Library & Forum

The Library & Forum section contains relevant articles, papers and useful resources that have been developed or adopted by Bourke & Associates or our alliance partners and affiliates.

White Papers and Success Case Studies

• Reinvigorating Your Strategic Planning Process (downloadable file)
• Silence Fails Executive Tools (downloadable file)
• Silence Fails Assessment (downloadable file)
• Creating Solid Partnerships Out Of Dotted-Line Relationships (downloadable file)
• Dialogue Heals (downloadable file)
• The Human Side of Change (downloadable file)
• Training Rollout Guide (downloadable file)
• Lockheed Martin Success Story (downloadable file)
• Change for Good (downloadable file)
• Mastery Course - Get the Word Out (downloadable file)

Crucial Skills Training Brochures

Crucial Conversations: 2-page Course Outline (downloadable file)

Crucial Conversations: 8-page Course Outline (downloadable file)

Crucial Confrontations: 2-page Course Outline (downloadable file)

Crucial Confrontations: 8-page Course Outline (downloadable file)

Industry Articles by John Bourke

When Conversations Become Crucial; What You Say Next
Organizational Culture Change—One Conversation at a Time
Article in IAAM Facility Manager Magazine by John Bourke
Read it here.

Crucial Confrontations: The End of the "Yeah but..." Syndrome
We tend to perform "backwards math" when deciding what issues we should confront and which ones we shouldn't - calculating all of the reasons that we shouldn't engage without adequate consideration of the deleterious consequences we are already living with.
Article in IAAM Facility Manager Magazine by John Bourke
Read it here.

I Hate Email, Voicemail, Text Messaging and Every Other Form of Digital Excuse!
Today’s communication technology offers an astounding array of tools to remain connected across time and space. But when it comes to resolving broken promises, violated expectations or bad behavior, resorting to hi-tech methods (e-mailing, text messaging, instant messaging, blogging) can amplify our problems – especially when confronting a peer, manager or subordinate at work.
Article in IAAM Facility Manager Magazine by John Bourke
Read it here.

Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Failed Expectations and Bad Behavior - Part I: Make It Motivating

As a Crucial Confrontation shifts into high gear our job becomes one of participant and coach. As we monitor and manage the safety of the confrontation our next goal is to respectfully diagnose the potential motivation and/or ability issues that stand in the way of accountability and performance.
Article in IAAM Facility Manager Magazine by John Bourke
Read it here.

Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Failed Expectations and Bad Behavior - Part II: Make It Easy

Once you’ve examined the motivational sources of influence that may contribute to the gap in performance, it’s time to focus on the potential ability issues that influence your desired outcome. If we identify any ability challenges, our strategy will be to jointly develop these gaps to insure that nothing stands in the way of desired results.
Article in IAAM Facility Manager Magazine by John Bourke
Read it here.

Silence Kills (downloadable file)
by Joseph Grenny.
Read what Mr. Grenny says about Bourke & Associates.

Overview

What do Columbia, HealthSouth, New York Times, Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Duke University and Baylor University Hospital all have in common? All experienced major organizational disasters in the past year. And all could have avoided these disasters if they had paid attention to one key attribute of their cultures: the way in which they manage crucial conversations. How people habitually handle crucial conversations is one of the most reliable predictors of both organizational effectiveness and, conversely, organizational disaster.

“Silence Kills” calls attention to some of the warning signs that point to the missing crucial conversations that should have been held.

Additionally, this paper describes how negative cultural habits of suppressing crucial conversations can lead to disaster while the converse can measurably contribute to creating a culture that encourages candor around such issues, and prospers as a result.

Download “Silence Kills” — Vital Smarts Whitepaper
This is a PDF file, openable with Acrobat Reader.

You probably already have Acrobat Reader on your computer.
If not, however, it's available as a free download here.

Institute of Cultural Affairs

Part of our Corporate Meetings and Facilitation methods come from the Institute of Cultural Affairs. Founded over 40 years ago, ICA is a private, international, not-for-profit social change organization. Its primary objective is to promote positive change in communities, organizations and individual lives in the US and around the world by helping people find their own solutions to problems and the means to implement those solutions. About ICA.