Resources _________________________ OSPI Professional Development Calendar
Building Individual and Collective Capacity for Engaging Conflict
An essential characteristic of effective people in any community or organization is the ability to engage successfully in critical and difficult conversations. Successful teaming requires a diverse group of individuals to engage in challenging conversations around complex issues. Sound Options Group is offering a series of professional development opportunities designed for building individual and collective capacity for navigating conflict and based on an MTSS framework.
- Tier 1 offerings focus on building individual competence and confidence for engaging interpersonal conflict.
- Tier 2 offerings focus on building skills for supporting others to navigate conflict. This includes Conflict Coaching, Group Facilitation, and Teaching basic skills.
- Tier 3 resources focus on building a culture of effective conflict engagement in support of new learning and adaptive work.
Target Audience
Administrators, Program Coordinators, Teachers, Counselors, Central Office Staff, ESA Staff, Parents, Parent Partners.
Contact Greg Abell at Sound Options Group, LLC grega@somtg.com if you have questions.
Seminar Offerings – 2022/2023
Tier One
Target Audience - Educators, Parents, Service Providers
Engaging Challenging Conversations (core course)
Tier One
Target Audience - Leadership Teams, Task Forces, Individuals
Foundations of Effective Teaming (stand-alone seminar)
Tier Two
Target Audience - Educators, Parents, Service Providers
Operating from the Third Side. Supporting Others to Navigate Conflict (core course)
Tier Two
Target Audience - Program/Building Administrators, IEP Team Members
Facilitating the IEP Process
Tier One: Core
Engaging Challenging Conversations
Target Audience
Educators, Parents, Service Providers
This Tier 1 core course, Engaging Challenging Conversations, is foundational to our Multi-Tiered System of Support for Conflict Engagement, MTSSCE. It is a stand-alone course designed for increasing a participant’s individual capacity for engaging conflict. It also serves as a prerequisite and introduction to key concepts, processes and skills that will be built upon in all subsequent Tier 2 courses. In this seminar we:
- explore the work of key thinkers and leaders in the field,
- introduce foundational concepts, processes, and skills at the heart of effective conflict engagement, and
- explore and practice a fundamental framework and set of skills and strategies for effectively engaging interpersonal conflict.
Dates Offered
Seminars are offered over a Zoom platform in four (4) half-day sessions,
January 13, 20, February 3, 10
8:30 – 11:30 each session
April 12, 13, 19, 20
12:30 – 4:00 each session
Tier One: Foundations
Foundations of Effective Teaming
Target Audience
individuals or groups are looking to improve teaming. IEP Teams, Leadership Teams, Task Forces.
In our organizations and communities, it is expected that we will collaborate as we pursue our work. It is such a common expectation that we just assume that it will happen. Effective collaboration takes a shared commitment to a mutual purpose and mutually beneficial outcome. It must be built and nurtured as an essential element of the work. In this seminar we:
- identify key challenges to effective teaming,
- explore a framework for creating shared expectations as a group, and
- focus on the core function of a team, shared learning.
Dates Offered
Seminars are offered over a Zoom platform in two (2) half-day sessions,
February 9, 16
8:30 – 11:30 each session
April 24, May 1
12:00 – 3:30 each session
Tier Two: Core
Operating From the Third Side: Supporting Others to Navigate Conflict Target Audience
Target Audience
Educators, Parents, Service Providers
This Tier 2 core seminar builds on foundational concepts, processes, and skills taught in Tier 1 and at the heart of our Multi-Tiered System of support for Conflict Engagement. In this seminar we introduce the key Tier 2 roles of Conflict Coach/Consultant, Facilitator, and Teacher. In this seminar we will:
- review of key concepts, processes, and skills from Tier 1,
- introduce and explore the role of Facilitator in supporting the work of groups and teams,
- introduce and explore the role of Conflict Coach in support others to effectively engage and navigate conflict, and
- introduce participant to a curriculum designed for sharing this learning with others.
Dates Offered
Seminars are offered over a Zoom platform in five (5) half-day sessions,
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
8:30 – 11:30 each session
May 3, 4, 10, 11, 17
12:00 – 3:30 each session
Tier Two: IEP Facilitation
Facilitating the IEP Process
Target Audience
IEP Team Members, Program Administrators, Building Administrators
The development of an IEP defining FAPE for a student is a complex process of collaboration. It is a context in which team members with diverse expertise and experience must come together and leverage this diversity in service of a student. In order to support the process, many SEA’s and LEA’s are making available a facilitator to support this process. This seminar explores the role of a facilitator in this specific context. In this seminar we:
- explore the role and function of a facilitator,
- identify where in the context of the IEP process a facilitator adds value, and
- practice key skills and strategies of the facilitator.