Program Description:
Facilitation feels great when there’s harmony in the room. But let’s be honest … in much of our work that harmony is either rare, or it’s fake. How can we, as facilitators, bravely lead a group that is full of complexity, tension, and conflict? For this FORWARD session, we’ll be joined by guest speakers Shelton Davis and Theresa Ward of Empathy Lab, who will help us slow down and unpack these challenging dynamics. Participants will walk away knowing how to embrace interpersonal frictions that exist within a team and work towards objectives gracefully and effectively.

About the Speaker:
 

Theresa Ward is a Communications and Culture Consultant whose mission is to help teams get things done and enjoy the journey. Her previous roles in sales, product innovation, and relationship management all shaped her training approach that combines personal experiences with cognitive behavioral research. Theresa serves as Empathy Lab’s Lead Facilitator and Operations Officer. She has led hundreds of workshops and projects across various industries including Utilities, Non-Profit, Theater, Hospitality, and Healthcare. She is a certified yoga instructor, furmom, and total TED Talk nerd.

Shelton Davis would rather hear your story than tell his. An experienced product and UX designer, researcher, and team leader, he believes in our collective power to listen, understand, and create positive global change. In 2017, Shelton channeled 15+ years of human-centered innovation knowledge and his lifelong passion for personal connection into one huge group project: Empathy Lab. After a year of prototyping, testing, rinsing and repeating, he launched the first and only 10-skill training series designed to (re)condition our empathy muscles and empower collective success from the inside out. Inspired by Shelton’s own physical, mental and emotional education as a competitive athlete, the Empathy Decathlon is fully engaging, research-backed, refreshingly accessible, and 100% led by example. Shelton lives, hikes, drinks coffee, dances, and practices empathy daily in Atlanta, GA with his three greatest loves: his wife Laura, daughter Juliette, and son Grayson.