Leading as Facilitation
Using dialogic techniques to build trust, understanding, and mutual respect. A skills-based weekend intensive for leaders, managers, educators, and changemakers.
Maurice L. Hall, Ph.D.
Dean & Professor · Marist UniversityYour Instructor
Dr. Maurice L. Hall is Dean and Professor at the School of Communication and the Arts at Marist University, and former Provost at Bennington College — where he led a $30M academic portfolio, managed 90 staff and 166 faculty, and spearheaded three consecutive years of record enrollment.
A communication scholar trained at Howard University, Dr. Hall's research examines leadership as sense-making, organizational communication, and the intersection of culture and dialogue. His work has earned multiple national awards and been published in leading journals including Management Communication Quarterly.
For 25+ years he has consulted with federal agencies, international NGOs, K–12 schools, and nonprofit organizations — from USAID projects in Malawi to DEI training at the U.S. Department of Transportation — making him one of the most applied voices in leadership communication today.
Dean, School of Communication & the Arts, Marist University
Ph.D. Organizational & Intercultural Communication, Howard University
Leadership as Sense-Making, Dialogic Communication, Post-Colonial Theory
USAID, FAA, World Bank, Howard University Hospital, 20+ school districts
Co-Instructor & Co-Founder
Dana Elmquist is a strategist, builder, and educator who has spent more than two decades at the intersection of media, technology, and content. As co-founder and CEO of Redcrest Partners, he helps creators, networks, and stations build revenue that lasts — combining operator discipline with deep expertise in storytelling and audience engagement.
At Columbia University, Elmquist served as a professor at both the Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he designed the first marketing and storytelling curriculum specifically for public leaders — translating strategic communication into institutional impact and growth. That work forms a direct foundation for his approach to leadership communication in this course.
Elmquist has led public media transformation initiatives for some of the country's most significant nonprofit media organizations, co-founded Fieldcast (a leading private podcast and production company), and serves as Operator in Residence at Gannett.Partners, where he advises ventures at the convergence of the creator economy, media, and education. He is also an advisor to executive leadership at Libsyn, the world's largest podcast publisher.
Former Professor, Columbia Business School & Columbia SIPA
First marketing & storytelling curriculum for public leaders at Columbia
Founder & CEO, Redcrest Partners · Operator in Residence, Gannett.Partners
Public media transformation, Libsyn, PRX, KUNM, Kaiser Permanente
The Core Model
A six-stage practice for designing and leading conversations that build trust, surface complexity, and translate dialogue into action.
Lean Into Curiosity
Questions > Answers
Effective leaders begin not with answers but with genuine inquiry. Curiosity opens space for diverse perspectives and resists premature closure.
Invite Diverse Voices
Equitable Participation
Create intentional mechanisms that surface perspectives from those with less institutional power. Equity in dialogue begins with design, not accident.
Slow the Pace
Pause · Process · Paraphrase
Speed is the enemy of understanding. Slowing down creates room for reflection, prevents reactive decision-making, and models the behavior you want.
Translate Emotions
Emotion → Insight → Decision
Feelings are data. Leaders who can name and integrate emotional information make better decisions and build deeper trust with their teams.
Engage in Co-Creation
Ownership → Partnership
Move from directing to partnering. Co-creation produces greater ownership, richer solutions, and more durable organizational change.
Name What Matters
Clarity · Commitments · Agreements
Good conversations end with clarity. Naming the commitments, agreements, and next steps transforms dialogue into accountable action.
"Leaders who listen don't merely hear content; they decode meaning, emotion, and context. Listening is interpretation."— Maurice L. Hall, Ph.D.
Weekend Intensive
Twelve hours of immersive, practice-centered learning across two days. Each module combines theory with immediate application through labs, simulations, and peer feedback.
Challenge common myths of leadership as authority or control. Explore leadership as facilitation and relationship-building through personal leadership timelines.
