Workplace & Organizations

I’ve gained not only confidence but tools. The Essential Partners training was worth every penny.

I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment when the Essential Partners training ended; that I'd done something important for my community and something important for me.

The highlight for me was the interconnectedness of the participants’ views, mutual respect, and range of experiences within the group

In these divisive times, Essential Partners has given my local YMCA and now the national YMCA a means to build bridges through dialogue, re-establishing foundations for constructive change to occur.

Before, I thought all dialogue that does not culminate in solution was considered equivalent to failure. Now I see that dialogue is a stage complete in itself.

I now lead teams with a different language, using different processes, and with a different awareness of team dynamics. [I’ve seen] relationships grow and deepen, unity and commitment remain high, and mutual respect established and fostered.

What is special about Essential Partners' approach is that it promotes authenticity, reduces defensiveness, increases curiosity, and boosts connectedness.

Dialogue gets more results. It makes decision-making easier. It makes creating participation easier … our greatest organizational impact has been more contributions as well as more effective and efficient meetings.

I learned that I can build relationships, that I can be connected to anybody who I want to be connected to, no matter how difficult it is

What surprised me was how much you could transform a relationship during a three-hour conversation.

Essential Partners has played a catalytic role in our ability to facilitate dialogue time and time again, and we could not have done this work without them.

When there's an element of conflict, oftentimes we gravitate toward debate as a way of contending toward some decision or outcome. Dialogue is a much different proposition. The emphasis of dialogue is in understanding the other person's perspective, making sure they have the opportunity to feel heard.

We talked about where we are in the world right now, so we talked quite a bit about polarization. Essential Partners showed how these conversations are becoming more taxing and challenging because of that polarization. These were some first steps in terms of how we can start to have those conversations.

This is the best adult learning experience I have had in the past five years. I wanted to learn new skills—I did!

I am now open to new views and can moderate my impulse to debate or persuade others of different views

Essential Partners does the best work in the field of dialogue and communication.

I did not anticipate having as many concrete takeaways as I do. I feel there is an immense practical application.

One of the things that’s so crucial to even fostering dialogue around diversity, equity, and inclusion is creating opportunities for folks to engage in deep reflective self-awareness.

I ran for my local school board in 2018 and was elected. I use the skills in our meetings, whether I’m chairing the meeting or not. This makes the meetings much more productive. We don’t go over the same topics over and over again.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Laura Chasin and her collaborators at Essential Partners… From them, we have learned about the transformative power of telling one’s story and speaking to the heart of the matter.

There was a remarkable change in the way we were able to communicate with one another following the facilitated conversations.