What is it?

This is a 120-minute interactive workshop that applies the timeless communication principles from a classic parenting book to workplace leadership. As Simon Sinek puts it: "Leadership is like good parenting." Participants will learn four core skills that build trust and connection: acknowledging feelings, drawing out with questions, engaging cooperation, and creating safety for mistakes. Through practice with realistic scenarios, they'll develop the ability to have conversations that make people feel heard, valued, and capable.

Why is it useful?

Most workplace communication training focuses on clarity and efficiency. This workshop tackles something deeper: human connection. When people feel heard and respected, they engage more fully, take more ownership, and bring their best thinking. Participants will recognise their default communication patterns, practise alternatives that build trust, and leave with specific phrases and approaches they can use immediately. The skills apply equally to one-to-ones, team meetings, and difficult conversations.

Target Audience

• Team leaders and managers at all levels
• Anyone who leads through influence rather than authority
• HR and L&D professionals wanting to improve workplace communication
• Project managers working with diverse stakeholders
• Consultants facilitating client relationships
• Anyone who wants to have better conversations at work

Workshop Objectives

• Recognise default communication patterns that shut down connection
• Practise four skills that build trust and engagement
• Experience the difference between typical responses and connection-building alternatives
• Develop awareness of when to slow down and listen before solving
• Create a personal practice plan with accountability for follow-through

Summary

Duration: 120 minutes
Group Size: 8-16 people
Format: In-person, highly interactive

Materials Needed

• Flipchart paper and markers
• Printed Connection Skills Framework handout (one per participant)
• Printed Conversation Practice Scenario Cards (one set per small group)
• Printed Response Reframe Cards (one set per participant)
• Printed Personal Practice Plan worksheet (one per participant)
• Timer or phone for activity timing
• Pens for all participants

Process

Step 1: The Parenting Book That CEOs Read (10 mins)

Goal: Hook participants with the unexpected source and establish why these skills matter for leadership.

Activity:

1. Open with this question: "What's the best leadership book you've ever read?" Allow a few people to share briefly.
2. Share this: "Simon Sinek has a surprising answer to that question. His favourite leadership book isn't about business at all. It's a parenting manual from the 1980s called 'How to Talk So Kids Will Listen.' He calls it 'a bright yellow guide to human connection' and recommends it all the time."
3. Explain why: "Sinek says leadership is like good parenting. Great parents listen. They validate feelings. They ask questions instead of giving orders. They create safety so their children can take risks, make mistakes, and grow. Now imagine if every leader did that."
4. Pose this to the group: "Think about the best leader you've ever worked for. Not the most successful, but the one who brought out the best in you. What did they do that made you feel valued and capable?"
5. Invite three or four people to share briefly. Listen for themes.
6. Transition: "Today we're going to learn four skills from this parenting book that apply directly to how we communicate at work. They're simple to understand but challenging to practise because they require us to override our automatic responses."

Debrief Questions:

• What themes did you notice in what people shared about great leaders?
• Why do you think a parenting book might have lessons for workplace leadership?
• What's the connection between feeling heard and doing your best work?

Step 2: Our Default Responses (15 mins)

Goal: Help participants recognise their automatic communication patterns when someone brings them a problem or strong emotion.

Activity:

1. Set up the exercise: "I'm going to read a statement that a team member might say to you. As I read it, notice your immediate internal response. What's the first thing you want to say?"
2. Read this scenario: "A team member comes to you and says: 'I'm so frustrated. I worked all weekend on that proposal and Sarah just tore it apart in front of everyone. I feel like nothing I do is ever good enough.'"
3. Ask participants to write down their immediate response, just one or two sentences, what they would actually say.
4. Invite five or six people to read their responses aloud. Write them on flipchart paper without commentary.
5. Now categorise what you've collected. Draw attention to common patterns:
   • Fixing: "Have you tried talking to Sarah directly?"
   • Minimising: "I'm sure she didn't mean it that way."
   • Lecturing: "You need to develop thicker skin in this industry."
   • Interrogating: "Why didn't you get feedback before the meeting?"
   • One-upping: "You think that's bad? Let me tell you about my week."
   • Reassuring: "Don't worry, you're doing great."
6. Point out: "Notice that almost all of these responses, even the well-intentioned ones, do something other than acknowledge what the person is feeling. We jump straight to fixing, advising, or reassuring. And while we mean well, the message the other person receives is: 'Your feelings are a problem to be solved.'"

Debrief Questions:

• Which of these response types do you recognise in yourself?
• Why do you think we default to these responses?
• What do you think the team member actually needs in that moment?

Step 3: The Four Connection Skills (20 mins)

Goal: Introduce the framework that will structure the practice sessions.

Activity:

1. Distribute the Connection Skills Framework handout to each participant.
2. Introduce the four skills, with brief examples for each:
   • Acknowledge Feelings: Before people can hear your perspective, they need to know you've heard theirs. Name the emotion. Give it space before moving to solutions.
   • Draw Out with Questions: Open-ended questions that come from genuine curiosity, not hidden agendas. Ask about what energises them, not just what's wrong.
   • Engage Cooperation: Describe the problem and invite input rather than giving orders. People support what they help create.
   • Create Safety for Mistakes: Focus on learning and next steps, not on making people feel bad. Leave them feeling capable, not diminished.
3. Return to the scenario from Step 2. Demonstrate how you might respond using the first skill:
   • Typical: "Have you tried talking to Sarah directly?"
   • Connection: "That sounds really frustrating. You put in a huge effort and then felt publicly criticised."
4. Ask participants to notice what's different. The second response doesn't fix anything, but it creates connection. It says: "I heard you. What you're feeling makes sense."
5. Walk through one example for each of the other three skills, showing the contrast between typical responses and connection-building alternatives.
6. Emphasise: "These skills feel awkward at first because they require us to slow down when everything in us wants to speed up and solve. The phrase 'That sounds frustrating' might feel inadequate, but it creates the foundation for everything that follows."

