2014 VitalSmarts. All Rights Reserved.

Review Schedule and Activities Use this schedule to help you turn the skills into habit in your personal and professional life. Use ideas from the additional review activities on the next page at the personal, team, and organizational levels to help you create significant and sustainable progress with Crucial Conversations.*

Toolkit Book Audio Companion Cue Cards

1 Review Get Unstuck Chapter 1&2 Get Unstuck

2 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 1: What Dialogue Is and

Why Its Important

3 Review Start with Heart Chapter 3 Start with Heart

4 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 1: How to Stay Focused on

What You Really Want

5 Review Master My Stories Chapter 6 Master My Stories

6 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 4: How to Stay in Dialogue When

Youre Angry, Scared, or Hurt

7 Review STATE My Path Chapter 7 STATE My Path

8 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 5: How to Speak Persuasively,

Not Abrasively

9 Review Learn to Look Chapter 4 Learn to Look

10 Do the exercises with a partner Disc 2: How to Notice When Safety Is at Risk

11 Review Make It Safe Chapter 5 Make It Safe

12 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 3: How to Make It Safe to Talk

about Almost Anything

13 Review Explore Others Paths Chapter 8 Explore Others Paths

14 Do the exercises with a partnerDisc 5: How to Listen When Others

Blow Up or Clam Up

15 Review Move to Action Chapter 9 Move to Action

16 Chapters 10, 11, AfterwordDisc 6: How to Turn Crucial Conversations Into

Actions and Results

*Note for Crucial Conversations 1-day graduates, you will need to reference your Crucial Accountability materials to complete some of the review items.

2014 VitalSmarts. All Rights Reserved.

Review Activities Ideas:

On Your Own: Go to www.vitalsmarts.com and sign up for the weekly Crucial Skills

newsletter to have insights and stories delivered directly to your

e-mail inbox.

Use the corresponding contract cards (small, square cards) to focus

on one principle at a time and practice that specific principle. The

reverse side of each cue card contains a quote from one of the

authors around that specific principle and/or skill. Place the card in a

prominent location as a reminder.

Teach a friend or a family member one of the skills or principles

you have learned in Crucial Conversations. Dont underestimate the

importance of teaching to improve your own use of the skills.

Review the model card (large card) found in the back pocket of

the Participant Toolkit to prepare for crucial conversations. The

Principles and Skills column listed on the reverse side, along with the

corresponding Situation column, are helpful in preparing important

communications from coaching sessions to team meetings. Not

all conversations are crucial; however, many of the skills facilitate

effective communication in general and can be practiced daily.

With a Partner: Continue to meet with a learning partner to prepare for your crucial

conversation. Check in with each other on a weekly basis if possible.

Choose a new lesson each week to work on with your learning

partner. Use your contract cards and focus on how the current lesson

is being applied to your conversations. What are your frustrations and

concerns? What experiences have you had recently with using those

particular skills? The key is to Make It Safe to talk about issues and

hold each other accountable for practicing the skills.

Meet with a small group in a book club environment once a week

for about an hour. Assign a specific chapter or principle to discuss

and then share your experiences. Ask participants to bring real-time

situations that they can receive help and coaching on. These can

be related to work, inter- or intra-team relationships, or personal

relationships. Visit the After Training website at www.vitalsmarts.

com/aftertraining and access the VitalSmarts Video Vault. Together

you can watch more examples of crucial conversations in action and

see case studies of others using the skills.

In Your Organization: Make using the skills a frequent topic of general conversation at all

levels. Simple, supportive questions such as Howre you coming

on your crucial conversation? can keep the practice of the Crucial

Conversations skills conscious and pervasive. Remind people to use

the skills by referencing any principle or vocabulary, such as calling

the company mission statement a Mutual Purpose or asking during

a meeting, Are we framing this as a Fools Choice here?

Set aside a few minutes during staff meetings where you can review

concepts or chapters and specifically focus on Crucial Conversations.

You could simply have employees share personal experiences with

applying the skills or you could assign a different principle to someone

to discuss each meeting. Leaders in the company can show they take

the skills seriously by checking in on progress in meetings.

If possible, have your company give out tokens at the beginning

of the month to each employee. Anytime someone holds a crucial

conversation they are given another token. Suggest an incentive for

the person who has the most tokens at the end of each month such

as a gift certificate.

Share successes. This can be done by posting stories on a real

electronic bulletin board or by asking for successes at staff meetings.

If your group is quiet, you may want to have everyone share in a small

group and ask the group to select the best example to share with

the whole team. When people see that others are having success, it

motivates them to hold their own crucial conversation.

*Participant Toolkit Restrictions

The recommendations and activities outlined in this document are

intended solely for individuals who have attended Crucial Conversations

Training and possess an original purchased copy of the Crucial

Conversations Participant Toolkit. These materials are protected by

federal copyright law, and may not be re-used. VitalSmarts expressly

prohibits groups or individuals from integrating the concepts presented

in the Participant Toolkit into any third-party presentations, consultations,

products, or services.