Business is a network of coordinating, committing and learning conversations

Are failed commitments and misunderstanding hurting the performance of your organization?


You need the people in your organization to work together effectively. You have hired and developed talented people, established clear direction, and provided the technology people say they need. You have carefully documented processes, implemented conflict resolution mechanisms and teamwork training, scheduled meetings and conference calls to ensure everyone understands what to do. Yet, all these efforts have not delivered the improvements in performance you were expecting.

Communication improvement programs don't work because they are not specific enough to overcome flaws in the way people establish common understanding, coordinate, and make commitments. Tools and process don't work because they don't don't facilitate the conversations needed to establish common understanding.

Increased performance and value creation occurs when productive collaboration happens naturally in your organization. We have identified ten basic types of conversations, each with specifics specific elements that must be present to ensure effectiveness. When these conversations take place in the context of a common background, organizations can achieve common understanding, coordination, and culture of commitment.

Our productive collaboration approach works because we make sure the right people are involved in the right conversations. Then we establish the elements that must exist in specific conversations to take place effectively.

Raise the business conversation above the chaos and conflict.
  • Learn how to achieve the elements of effective conversations
  • Understand the link between shared understanding and improved throughtput
  • Apply the secret to reducing coordination waste in knowledge based value streams
  • Understand how to successfully conduct the 10 conversations types

"My product development group was struggling to make and keep customer commitments. They had tried to change management, restructured the group, and studied software devleopment methodologies to develop an effective approach. There was a high level of conflict and a low level of trust in the organization. I was skeptical about how quickly the problem could be fixed but I had worked with Synaptus before so I brought them in to take a shot at improving the situation. Results started happening almost immediately. By the end of the four weeks initiative we were performing at a significantly higher level then before. We didn't make any dramatic changes in process, staffing, or technology - we just started working together a whole lot better."
~ T.P. VP Product Development

Frequently Asked Questions

How can an outsider tell me how to run my business better than the people who work on it?

They can't. However, we can facilitate applying the specific elements of conversations to the appropriate places in your ad-hoc collaborative processes.

How is this different than other communication training?

These are not general interpersonal skill improvements. This is about creating specific rules and structure around specific communication processes.

Is this an emotional, touchy-feely class?

This is not a personal psychology class. We have identified ten basic types of conversations that take place in organizations. When these conversations take place effectively, specific elements are present. In the absence of these elements these interactions break down, leading to the broken commitments, misunderstandings, and failed coordination that unnecessarily complicates value creation.

How measurable are the results of this effort?

The results are measurable in different ways. First, establishing an interaction scorecard provides insight into improvements in making and keeping commitments, generating shared understanding, and effective coordination. Secondly, the performance of the work stream that is analyzed can be measured over time. Both of these metrics provide a platform for ongoing improvement.

How disruptive is this to my organization?

If different results are needed, so are different behaviors. There are organizational forces at work that make broken commitments, misunderstandings, and failed coordination common. Overcoming these will require some changes in these forces.

What deliverables do I have when I'm done?
  • A capability model that itemizes what the business does, where business value is produced, and where performance gaps exist
  • Collaboration analysis models of key value streams
  • Specific rules around the elements required to perform specific productive collaboration interactions
  • Training and materials to sustain the training defined for this unique business need
  • A productive collaboration scorecard approach to use for continuous improvement


Contact us to ask any questions you might have about Productive Collaboration or to set up an appointment to discuss this for your business.

Or, click here to read about our clients’ success and satisfaction in the case studies and testimonials.