How Ballard & Associates Strengthened Skills for More Productive Conversations
Learn how CultureAlly shaped the coaching around real workplace moments and gave the team time to put each new skill to work.
A coaching series designed to turn learning into everyday habits
Working closely, from different places
Ballard & Associates, Inc. is a small accounting firm with a team working across three states. With colleagues collaborating closely on the same clients from different locations, clear communication and shared expectations matter.
A shared approach to communication and feedback
The team needed common language, agreed norms and practical tools they could use in the moment and return to on their own. Three requirements shaped how we built it.
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Requirement
Practical
Specific language for feedback and difficult conversations.
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Requirement
Repeatable
Tools the team could return to when real situations came up.
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Requirement
Reinforced
Time between sessions to apply, revisit and build on the learning.
This program was built to unfold. Time between sessions gave the team a chance to put each set of tools into real work before coming back for the next one.
Foundations of Workplace Sensitivity and Respect
- Focus
- Shared norms and a common language for respectful communication.
- Practiced
- Defining what respect looks like in everyday work.
Respectful Communication and Mindful Practices
- Focus
- Practical tools for feedback, listening and communicating under pressure.
- Practiced
- Real-world conversations involving feedback, boundaries and difficult moments.
Psychological Safety, Accountability and Repairing Harm
- Focus
- A step-by-step model for accountability and repairing trust.
- Practiced
- How to respond to feedback, own impact and move conversations forward.
Building and Sustaining an Inclusive Culture
- Focus
- Shared leadership language and practical ways to reinforce team norms.
- Practiced
- Revisiting agreements and identifying routines to carry the learning forward.
Why it worked
What Makes This Different
More productive conversations
Shared language and practical tools gave the team a clearer way to approach feedback, disagreement and pressure.
A way forward when things go wrong
The team learned a five-step approach for addressing missteps, taking responsibility and deciding what comes next.
Skills that could carry into the day-to-day
The series kept returning to earlier commitments, giving the team repeated chances to apply and strengthen them over time.
One approach across the team
Shared norms created a common way to communicate and work together across locations.
What the series kept coming back to
Culture isn't what we say once. It's what we practice together over time.
Make better conversations part of how your team works.
Team coaching gives your people shared tools they can use in real moments, with time to put them into practice.
1,000+ organizations trust us to help their teams learn, grow, and lead.
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