STRLDi Programme Design: The CEO’s Table – Learning to Create Productive Team Conversations – Systems Thinking Research & Leadership Development Institute (STRLDi)

Programme Level: Intermediate
Design Basis: Adapted from Modules 3 and 4 of the STRLDi Five-Discipline Programme

Purpose

The CEO’s Table programme is designed for senior organisational leaders and their executive teams who wish to develop the ability to create productive, reflective, and generative conversations within their organisations.

Drawing primarily from the Mental Models and Team Learning disciplines of The Fifth Discipline, this programme helps leaders cultivate shared understanding, trust, and deep learning across their teams — the foundation for sustained organisational transformation.

Scope of the Sessions

#	Session Focus	Description
PRE-SESSION QUIZ	—	—
1	Why the Five Disciplines? Why not others?	– What would happen for the organisation if the five disciplines were to come together in practice? – What happens when they do not? Introduction to the framework, tools, and essence of the Five Disciplines: – The Three-Legged Stool – The 60 Tools of Learning Organisations – The Structural Tension Model Group Work: Seeing Our World Together Introducing the Discipline of Mental Models Definition
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #1 #1 From Arie de Geus’s The Living Company: 90% of organisations do not survive their 40th birthday. In his later study, what new lifespan did he find, and in which year? What is the longest-surviving organisation you can find? What three factors allowed these organisations to grow and continue? Reflect on what they had to learn as individuals, teams, and organisations. #2 How do the disciplines of Mental Models and Team Learning enable generative conversations? What distinct characteristics of these disciplines allow such conversations to occur?
2	Review Definitions	Exercise: Mind Game – Death in the Desert Introducing: The Ladder of Inference
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #2 #3 Mind Exercise #1 #4 Mind Exercise #2 #5 Mind Exercise #3 #6 Notice one experience where the Ladder of Inference happened for you.
3	Practice: Ladder of Inference	Role Play: Urgent Files
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #3 #7–#11 Practice and deepen your use of the Ladder of Inference through role play.
4	Key Concepts of Organisational Defences and Skillful Discussion	Topics: – Theory of Action – Espoused Theory vs Theory-in-Use
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #4 #12 Identify a newspaper article where both espoused theory and theory-in-use appear to be at play. Explain your reasoning.
5	Defensive Routines, Skilled Unawareness, and Skilled Incompetence	Focus: Designing Skillful Discussion
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #5 #13 #14
6	Practice in Skillful Discussion	Themes: – Testing assumptions and inferences – Sharing all relevant information – Explaining reasoning and intent
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #6 #15 #16
7	Advancing Skillful Discussion	Topics: – Focusing on interests, not positions – Combining advocacy and inquiry – Jointly designing next steps and testing disagreements
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #7 #17 #18
8	Understanding Dialogue and Communication Dynamics	Topics and Exercises: – Levels and Stages of Dialogue – Designing a Dialogue Session – Distinctions in Learning and Communication – Check-in and Deeper Listening (Projector & Screen Exercise) – Fishbowl Exercise – Undiscussables – Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry – Shell’s Scenario Planning Exercise – The Four-Player Model – Introduction to Human Dynamics
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #8 #19 #20 Facilitation Design Practice
9	Introducing the Discipline of Personal Mastery	Definition and Practice: – Chevreul’s Pendulum – Peacock Feather Exercise – The story of “putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade — and why not since?”
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #9 #21 Learning to image and paint your personal vision
10	Discovering Personal Visions	Day 4: Unit Project Presentation Progress
		LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #10 #22 Postmark your personal vision to receive one year from today.

Table Notes

Each day includes two sessions.
I/S = Intersession Works (assignments between sessions).

Programme Organising Notes

Log into the Zoom call 15 minutes before the start; test all connections.
Each session is 3 hours long; there are 10 sessions in total.
Assign one participant to record and label each session, and store them in a shared online folder.
Allow 5–10 minutes Q&A per hour; the trainer will pause periodically to ensure clarity.
Submit any individual or team questions to parcforlos@gmail.com.
Build a shared Google Drive folder to post and store intersession assignments by session number.

Learning Team Organising Notes

Form Learning Teams of 2–3 participants.
Teams provide a reflective space to clarify sessions, deepen understanding, and co-create intersession assignments.
Teams are not substitutes for missed sessions — attendance is required for full participation.
Use your team to build first drafts of intersession work and support one another’s learning.
Encourage and be encouraged — learning deepens when we teach and reflect together.

