2024 Faculty Development Day

Director of Centre for Learning, Leadership & Culture.

Talk: Generative Conversations Workshop 

Whether we are trying to deal with a challenging colleague, or delivering uncomfortable feedback to a student, we all attempt to avoid having these “difficult” conversations as much as possible. However, they do not have to be as uncomfortable as they are often thought to be.

Using the approach from the book, “Difficult Conversations: How to discuss what matters most" by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen (from the Harvard Project on Negotiation), the Generative Conversations session provides a model for having the toughest conversations with less stress and more success.  

At this session, you will:

• learn about a model that will enable you to have the toughest conversations with less stress and more success.
• be introduced to the ‘three conversations’ approach of analyzing the underlying structure of the conversation, what feelings it evokes, and what’s at stake for both parties. 
• review the advantages of shifting the framing to ‘generative conversations’ instead of ‘difficult conversations’ to enable workplace conversations to create a better future together.

The Collaboration Café is an opportunity to meet and discuss issues with colleagues across LMP.

Update: the seed funding pot has been increased to $100k this year!

How it works:

1. You suggest topics in the registration form (whether you are attending or not). These can be related to any scholarly activity such as teaching, research etc.
2. The organizing committee will group these into themes and allocate topics to tables.
3. You join a table on a topic that resonates with you and discuss it. There will be two iterations.
4. If your discussions sound promising and you'd like to take it forward, you can apply for funding through a short application form after the event and you could be awarded some seed funding from the $100k allocated.

We will award a maximum of $25k to a single project. Last year we funded five projects.

The table topics are currently:

1. Applying digital and computational pathology 
2. Broadening LMP’s community impact outside the GTA 
3. Enhancing education and its delivery 
4. Creating positive and productive work environments 
5. Assuring sustainability in laboratories – from talent pipelines to pipettes 
6. Changing the way we work - scholarly work in the digital age  
7. Exploring biobanking and biomarkers 
8. Exploring novel models of disease and emerging technology