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2018 SDP WORKSHOPS

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Pre-Conference Workshops

There are 4 half-day workshops on April 10 & 11, 2018.

Workshop 1 (April 10 am): The Skills and Science of Facilitative Questioning, presented by Katherine Rosback of KRE Inc.

Workshop 2 (April 10 pm): Leading Decision Conversations: Improving Projects through Better Decision Clarity, presented by Frank Koch of Koch Decision Consulting.

Workshop 3 (April 11 am): Ethics in Decision Making, presented by Dr. Ron Howard of Stanford University.

Workshop 4 (April 11 pm): Social Change Without Coercion, presented by Dr. Ron Howard of Stanford University.

Workshop Fees

 These workshops are subject to a separate fee as follows:

  (USD)
SDP Member / Non-Member
W1 Rosback (AM) $300 / $550
W2 Koch (PM) $300 / $550
W3 Howard (AM) $400 / $550
W4 Howard (PM) $400 / $550
Any Three Workshops
(SDP Members Only)
$900
All Four Workshops
(SDP Members Only)
$1000 (Best Deal!)

Student DAAG and Workshops Discount
Are you a  full time Student in a graduate or undergraduate program that would like to attend DAAG? 
We are happy to offer a special discounted Student pricing.  Register for DAAG 2018 at the discounted price of $250 & attend one or more of the  workshops for an additional $100.
To see if you qualify  to receive the Student discount, send us an email to info@decisionprofessionals.com 

Not an SDP Member yet? Become an SDP Member and save on workshops and DAAG registration fees!
Special DAAG Promo on  ​Regular ​Membership ​
Receive ​$100 ​discount ​on ​Regular ​Membership ​dues ​of ​$250 ​when ​you ​sign ​up ​today.
Use ​code ​DAAG18 ​to ​receive ​the ​membership ​discount ​at ​www.decisionprofessionals.com/membership ​before ​you ​register ​for ​DAAG. ​(Applies ​to ​new ​Regular ​Members ​only)

Click here to become a member now.

A light lunch is included in the workshop fee.

Register Now

 

Workshop Details

Workshop 1 (half day, morning):

The Skills and Science of Facilitative Questioning

Instructor: Kathryn Rosback, KRE Inc.
  • Date: Tuesday, April 10
  • Time:  8:00am – 12:00pm
  • Room: TBA

Abstract:

The data is clear: over sixty-percent of organizational transformations fail due to lack of commitment and alignment with the organization's culture. Unfortunately, the change leaders often turn to a directing or mandating style in the hopes of increasing organizational uptake. The problem with that is, it doesn't work. Mandates activate the brain's fight or flight centers, creating defensive posturing and oppositional moves at a time when you are seeking to cultivate the engagement critical to success. The skilled use of facilitative questions, conversely, transforms a group's ambivalence or resistance to change by stimulating the brain areas that support motivation and a sense of ownership. People become engaged.

Rooted in over two decades of extensive research and practice of facilitative questioning, this engaging and interactive workshop introduces participants to the science and psychology of question types and structures, and provides opportunities to practice sequencing questions using personal examples.

Workshop Takeaways:

  • Understanding of the essential phases for effective decision-making conversations.
  • Skills in structuring more effective questions, particularly those questions that are aimed at drawing out underlying values and resolving differences.
  • Personal feedback on how to improve the facilitative application of questions.

Who Should Attend:

  • Decision makers, facilitators, and/or team leads.
  • Mediation / OD consultants or leads.
  • Individuals involved in conflict resolution discussions.

Workshop Leader

Katherine Rosback

Katherine Rosback has a B.S in Chemical Engineering and a M.A. in Organizational Communication, both from Purdue University. She earned her certification as a Certified Quality Engineer in 1989 and is a trained DA facilitator. Her background includes working as a Supplier Quality Engineer with a manufacturing firm, a Project Manager and Director of Quality with a medical diagnostics firm, and a lead facilitator with a strategic planning consulting firm. She currently works as an independent consultant and has facilitated hundreds of must-succeed meetings and critical organizational conferences for clients in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, airline, and medical diagnostic industries, and many other not-for-profit and educational organizations. When facilitating decision-making groups, she is commended for the way she effectively guides groups through complex discussions necessary to clarify the choices and help them reach better decisions.

