The art
of good judgment.

Refine your questioning techniques and active listening: clarify requests, examine assumptions and move consequential business conversations forward.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish facts, interpretations and assumptions in a business request.
• Ask open questions and seek the details that deepen mutual understanding.
• Reframe the issue and check with your counterpart that you have understood what matters.

In practiceExplore an unclear request through a structured conversation, then agree with your counterpart on the problem to address before proposing a solution.

Strengthen your rhetorical skills and powers of persuasion: structure a recommendation and choose arguments that matter to your audience.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• State a clear proposition, distinguish claims, arguments and evidence, and specify the decision you seek.
• Prioritize arguments in light of your audience’s concerns and values.
• Choose examples and analogies that illuminate your message without distorting its meaning.

In practicePresent the same recommendation to finance and operations leaders, adapting your arguments while keeping your message consistent.

Handle objections and difficult conversations: examine arguments, clarify misunderstandings and defend or revise your position with sound judgment.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish substantive objections, misunderstandings and personal attacks.
• Recognize false dilemmas and shifts in meaning, then restate the objection accurately.
• Choose a proportionate response and make any remaining disagreement explicit.

In practiceDefend a proposal against different kinds of objections; identify each difficulty before choosing to rebut, clarify, concede a point or revise your position.

Bring public speaking, executive communication and storytelling together: explain a strategic direction, show what is at stake and build shared commitment to a project.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Build a clear thread connecting context, challenges, choices and future direction.
• Show what is at stake through stories grounded in facts, relevant imagery and examples.
• Acknowledge the effort required and remaining uncertainties, then explain the next step.

In practicePrepare a five-minute address introducing a real strategic direction; ask listeners to explain what they understood, remembered and identified as the next step.

Explore intercultural awareness by examining your own reference points: respect, efficiency and professionalism do not mean the same thing in every setting.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Identify your own cultural norms and assumptions in a professional relationship.
• Distinguish the influence of national culture, organization, profession and context.
• Develop and test alternative explanations before making a judgment.

In practiceRevisit a workplace incident from several perspectives, separating observable facts from the intentions attributed to each person.

Explore the eight dimensions of Erin Meyer’s Culture Map to adapt cross-cultural communication, feedback and expectations about how decisions are made.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Use Erin Meyer’s eight dimensions as reference points to test against the situation.
• Recognize differences in communication, persuasion, leadership, decision-making, trust, disagreement, feedback and scheduling.
• Adapt your approach without reducing colleagues to cultural stereotypes.

In practiceMap differences in working practices within an international project, then replay an ambiguous exchange while clarifying each person’s expectations.

Use dialogue and intercultural mediation to resolve misunderstandings, address conflict and rebuild a working relationship that allows for candid exchange.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish intention, impact and the need for recognition in a disagreement.
• Guide a conversation in which each person can explain how they see the situation.
• Agree on practical steps to repair the relationship and rebuild trust.

In practiceRevisit an exchange in which being corrected in front of others felt humiliating: hear both accounts, clarify the impact and agree on how to work together again.

Translate cultural and professional differences into explicit working agreements, building shared meanings for autonomy, transparency and responsibility.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Recognize when apparently shared terms carry different meanings.
• Clarify decision authority, consultation, information-sharing and how disagreements are addressed.
• Develop shared working rules and adapt them to real project constraints.

In practiceDraft a one-page working agreement for an international project, then test it against an urgent request, an absent decision-maker or conflicting instructions from headquarters.

Strengthen decision-making by examining cognitive biases, ethical criteria and the consequences of your choices for those affected.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish facts, assumptions and values, and identify biases that shape your judgment.
• Weigh consequences, obligations and fairness when making a decision.
• Justify a difficult choice and identify the information that could lead you to revise it.

In practiceAllocate a limited budget between supporting a struggling business unit and investing in transformation; explain your criteria, then reconsider the decision as new information emerges.

Exercise authority grounded in judgment, fairness and trust: take responsibility for a decision while remaining open to information that challenges it.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish the roles of status, expertise, example and trust in your authority.
• Hear a challenge and acknowledge an error without avoiding responsibility.
• Explain a decision, its limits and the room others have to exercise initiative.

In practicePresent a contested reorganization; hear objections that reveal new information, then explain what you will maintain, what you will change and why.

Develop ethical leadership practices that make it possible to raise concerns, acknowledge mistakes and challenge assumptions, with clear responsibility for each decision.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Bring relevant information and objections into the discussion, including challenges to the leader.
• Guide deliberation that examines criteria, consequences and minority perspectives.
• Specify who decides, who acts and who reviews the effects, without allowing responsibility to become blurred.

In practiceJoin a committee under pressure: participants hold different information and a colleague whose voice is often overlooked knows of a critical risk. Deliberate, examine what went unsaid, then replay the decision with better ground rules.

Prepare delegation and succession by making explicit the principles and reasoning that enable others to exercise their own judgment.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish principles worth preserving from habits that can change.
• Pass on the reasoning behind your choices and the tacit knowledge needed to act.
• Define autonomy and review points that enable others to take responsibility.

In practicePrepare a real handover, then give your successor an unfamiliar dilemma to resolve without consulting you; assess what was passed on beyond instructions.