10 KEY SKILLS IN TALKING WITH A MAP

This workshop introduces ten key skills to help us talk and relate by mapping out the keywords and phrases of our discussions on paper.  This live, mutual and reflective process helps us see what we are saying, shape what we want to say and reflect on how the conversation is going.     

 The ten key skills of talking with a map are: 

1.   Setting up the time and place to talk  

2.   Spontaneously tracking the conversation to help make a listening relationship  

3.   Finding our own words for feelings, ideas, roles and relationships

4.   Shimmering between feelings with the help of words on paper between us

5.   Hovering in among contrasting ideas and beliefs and their importance for self and others 

6.   Noticing, naming and negotiating what is here and now between us

7.   Taking turns in participating or observing: working side by side and not going head to head 

8.   Writing short letters to discover and give voice to new points of view and ways of feeling 

9.   Zoom in and out of big picture and detail; or between this and that part of the story or conversation

10. Mapping out positions and patterns from conversations to tell and retell the stories that show who we are.

This half-day introductory workshop is for anyone whose work involves individual or group reflection and would like to ctest out a method for improving their conversational skills. The workshop is led by Steve Potter who is a Cognitive Analytic Psychotherapist, teacher and supervisor and had been teaching the skills and ideas of 'talking with a map' to many teams and individuals in the UK and internationally for the past twenty years. The approach is an application of some of the concepts and tools of Cognitive Analytic Therapy.  It also draws on lessons from relational psychotherapies and creative writing.  A workbook of handouts and pre-reading is sent to participants two weeks prior to the workshop and the book Talking with a Map is available to purchase with a discount code after the workshop.  Follow up small group supervision is available in some cases.