Personal Organising Notes

Complete the assignments and reflect during intersessions. These anchor the learning and reinforce key concepts.
This work is counter-intuitive. Be prepared for surprise and discomfort — they are signs of learning.
- Try the Fold-Arm Exercise as a reminder of how change feels.
- When something surprises or confuses you, raise it in discussion or note it for follow-up.
You are not expected to integrate all practices into your organisation yet. Focus first on understanding how the five disciplines work together. Clarity of integration will emerge naturally once the relationships between them are understood.
Create the space and willingness to dive deeply — understanding will crystallise through reflection.
For beginning reading materials, click here and read the definition of Systems Thinking. Notice what the discipline is. The session has begun!

Facilitator’s Reflection

“My own journey with Systems Thinking has not followed the path of most practitioners, especially those from engineering backgrounds.
The discipline is not meant to be ‘technical’. It is what allowed me to develop The Onion and work with large-scale systemic interventions at national levels.
All I am doing is sharing that process — as it has grown for me — with you and your team.”

Reference

The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge — Chapters 1–8

Detailed programme outline customized from Modules 3 and 4 of the STLDi programme.

#	Scope of The Session	Date
	PRE-SESSION QUIZ
1	Why the five disciplines? Why not others? What would happen for the organization should the five discipline comes were to come together in their practice as an organization? What happens when they do not? Introduction to the framework of tools, practices and essence of the five disciplines of Learning Organizations: – The Three-legged stool – Introducing the 60 tools of Learning Organization – Structural Tension Model Group Work: Seeing Our World Together Introducing the Discipline of Mental Models Definition
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #1: #1 In the first study Arie de Geus did in his book, “The Living Company”, he discovers on average 90% of organizations do not survive their 40th birthday. In a more recent study, Arie de Geus discovers that that average number of years has changed. What is the new number? Which year was the study conducted? What is the longest surviving organization that you can find in your search? What three things do you notice that had allowed these organizations to grow for as long as they have and to still continue doing so today? Consider what these organizations have had to learn both as individuals, teams within it as well as an organizations so as to grow? What had allowed them to breathe life into their organization? Articulate your thoughts on a one-page response stating your reasons clearly and post on the Google Drive shared folder, marked ‘Team Assignments‘. #2 The disciplines of mental models and team learning allow teams to create generative conversations? What distinct characteristics do these disciplines possess that allow such conversations to happen for the practitioners of the discipline?
2	Review Definition Exercise: Mind Game – Death in the Desert Introducing Ladder of Inference
I/S #I	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #2: #3 Mind Exercise #1 #4 Mind Exercise #2 #5 Mind Exercise #3 #6 Notice one experience of the ladder happening for you.
3	Review and practice the Ladder of Inference Role Play: Urgent Files
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #3: #7 Practice the ladder #8 Practice the ladder #9 Practice the ladder #10 Practice the ladder #11 Deepen the lines of your role play.
4	Introduction to Key Concepts of Organizational Defenses and Skillful Discussion: Theory of Action Espoused vs Theory-in-Use
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #4: #12 Notice one newspaper article that to you suggests both espooused theory and theory-in-use are at play. State your reasons.
5	Defensive Routines Skilled Unawareness Skilled Incompetence Designing Skillful discussion
I/S #II	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #5: #13 #14
6	Practice in Skillful Discussion Testing assumptions and inferences Sharing all relevant information Explain your reasoning and intent
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #6: #15 #16
7	Focus on interests, not positions Combining Advocacy and Inquiry Jointly design next steps and ways to test disagreements
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #7: #17 #18
8	Level and stages of dialogue Designing a Dialogue Session Understanding distinctions in the ways we learn and communicate Case Discussion and Skills Practice Check-in Exercises for deeper listening – Projector and Screen Exercise Fishbowl Undiscussables Exercises on Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry Shell’s Scenario Planning Exercise Four-Player Model Introduction to Human Dynamics
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #8: #19 #20 Facilitation Design Practice
9	Introducing Discipline of Personal Mastery Definition Accessing that Mastery Exercise: Chevreul’s Pendulum, Peacock Feather exercise Story of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. And why not since?
	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #9: #21 Leraning to image and paint your personal vision.
10	DISCOVERING PERSONAL VISIONS DAY 4: UNIT PROJECT PRESENTATION PROGRESS
P/S	LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENT #10: #22 Postmark your personal vision to receive one year from the date.