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Foundations of Relational Communication

For Organizations

Healthy interpersonal relationships create world-class teams that achieve extraordinary results.

You've got a great idea, assembled a fantastic team, and secured any funding you need to bring your project to fruition. Yet, interpersonal conflicts can derail everything you're working towards if you cannot adequately deal with them.

Whether between founders, among leadership and management, or across your entire organization, gaining the knowledge, tools, and skills necessary to communicate effectively about relational issues when they arise is essential to long-term success.

Get the Foundations of Relational Communication training for your organization, and here's what you can expect:

Unlock your team's intrinsic motivation.

There's a depth of dedication your people can only offer of their own volition. Increasing compensation eventually reaches diminishing returns. Clear the way for your colleagues' intrinsic motivation through a culture that empowers autonomy, supports openness, and values differences as creative fuel.

Foster psychological safety.

Team members speak their minds freely and take bolder risks when they feel safe from punishment, rejection, or embarrassment. A team with psychological safety makes higher-quality decisions, is more creative and innovative, and can execute more effectively together.

Uncover and address unresolved issues.

The more interpersonal issues remain unaddressed between team members, the more these obstruct clear and efficient communication channels. The more these issues accumulate, the more energy will be wasted working around it, and the bigger the cumulative backlog the organization will have to address in order to unlock a team's full potential.

Create team synergy and flow.

When members are equipped to smooth out unnecessary friction in their relationships, your team will hum along like a well-honed machine. Getting into group flow together will unleash your collaborative genius like only a few teams can achieve.

Retain your most talented people and keep team morale high.

Unresolved interpersonal issues can make team members withdraw — feeling less motivation, warmth, and goodwill towards one another. When the vibes are off, morale goes down. Conversely, healthy bonds foster a sense of mutual appreciation, loyalty, and friendship.

World class teams get on the same page quickly, respond early as troubles arise, and integrate the value that emerges from vital differences.

They’re able to discern and synthesize all the best of what each individual is bringing to the table.

They see disagreements as sources of creative potential and energy, rather than obstacles to be eliminated.

They understand and respect each other’s human dignity, and can consistently achieve coherence and flow as a group.

Get your team on the same page, once and for all.

Develop shared perspectives, common vocabulary, and reliable protocols for relational communication that will allow your team to resolve their tensions directly and fluidly. As a result, leadership and management will be free to focus on strategic concerns rather than getting mired in mediating conflicts that could have been handled directly by individuals equipped to address them or tolerating the inefficiencies that are the inevitable result of conflict avoidance.

Custom packages are available, our standard workshop includes:

3.5 day onsite training for up to 24 people

Small group practice sessions

Daily homework

A workbook and includes handouts and
lecture notes pre-made for you.

OR

Bring your team to our
taster workshop:

4.5 hour live, either in-person or virtually

Focused coverage of our key relational skills

Interactive practices

Handouts and lecture notes pre-made for you.

Culture-fit will only take your organization so far.

Early on, it’s convenient to assess prospective talent based on a sense of compatible vibes with the existing team. This is hiring for “culture-fit.” As organizations scale up, some founders attempt to maintain culture through codification. Paradoxically, this makes culture both more dogmatic and superficial.

Pressure to conform filters out valuable diversity necessary in today’s marketplace and can alienate the most talented and creative personalities. Authentic and empathic relational communication empowers people to actively participate in creating the kind of culture they want to be a part of.

This program is perfect for organizations that attract risk takers, early adopters, and innovators

Early growth companies

Your organization is beginning to scale, and your headcount is growing. You’re anticipating the need for an approach to interpersonal communication issues, but you haven’t settled on a solution. MetaRelating will equip everyone to handle issues as they arise and prepare them for future culture and people initiatives as you continue growing.

Distributed and hybrid teams

When team members rarely come together in the same physical spaces, it’s more challenging for connections to develop naturally. MetaRelating provides a shared vocabulary that allows folks to hop into relational conversations smoothly and efficiently, cultivating human connection more intentionally as needed.

Mission-centered work

When people invest their heart and soul, they are both driven and conscientious. While this can fuel incredible accomplishments, it can also give rise to heated debates when differences arise. MetaRelating offers a direct approach to handling conflict and gleaning the best from creative differences so your team can get back on mission.

Small and medium-sized organizations

You and your team are pursuing the dream: more flexible creative work with the opportunity for more impact than is typically available at a big company. Gone, along with those cushy perks, is an entire department for HR, with its employee handbook and training curriculum that encroaches on the freedom in your working relationships. You’re on the lookout for a lightweight approach to handling interpersonal issues while avoiding corporate HR's traditional heavy-handed policies.

