• We foster skills often overlooked in traditional leadership development courses such as active listening and collaborative communication.
  • We work with each client’s individual needs to support accomplishing their goals.
  • We instill traits necessary to keep up with 21st century advances.

As the world changes, so must the ways we grow our organizations and develop the 21st century workforce. Our world is becoming more interconnected, bringing together people with varied backgrounds and different perspectives. Technology places volumes of information at our fingertips. Skills such as problem-solving in groups, processing and evaluating new information, and working with diverse groups of people are more important than ever to succeed.

Touchstones Executive Programs offers leaders the tools to meet the demands of their emerging environment. Touchstones training is accessible for employees of all  backgrounds and skill levels. Organizations have successfully utilized Touchstones Executive Programs across the United States and around the world.

In Touchstones discussions, participants learn strategies to help them navigate the expanding demands of the 21st century. Participants learn to better process information, ask more meaningful questions, and, when required, enlist the help of others in making decisions. As these participants listen, explore, cooperate, and solve problems – whether they are executives, managers, project leaders, or support staff – they become collaborators in their own learning and leadership. They learn that work is not always about right or wrong answers, but often about better or worse decisions.

Participants in Touchstones discussion sessions will learn and apply these skills:

  • Ask questions to clarify and improve understanding.
  • Assert ideas with supporting evidence.
  • Examine their own assumptions and explore other perspectives.
  • Make connections to other subjects and experiences.
  • Learn to recognize patterns across texts of varied type and complexity.
  • Read more effectively for meaning.
  • Analyze personal and group effectiveness.
  • Collaborate with people from differing backgrounds.
  • Share leadership and responsibility.

Although most people can join a group conversation and be polite and not interrupt, the development of higher-level discussion skills requires time, practice, and guidance. Carefully chosen texts, an effective discussion leader, and basic discussion ground rules are essential in a Touchstones discussion. As leaders progress through the lessons, they will have the opportunity to acquire fundamental listening, speaking, and critical thinking skills, and they will become better learners, capable of teaching themselves and others. Touchstones develops these skills through the systematic use of individual work, small group work, and large group discussion—all grounded in texts that exercise specific skills and highlight the discussion process itself.