Katherine's highly acclaimed workshop, "Leading to Resolution," has been taught throughout the US and around the globe including in China, Norway, the UK, and Canada to technical personnel, project managers, DA facilitators, and leaders. She is the author of the soon-to-be-published book, ASK, INSPIRE, SOLVE.: The Science and Practice of Facilitative Questioning.

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Workshop 2 (half day, afternoon)

Leading Decision Conversations: Improving Projects through Better Decision Clarity

Instructor: Frank Koch, Koch Decision Consulting

  • Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2018
  • Time: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
  • Room: TBA

Abstract:

Major projects are frequently driven by stage-gate processes and project execution principles that are designed to support good decision-making, but often produce contrary results. Many projects tend to be schedule-driven and/or activity-driven, and decision-making is often structured to expedite the progress of the project, rather than to create the most value from the opportunity. This decision approach can lead to rework that results in project delays and cost overruns. In addition, some decision professionals and project leaders, perhaps unintentionally, contribute to the problem by insisting on strict adherence to the decision process and driving unnecessary work in the name of analytic completeness. Fortunately, these same individuals are in a unique position to shift the decision process from "doing the analysis required by the process" to "promoting the right conversation about the decision through facilitation and targeted analysis."

In this workshop, participants will explore a model by which decision professionals and project leaders can guide project teams and their management to better decisions by promoting a more constructive dialogue within the project management process. The decision conversation model focuses on three aspects: Understanding the decision, Improving the decision, and Taking Action on the decision. In addition to managing the project schedule and cost, the decision conversation needs to be managed to ensure that the project is achieving the expectations and objectives of the organization and that the decision makers have a clear understanding of the potential consequences of the decision – both good and bad. The workshop will be interactive and participants will be expected to bring examples of when their decision process either aided or hindered project progress and effectiveness.

Workshop Takeaways:

Workshop participants will learn how to facilitate and participate in project meetings in a way that keeps the focus on adding value and improving project decisions. They will also learn the key elements to building and maintaining project value, and how to avoid common traps.

Who Should Attend:

Executives, project managers, decision professionals, project team members.

Workshop Leader

Frank Koch

Frank Koch specializes in decision-maker coaching and the development of decision-making organizational capability. He has over 30 years of experience in strategy development, decision analysis, major capital project evaluation, opportunity valuation, applications of game theory to decision analysis, behavioral aspects of decision making and portfolio management. Frank has coached executive teams, project decision-makers, and most recently high school students helping them evaluate complex decisions. His experience includes decisions in oil & gas exploration & production, refining & marketing, information technology, environmental strategy and college and career decisions. He has taught decision analysis classes including Introduction to Decision Analysis, Introduction to Game Theory, Decision Quality for Decision Makers, & Framing and Facilitation of Complex Decisions.

Along with colleagues Larry Neal and Brian Putt, Frank won the 2010 Decision Analysis Society Practice Award. Frank is a founding fellow of the Society of Decision Professionals and is a past president. In 2012 he completed his term as the first executive editor of the Society of Petroleum Engineers' peer reviewed journal: SPE Economics & Management. He has been a member of the Decision Analysis Society Council (2014-2016). He has participated as keynote speaker and chairperson in numerous industry and professional conferences; and has served on the steering committees for various industry forums on Risk Management, Portfolio & Asset Valuation and Strategic Decision Making. Frank has a B.S. in geology from the University of Rochester (1974) and an M.S. in geology from Stanford University (1981).

