dysfunctional Communication
      4 Styles of Talking and Listening
      Signals of Unresolved Issues
      Practical Uses of Styles
Exercise: My Typical/Desired Styles
      Styles and Team Development: Distinguishing a Group from a Team
      Command, Control, Defend vs. Connect, Collaborate, Develop
Survey: Styles to Decrease and Increase

Break

Module II
Think Systems
      The BOSS Network
      Caring and Communication — Attitude and Behavior
      Assessing and Improving Situations
      Process/Outcome Criteria
Exercise: Counting/Discounting BOSS
      Content of Issues
Exercise: Inventory of Current Issues

Module III
The Information Wheel Map® — Structure of an Issue & Basis for Clear Communication
      Understanding Self and Others
      A Practical Tool for Bringing Clarity to Issues
Exercise: Expanding Awareness — Self Talk
      Using the Information Wheel
Demonstration: Understanding an Issue (with Skills Floor Mat)
Demonstration: Instructor-Coaching
Exercise: ‑Practice Using the Information Wheel Skills Mat to Process an Issue (in Small Groups, with Coaching)
      Six Talking Skills for Straight Talk

Lunch

Module IV
The Listening Cycle Map® — A Tool for Gaining Rich Information and Solid Understanding
Exercise: Tracking an Issue — One-on-One and in Meetings
      Listening for Agreement or Understanding
      Conventional & Reactive Listening Styles
      Exploratory Listening — Using Open Questions with the Information Wheel
Exercise: “Fleshing Out” an Issue
      4  Attentive Listening Skills and the Listening Cycle
Physical Exercise: Reactive vs Attentive Listening (validate, extend, engage)
Demonstration: Attentive Listening (with Skills Floor Mat) and Coaching
Exercise: ‑Practice Using the Listening Cycle Skills Mat to Understand (in Small Groups, with Coaching)

Break

Module V
Mapping Issues — A Collaborative Process for: Making Decisions, Solving Problems, and Resolving Conflicts
      When to Map-an-Issue
      Group/Team Issues
      Process/Outcome Patterns
      9-Steps to Map-An-Issue: Creating “Best Fit,” Systemic Solutions
      Coaching Guidelines: Four Feedback-Coaching Modes Using Skills Mats
Exercise: Mapping an Issue (Using Skills Mats with Coaching)
      Optional Methods for Mapping Issues in Sub-Groups and Large Group

4:30 pm
End of First Day

DAY TWO

8:30 am
Training Considerations
      The Teaching/Coaching Cycle: Tying Together 12 Instructional Competencies
Exercise: Someone You Want to Influence — Revisited
      The Human Brain — Model of Communication
Physical Exercise: The Power of a Comfort Zone
      ‑The Neuroscience of Skills Mats: Features and Benefits Added to Other Learning Modalities

Module VI
Skilled Communication
      Inside the I-SkillsZone — Focusing
      Outside the I-SkillsZone — Forcing, Fleeing, Falsifying, or Floating
      Communicating Under Pressure
Physical Exercise: Managing My Anxiety

Break

Exercise: Operating Outside the SkillsZone
Exercise:      Preparing for a Critical Conversation (from Module VII)
      ‑Operating Inside the SkillsZone — 7 Interactive Principles for Managing Self and Connecting with Others
Exercise: ‑Conducting a Critical Conversation — Staying in the I-Skills Zone (Using Large Skills Mats with Coaching)
      Values Inside the I-SkillsZone

Lunch

Module VII
Application Guidelines
Demonstrations:
      Responding to Fight and Spite Talk
      Turning Resistance into a Resource
      Giving and Receiving Positive Feedback
      Preparing for and Conducting Performance Reviews
      Conducting Team Meetings
Demonstration: Tag Team Meeting

Break

Contracting to Teach I-SkillsZone/CTS Systems
      Selling Phase
      Design Phase: Bringing Four Key Aspects Together

Choosing Instructional Designs

Practical Considerations
      Special Problems
            What to Do When a Member or the Group Leader Poses a Problem
            What to Do When a Group is Stuck (Too Many or Too Few Words)
      Team Sculpting
Demonstration: How to Sculpt a Team

Administrative Details
Exercise: Self-Assessment: 12 Instructional Competencies
      Certification
      Company licensing
      Participant Materials
      ICP Support

4:30
Workshop Ends

Instructor Materials

Each Instructor receives his or her own set of Instructor Training Materials with Instructor Training.

The materials include:

• 1 ‑I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor Manual (250 pages, 8 x 1/2 by 11” Loose Leaf Binder, 1 inside pocket, 2006) The Instructor Manual guides instructors in teaching the I-SkillsZone/CTS systems effectively. It contains six sections:          
  1. Instructor Competencies presents 12 specific areas of competency for teaching the systems and describes how to achieve them.
     
