Executive Development Series (EDS) for Deans

Leading Challenging Conversations Through Leveraging Polarity Thinking

Engaging in conversations that are challenging are a part of every leader’s life. The ability to have these conversations while maintaining positive relationships is important whenever possible. This session invites participants to learn and practice skills to help them move from having challenging conversations to leading them. When we engage in challenging conversations, there are often polarities at play. If we can name the polarity or tension that exists within a conversation, we might be able to articulate how different parties are seeing the same situation. Being able to honor both sides of a polarity is an important part of leading challenging conversations. Participants will practice “narrating the polarities” within our discussions.  

This session will also help people develop important skills that empower them to lead challenging conversations:

• Listen to Understand 
• Reflect & Empathize 
• Ask Powerful Questions 
• Connect & Offer New Information  

We will explore these skills and practice them with conversations that are occurring in their leadership work.

Learning Outcomes

• Explore the tensions/paradoxes inherent in leadership with a special emphasis on those unique to higher education.
• Discuss strategies for effectively managing the paradoxes of leadership.
• Recognize the utility of Polarity Thinking and Mapping in navigating challenging conversations.
• Explore and practice skills to lead challenging conversations through leveraging polarities.

Facilitator

Dr. Marin Burton, Senior Faculty, Societal Impact, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)

Dr. Marin Burton has extensive experience working as an experiential educator and facilitator. She is a nationally recognized expert in the field with over 25 years as a sought-after trainer for schools, districts, universities, nonprofits, and corporations. Immediately prior to joining Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, she spent over a decade in higher education, focusing her efforts on developing and implementing facilitator training programs and professional development designs for educators. She has taught courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. As a Senior Faculty member in the Societal Impact division at the Center for Creative Leadership, Marin excels in crafting and delivering innovative leadership development programs with a strong emphasis on engaged pedagogies. Marin’s academic background reflects her passion for meaningful leadership education. Marin earned a PhD in Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her academic work explored the philosophy of experiential education and how its practice can work toward aims of social justice. Marin earned a BA in Communications with a Business Minor from the University of Wisconsin and a MS in Educational Leadership and Experiential Education from Minnesota State University. Marin has also served as a keynote speaker for several educational and leadership organizations demonstrating her passion for meaningful leadership education.

Program Agenda

Program subject to change.