Debrief Questions:

• Which of these four skills do you think you already do well?
• Which would be most challenging for you?
• Why do you think acknowledging feelings comes before the other skills?

Step 4: Reframe Practice (15 mins)

Goal: Build muscle memory for transforming typical responses into connection-building alternatives.

Activity:

1. Distribute the Response Reframe Cards to each participant.
2. Form pairs. One person will be A, the other B.
3. Explain the exercise: "Partner A will read a 'typical response' from the cards. Partner B has 10 seconds to transform it into a connection-building alternative. Then swap roles."
4. Model with one example first:
   • A reads: "Don't worry about it."
   • B transforms: "It sounds like this is really weighing on you."
5. Give pairs 8 minutes to work through as many reframes as they can, alternating roles.
6. Bring the group back together. Ask: "Which reframes were hardest? Which felt most unnatural?"
7. Invite a few pairs to share their favourite transformations.
8. Make this point: "You'll notice the reframes are usually shorter than the typical responses. Connection doesn't require more words. It requires different words."

Debrief Questions:

• What patterns did you notice in the typical responses?
• Which reframes felt most useful to you?
• What makes these alternatives more effective?

Step 5: Conversation Practice (30 mins)

Goal: Apply all four skills to realistic workplace scenarios through structured role-play.

Activity:

1. Divide participants into groups of three.
2. Distribute one Conversation Practice Scenario Card to each group.
3. Explain the structure: "In each scenario, one person plays the leader, one plays the team member, and one observes. The observer's job is to watch for the four skills and give feedback afterward."
4. For each round (approximately 10 minutes):
   • Leader and team member read the scenario (1 minute)
   • They have a conversation for 4 minutes. The team member should respond naturally, not make it easy.
   • Observer gives feedback for 2 minutes, specifically noting which skills they saw and where there were opportunities to use them differently.
   • Brief group discussion: What worked? What was hard?
5. Rotate roles so each person gets to practise being the leader at least once.
6. After all rounds, bring the full group back together.
7. Ask each group to share: "What was the most important thing you learned from the practice?"
8. Capture insights on flipchart paper.

Debrief Questions:

• What was most challenging about using these skills in the moment?
• How did it feel to be the team member when the leader used the skills well?
• What will you remember from this practice?

Step 6: Personal Practice Plan (20 mins)

Goal: Ensure participants leave with specific commitments and accountability for applying these skills.

Activity:

1. Distribute the Personal Practice Plan worksheet to each participant.
2. Give participants 8 minutes to complete their plan individually:
   • Identify their strength and growth area among the four skills
   • Recognise their default patterns
   • Choose one skill to focus on for the next two weeks
   • Identify specific situations where they'll practise
   • Select one specific phrase they'll try using
3. Form pairs (different from earlier practice pairs).
4. Each person shares their plan with their partner for 3 minutes. Partners should ask: "What might get in the way of this? How will you handle that?"
5. Partners exchange contact details and agree on a check-in time (suggest two weeks).
6. Close with this: "These skills are simple but not easy. They require you to override years of automatic responses. The only way to get better is to practise in real situations and reflect on what happens. Your partner is there to help you stay accountable."
7. Final thought: "Simon Sinek says this book teaches you to ask questions like 'What do you love?' and 'When do you come alive?' to draw out people's passions and build real trust. Start there. Ask someone on your team one of those questions this week and see what happens."

Debrief Questions:

• How confident do you feel about applying these skills?
• What's the first conversation where you'll try this?
• What support do you need to follow through?

Secret Sauce

• The parenting angle is disarming: Some participants might initially resist learning from a parenting book. Lean into it. The fact that Simon Sinek recommends it gives credibility, and the unexpected source makes people more curious.
• Demonstrate, don't just explain: When introducing the skills, always show the contrast between typical and connection-building responses. The difference has to be felt, not just understood.
• Protect the pause: The hardest thing about acknowledging feelings is stopping there. Participants will want to immediately follow with advice or solutions. Help them practise the pause.
• Awkward is normal: Phrases like "That sounds frustrating" can feel stilted at first. Normalise this. Say: "It feels weird because it's new. The person receiving it won't notice the awkwardness, only the connection."
• Watch for advice in disguise: Questions like "Have you tried..." or "Don't you think you should..." are really advice wearing a question costume. Help participants spot this in their own responses.
• Feelings aren't problems: Many workplace cultures treat emotions as obstacles to efficiency. This workshop challenges that assumption. Be ready for some resistance, particularly from participants who pride themselves on being "logical."
• The observer role is crucial: Good observers make the practice valuable. Brief them clearly: look for specific skills, note what worked, and be concrete in feedback.
• Role-play resistance: Some participants hate role-play. Acknowledge this upfront and explain why it matters: "Reading about swimming doesn't teach you to swim. You have to get in the water."
• If someone gets emotional: These conversations can surface real feelings, especially in the practice scenarios. If someone gets upset, use the skills: acknowledge what they're feeling, give them space, and check in privately afterward.
• The check-in matters: Without accountability, the skills stay in the workshop room. Push pairs to actually schedule their check-in before they leave.
• One skill at a time: Participants may want to improve everything at once. Encourage focus on one skill for two weeks before adding another. Mastery comes from depth, not breadth.