Establish group norms and introduce psychological safety practices that model the "container" needed for productive dialogue.
Leadership Timeline Exercise Group Norms Setting I Am From ExerciseDistinguish technical problems from adaptive challenges. Explore how organizational issues are systemic rather than individual using stakeholder mapping.
Emphasis is on slowing down diagnosis before jumping to solutions — a core principle of dialogic leadership.
Systems Mapping Exercise Stakeholder AnalysisIntroduce the full framework as a practical structure for designing and leading conversations. Walk through a case study and observe how each step supports trust, clarity, and accountability.
Live Case Walkthrough Framework OverviewPractice building trust and framing conversations. Topics include psychological safety, group agreements, and problem reframing.
Work in small teams to design meeting openings and reframing exercises.
Facilitation Lab #1 Peer Feedback Meeting DesignLearn structured listening techniques including the LARA method (Listen, Acknowledge, Respond, Add) to ensure inclusive participation and prevent premature consensus.
Practice exploratory and incisive questioning techniques: the basic probe, explanatory probe, focused probe, and silent probe.
Facilitation Lab #2 LARA Method Structured Listening RoundsReframe conflict as useful information rather than disruption. Learn to name tradeoffs, surface disagreements, and manage strong emotions constructively.
Role-play scenarios allow practice in real-time facilitation under pressure, drawing on research on the costs of toxic leadership.
Role-Play Scenarios Conflict Reframing Case Study: Riverbend ArtsExplore how groups move from dialogue to decisions. Topics include values clarification, governance roles, and action planning.
Practice designing accountability structures that translate conversation into outcomes using the Seven-Step Facilitation Model.
Values Clarification 7-Step Facilitation Model Action PlanningStudents conduct short, student-led facilitation sessions addressing realistic challenges. Peers and the instructor provide structured feedback.
Course concludes with a reflective circle in which participants articulate their personal leadership philosophy and next steps.
Live Facilitation Structured Peer Feedback Leadership Philosophy StatementApplied Learning
A mid-sized nonprofit arts organization receives a major multi-year grant — and immediately surfaces deep internal and external tensions. Artistic leaders, education directors, long-time donors, and community partners each hold competing definitions of "impact," "equity," and organizational identity.
Participants apply the full L.I.S.T.E.N.™ framework to facilitate a leadership retreat, practice surfacing assumptions, navigating tradeoffs, and guiding a divided team from dialogue to shared strategic commitment.
Opening & Framing
Set psychological safety, establish dialogue normsCase Orientation
Ground participants, prevent premature problem-solvingSmall Group Dialogue
Understand the system, surface assumptionsWhole Group Synthesis
Name tensions, legitimize competing valuesStrategic Reflection
Clarify roles, shift from positions to principlesCommitments & Next Steps
Translate insight into accountable actionClosing Reflection
Personal responsibility for the quality of dialogueEvaluation
Four integrated assignments assess both conceptual understanding and practical facilitation competence. All work is applied — no memorization exams.
20%
Pre-Course Reflection
A 2–3 page written reflection submitted before the weekend describing current leadership experiences, personal strengths and challenges, and goals for the workshop.
30%
Facilitation Participation & Labs
Active engagement in all exercises, structured listening rounds, role plays, small-group facilitation, and peer feedback across both days. Assessed on preparation, growth, and engagement.
20%
Stakeholder & Systems Snapshot
A short applied analysis (2–3 pages or visual map) of a real or hypothetical organizational challenge using stakeholder mapping and systems thinking tools from the course.
30%
Final Facilitation Design
A 3–4 page facilitation plan for a real meeting or challenge, or a brief facilitation toolkit — plus a 1–2 page reflection on how your leadership approach has evolved.
Ready to Lead Differently?
Join leaders, managers, educators, and nonprofit professionals learning to facilitate conversations that actually change things.
Suitable for traditional students and working professionals · Certificate of completion provided