Since retiring from Chevron, Frank has increasingly focused on bringing quality decision making to high school students. Through his affiliation with the Decision Education Foundation, he has led workshops in decision quality to incoming high school freshmen and has taught workshops and classes for high school students at Thurston High School and the Academy of Arts and Academics (Springfield OR school district) as well as workshops for the Oregon Association of Student Councils. He was selected volunteer of the year for the Springfield School District in 2016. Frank has found high school students to be far better and more rapid learners than senior executives, as well as being much more fun to work with!

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Workshop 3 (half day, Morning)

Ethics in Decision Making

Instructor: Professor Ron Howard

  • Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2018
  • Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
  • Room: TBA

Abstract:

We live in a time when ethical challenges seem to plague us. Leaders in responsible positions are under more pressure than ever to strengthen their ethical sensitivity alongside their strategy acumen. In fact, the time to think about ethics is long before one is actually faced with an ethical dilemma. This workshop is an opportunity for participants to be coached in building their own personal code of ethics to guide their decision-making. Such a code helps people to avoid getting into situations that turn into ethical dilemmas in the first place. This workshop also provides a unique perspective that dramatically alters the frame during negotiations.

Workshop Takeaways:

Participants will leave with the distinctions necessary to build their own customized ethical code, tailored to their ethical worldview. They will also understand how ethics underpin all decision-making, including during negotiations. Key concepts include: Action-Based vs Consequence-Based; Positive vs Negative Ethics; Bronze, Silver, Golden, Platinum Rules; No White Lies; No keeping of secrets without permission.

Who Should Attend:

Anyone who would like to build the core leadership skill of ethical sensitivity in decision-making.

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Workshop 4 (half day, afternoon)

Social Change Without Coercion

Instructor: Professor Ron Howard

  • Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2018
  • Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
  • Room: TBA

Abstract:

Our society faces unprecedented challenges that divide and polarize us, ranging from climate change and terrorism to income inequality and social inequities. Organizations are no longer immune to these social responsibilities, and are well positioned to play a constructive role in our shared evolution. Does DA training provide insights and/or tools to help tackle these problems? Prof. Ron Howard will bring to bear three decades of his work with voluntary social systems to help participants to learn a frame of inquiry that can unite polarized communities and move them forward, without resorting to coercion. In particular, participants will realize how a DA background allows one to find unique solutions that are otherwise hard to come by.

Workshop Takeaways:

Participants will come away with an approach to bridging divergent views on important political issues, and a model for solving problems that avoids the use of coercion to achieve desired ends. Key concepts include: The maxim that "Peaceful, honest people have the right to be left alone;" The legal system as a coercive application of a subsection one's personal ethical code; The power of one's word as one's contract; You are the Change you wish to see.

Who Should Attend:

Anyone interested in advancing their thinking skills around the world's most complex and politically divisive problems.

Workshop Leader

Professor Ron Howard

Dr. Ron Howard directs teaching and research in the Decision Analysis Program of the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where he has worked since 1965. He also is the Director of the Decisions and Ethics Center, which examines the efficacy and ethics of social arrangements. Professor Howard defined the profession of decision analysis in 1964 and has since supervised several doctoral theses in decision analysis every year. His experience includes dozens of projects that range over virtually all fields of application, from investment planning to research strategy, and from hurricane seeding to nuclear waste isolation. He has been a consultant to several companies and was a founding Director and Chairman of Strategic Decisions Group. He is President of the Decision Education Foundation, which he and colleagues founded to teach decision skills to young people.

He has written four books, dozens of technical papers, and provided editorial service to seven technical journals. He has lectured at universities around the world, including the former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Some of his unique life experiences have led him to his current research interests in ethics, life-and-death decision making, and the creation of a coercion-free society.

In 1986, Dr. Howard received the Operations Research Society of America's Frank P. Ramsey Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Decision Analysis. In 1998 he received from INFORMS the first award for the Teaching of Operations Research/Management Science Practice. In the same year, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence.

Professor Howard earned his doctorate in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1958.

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