Episode 16: Conversational Capacity and Psychological Safety

Guest Bio

The author of the best-selling book, “Conversational Capacity: The Secret To Building Successful Teams That Perform When The Pressure Is On” (McGraw-Hill, 2013) and the sequel, “Influence in Action: How to Build Your Conversational Capacity, Do Meaningful Work, and Make a Powerful Difference” (McGraw-Hill, 2019), I’m on a mission to help people build more healthy, engaged, and adaptive organizations.

Recap & Takeaways

• [00:11 – 01:50] Introduction to Craig Weber, Author of Conversational Capacity
• [01:54 – 02:41] Tall poppy syndrome and cultural influence
• [02:45 – 04:36] Key elements of the dialogue of discipline
• [04:37 – 06:34] Inclusion and the minimizing tendency
• [06:36 – 07:38] Unhinged candor, and curiosity
• [07:39 – 09:10] The discipline we help people learn, and speaking up candidly
• [09:14 – 10:08] The misuse of authority
• [10:10 – 10:38] Virtual environments and engagement
• [10:40 – 11:53] Clumsiness and the ways meetings and communication can go wrong
• [11:54 – 12:31] Narrow topics and restructuring the ways we run meetings virtually
• [12:32 – 15:13] Asynchronous meetings and exponential teams, a tool in the toolkit
• [15:15 – 16:47] Building conversational capacity and psychological safety
• [16:49 – 17:31] Muscle development in feedback and psychological safety
• [17:32 – 21:57] The Leader Lab, bosses, and best practices for making statements
• [21:58 – 23:30] If the conversation is smarter, everyone has an opportunity to learn, educating your team
• [23:46 – 26:51] What the future looks like, AI and conversational capacity tools
• [26:52 – 28:27] The dystopian disadvantages of how AI could make people disengage
• [28:29 – 29:32] Tips and tricks, future improvements
• [29:33 – 31:25] Balanced participation and candor, the equation for psychological safety
• [31:27 – 32:24] Your job is to make your team smarter and stronger
• [32:25 – 33:38] Vistage Group
• [33:39 – 35:41] Spreading the methodology outside of the business world
• [35:42 – 37:08] Learning from partners and spouses
• [37:10 – 38:24] Explicit value and dealing with difficult customers who find the value of conversational capacity outside of work
• [38:28 – 39:19] Minimizing behavior and decision-shopping
• [39:22 – 40:47] Craig’s next book, Influence in Action
• [40:49 – 41:40] Working proactively and productively in challenging circumstances
• [41:42 – 44:11] The code of conduct and encouraging teams to perform