Relational Agility Course
Be more yourself. Superpower your teamwork.
Build exceptional relationships at work without “playing politics” or hiding behind a mask.
🙋♂️This course is for you if…
…you struggle with hiding behind the mask of “professionalism” — avoiding feelings and suppressing honest feedback
…your team feels burnt-out by recurring conflicts or is fear-driven in its decision making
…you want to turn around a toxic work culture in your organization and want to “be the change”
“Relational Agility is your ability to skillfully navigate workplace conflicts, turn them into generative conversations, and reach better decisions.”
Carol Xu, co-founder of Present of Work, co-facilitator of this course
Starting soon! Jan 25 through April 4 2024
11-week online highly interactive small cohort course
weekly 90-minute sessions each Thursday 9:00-10:30 am Pacific Time (see local time)
💡What you will gain
More confidence in self-expression, leading to positive contributions, impact, trust, and mutual respect at work
New ways of connecting with others at work that are both authentic and skillful
Ability to reach more aligned decisions in teams and avoid being trapped in fear-based decision making patterns
Greater courage and ease in navigating difficult conversations, conflicts and negotiations
Lasting connections with a thriving community of practice to continue honing the art of relating
Relational, integrative practices are the key to cultivating wellbeing, authenticity, and integrity for better outcomes in the workplace.
Want to get a taste of what this kind of practice is like?
Come join our free 90-minute workshop!
January 18, 2024 — 9:00-10:30 am Pacific Time (see local time)
Register here
👋 Meet your facilitators
Jia (Carol) Xu
Co-founder of The Present Of Work, Co-gardener of Communication Dojo, Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering (Stanford)
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Being a former academic researcher of management science, Carol has always been fascinated with new ways of organizing people and resources (such as self-organizing, agile development, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, Sociocracy, Deliberately Developmental Organization) that empower creativity, resilience, and transparency. Carol designs and hosts social spaces and innovative "sandboxes" that integrate contemplative, creative, and strategic elements into learning for organizational leaders, community stewards, and purpose-driven individuals. Her personal experience with work burnout years ago turned out to be a great gift that helped her to better connect with herself, her natural gifts, and to be able to see tremendous promises in the messy, liminal spaces we often find ourselves in as individuals and collectives. Carol holds a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering in the area of cross-cultural communication and management from Stanford University.
Carol lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and son. They love going on (in-person, virtual or metaphorical) hikes with people from all walks of life.
James Baker
Founder of Intentional Society, 10+ years of experience in organizational/process transformation, M.S. Computer Science (Northwestern)
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After 15 years in the software development field, spanning corporate cultures from startup to mega and challenges from code to organizational culture/process transformation, James departed in 2020 to pursue self-led post-conventional passions. This led him to found Intentional Society, an online face-to-face community centered on developmental and relational practices in service of human flourishing at all scales. After 130+ weekly gatherings, this continues to be a warm and supportive space of relational exploration, catalyzing inner and interpersonal growth relating to who and how we want to be with each other and the world.
James resides near Seattle with his wife and kids, enjoying all those developmental journeys along with a stream of cohort courses, online communities, board games, and the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
📋 Course structure
Highlights:
up to 12 participants maximum, for highly personalized guidance in a cozy high-trust cohort
curated and facilitated small-group peer practice pods on weeks 3, 6, & 10
three units each build skills through focused practice ➡ cohort practice ➡ real-world application for deep learning
combines leading practices (T-group, Circling, Internal Family Systems, Peer Coaching) into a cutting-edge transformative-learning journey
option to join ongoing community practice spaces after the course
Unit 1: Noticing
Our journey begins with awareness — learning to see and notice our sensations, emotions, and stories as they arise in us. From there, we use a parts-of-self lens to more easily relate to those protective impulses from a bigger-self perspective.
Unit 2: Welcoming
It takes acceptance and compassion to build new patterns of relating to our reactions! We’ll build up and groove in those new response patterns that allow us to more easily handle anything that comes our way.
Week 5: T-Group (A communication method taught at Stanford’s highly sought out Interpersonal Dynamics class)
Week 6 (flex scheduling): Peer practice pods
Week 7: T-Group with roleplay
Unit 3: Interacting
Finally, we’ll learn to bridge the gaps with those around us, and to stay grounded in realistic and high-stakes situations! We’ll focus on integrating all our skills and holding on to them in less-supportive environments.
Week 8: Interpersonal gap framework. Buddy Coaching
Week 9 (flex scheduling): Peer practice pods
Week 10: Buddy Coaching on high-stakes, real-world scenarios
Week 11: Integration & final takeaways
💸 Your investment in the course
For maximum inclusivity, and for our learning, we invite each participant to choose one of three pricing models for their registration:
Up-front fixed: $800 (invoiced to you or your company)
Priceless pricing: You can decide an amount to pay at the end of the workshop. (we’ll provide full transparency to help you make that decision with ease and solidarity.)
Creative contribution: other forms of value (we’ll explore how you may contribute to the course in non-financial ways after you indicate your interest in the application form)
Ask your HR team about training budgets, and let us know if we can support you in meeting corporate reimbursement requirements.
👀 More resources
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What's Possible When We Surface Emotions At Work?
Conventional belief: If we allow colleagues to share negative or personal emotions at work, it will derail the work. But what else is possible?
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What Happens When We Suppress Emotions In Teams?
In this 10-minute video, Carol and her collaborator Nami explore what happens when we suppress emotions in teams and suggest a few approaches to building healthy and productive teams.
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Tech Success Unveiled: Navigating Complexity with Relational Agility!
Read a case study based on the recent leadership conflict at OpenAI and our key takeaways from a relational perspective.
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Podcast Appearance with Psychotechnologies Live
Facilitators Carol & James do a long jam with hosts Daniel and Eliot exploring the ethos and examples of Relational Agility.