  2. Theory explains modern communication and systems principles as well as neuroscientific discoveries of the human brain as they relate to communication.
  3. Contracting provides details on how to contract with clients for results as well as information on marketing the I-SkillsZone/CTS systems.
  4. Practical Considerations deals with guidelines and techniques for handling special training situations.
  5. Instructor Certification and Company Licensing describes the certification process (and includes the necessary forms to use) for becoming a certified instructor as well as requirements for acompany to I-SkillsZone/CTS maps, tools and skills.
  6. Instructional Designs provides three detailed training designs
• 1 I-SkillsZone Presentation CD
• 1 Collaborative Team Skills Presentation CD
• 1 ‑set of floor skills mats (1 Information Wheel Skills Mat and 1 Listening Cycle Skills Mat)

• 1 ‑I-SkillsZone Participant Set (I-SkillsZone workbook and binder, tabletop skills mat, Information Wheel pad, and set of 4 pocket cards)

• 1 Collaborative Team Skills Participant Set (CTS workbook and binder, tabletop skills mat, Information Wheel pad, and set of 4  pocket cards)

Workshop Leader

Sherod Miller, Ph.D., is a social-psychologist, C.E.O. and Chairman of Interpersonal Communication Programs, Inc., an Evergreen, Colorado-based publishing and training company. He is an author and master teacher in interpersonal communication and team development.

Dr. Miller specializes in providing practical tools and skills for increasing the capacity to handle complexity. His mission is to develop leaders who are competent in interpersonal communication, conflict-resolution, and collaboration throughout their organizations.

Over a million people have participated in the business and family communication programs that Dr. Miller has developed. Articles on his work have appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and Psychology Today. Besides the I-SkillsZone and Collaborative Team Skills, his books include: Alive and Aware, Straight Talk, Talking and Listening Together, Connecting with Self and Others, and Core Communication. He has also served as a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, appeared on the Today Show, and received four national awards for his teaching and research.

He brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience to the workshop, as well as an engaging and pleasant teaching style.

Instructor Certification

Certification is the process that supports an instructor to become the best he or she can be in teaching the I-SkillsZone/CTS systems. Within 18 months following training, an instructor must become certified in the I-SkillsZone (which incorporates the revised Collaborative Team Skills) in order to continue to teach the systems and receive the on-going benefits of a certified I-SkillsZone/CTS instructor.

Process of Certification
The instructor certification process involves:

• Attendance at an I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor training workshop
• Evaluations by 40 I-SkillsZone/CTS participants taught or coached by the instructor. (Evaluation can be from either I-SkillsZone or CTS classes, or both.)
• Provide instructor self-evaluations for each group taught of the 40 evaluations.
• Pass a written exam on the I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor Manual and Participant Workbooks (Details of the certification process, including appropriate forms, are in the Instructor Manual)

Note — Instructors who already hold certification in Collaborative Team Skills or Core Communication from ICP will be grandfathered in and not be required to repeat certification in the new systems, as long as they attend an I-SkillsZone/CTS instructor training workshop by the end of May 2007.

Benefits of Certification
Benefits for becoming an active certified I-SkillsZone /CTS Instructor include:

1. Right to promote yourself as a certified I-SkillsZone /CTS Instructor.
2. Qualification to purchase I-SkillsZone /CTS Participant Sets and other learning and application support tools
3. Membership in the I-SkillsZone /CTS Instructor Network
4. Participation in periodic I-SkillsZone /CTS Instructor professional development conferences.
5. Eligibility to receive training referrals as the opportunity arises.

Registration

Registration for I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor Training Workshop:
Enrollment in a I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor Training Workshop includes:

• 2 days of Instructor Training (the first step in the certification process for teaching the I-SkillsZone and CTS).
• Instructor Materials:
• 1 I-SkillsZone/CTS Instructor Manual
• 2 Presentation CDs: 1 for the I-SkillsZone and 1 for CTS
• 1 set of large floor skills mats (1 Information Wheel Skills Mat and 1 Listening Cycle Skills Mat)
• 1 I-SkillsZone Participant Set (workbook and binder, tabletop skills mat, Information Wheel pad, and set of 4 pocket cards)
• 1 Revised Collaborative Team Skills Participant Set (workbook and binder, tabletop skills mat, Information Wheel pad, and set of 4 pocket cards)
• Continental breakfasts and break refreshments

Fees

Registration Fees
$1195.00 per person
      Discounts for Early Registration (by three weeks prior to workshop):
            10% discount for individuals: $1075.50.
            20% discount each for 3 or more participants who register
            at the same time from the same company: $956.00 each.
      Discounts for Previous ICP Workshop Attendees (by three weeks
      prior to workshop):
            20% discount for participants of any previous ICP, Inc.,
            program instructor training workshop: $956.00.
            50% discount for instructors already certified in one of
            ICP programs: $597.50.
Prepayment is required.
Hotel site information will be provided upon registration.