Self-managed organizations

If your team has taken the plunge into self-management with an approach like Holacracy, Sociocracy, or as a co-op, you already get the value of having teams that are truly empowered and autonomous. You’ve likely identified the need for an approach to the “people issues” that aren’t directly addressed by organizational governance. MetaRelating is designed based on the same principles, like autonomy, accountability, and self-determination.

Decentralization projects

The Web3 world of cryptocurrencies and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) attracts a motley mix of maverick developers and social-change activists. The last thing a decentralization project is looking for is a high-conformance culture. Yet the need to address interpersonal issues is not automatically handled by “decentralization.” MetaRelating provides a lightweight interpersonal protocol layer that allows for issues to be addressed at their point of origin rather than through central management.

When you sign up your organization for Foundations of Relational Communication

Here’s some of what you can expect:

01

What is relational health and how does it make a difference at work?

Learn how relational conversations support healthy relationships

Tuning your awareness to recognize opportunities to address relational tensions

02

How to create opportunities to have relational conversations with people

Learn the key communication skill: “owning experience”

Sharing your experience in a way that has you feel heard and understood

03

How our minds use roles and attributes to simplify social complexity

Cultivate the kind of genuine curiosity that will lead to interesting conversations

How to listen in a way that has others confirm you understand them accurately

04

How to clear the air with someone by sharing and listening in a collaborative way

Balancing dignity and humility as to support effective communication

Learn the crucial role of “shared reality” and how to cultivate it

05

Learn to ask for what you want in a way that has you more likely to get it

How to establish mutual commitments to create the kinds of relationships you like

Offer feedback in a way that has it more likely to make a difference in the future

06

Recognize the signs a relationship may need some repair

How to reliably restore trust after a breakdown

Transform breakdowns into opportunities for a relationship to evolve

07

How all the MetaRelating™ conversational protocols work synergistically

Learn how to develop relationships over time so they have a custom quality

Cultivate the conditions that make relational flow-states more likely

About Your Teacher

Michael Porcelli (“Porch” for short) has worked with organizations large and small, including early-stage startups, multinational technology corporations, and small mission-centered companies. After a career as a software engineer, he turned in a more human-centered direction working as a coach, facilitator, and trainer.

He’s guided many through learning interpersonal communication and facilitating groups as the director of training and faculty development with the Integral Center. He’s worked with teams to improve their relational dynamics, including engineers, educational technologists, AI researchers, trainers in applied rationality, change-makers in the effective altruism movement, and self-managed teams practicing Holacracy.

Through his experience, Michael has come to learn – and to teach – that how we work together is as important as what we’re working on.
testimonials

Don't just take our word for it

Björn Schneider

Holacracy & Agile Coach

Hypoport SE

At the first MetaRelating Training, I realized this was the first time someone had tied together a complete package that shows you how to build good relations. And MetaRelating is a perfect fit with Holacracy.

Brian Robertson

Founding Member & Partner

HolacracyOne

Improve your relational skills, and watch nearly everything else in life and business get easier. With MetaRelating, Holacracy practitioners will find an approach to addressing interpersonal tensions that complement self-management.

Casey Capshaw

Director of Operations

Strata identity

Conflicts WILL happen in high-performing teams. HOW we work with these conflicts determines how efficient and effective we can be as teammates, subordinates, and leaders. I highly recommend MetaRelating for anyone wanting to up their game.

Dr. Chris Cowan

Partner

HolacracyOne

Porch's approach to relational practices with MetaRelating can revolutionize workplace dynamics, leading to enhanced teamwork, increased productivity, and improved employee well-being. I am grateful for the positive impact Porch has had on my life and work.

Kendra Cunov

Practioner, Coach, and Facilitator of Relational,
Embodiment, and Intimacy work

Michael is an exceptional teacher & facilitator. There is no one I would recommend more highly to learn relational communication skills from. Any organization, team, or business would be lucky to have his support in creating their culture.

Kevin O'Melley

Senior Product Lead

Signant Health

Porch has an unmatched ability to help me explore thoughts, emotions, biases, and shame with skill and kindness. I admire how he synthesizes multiple disciplines, perspectives, and learning styles. The resulting product is relatable, effective, and powerful. He’s one of the best teachers I’ve known.

Rachel Brown

Holistic Marketing Strategist

Emergent Voice

I love Michael Porcelli. He's an inspirational facilitator, an artful communicator, and a truly compassionate human being. I'm so grateful for the skills he taught me through MetaRelating and how they help me navigate the complexity of the world.

Robert MacNaughton

Executive Coach and Facilitator

Neuberg Gore & Integral Centered

The underlying issue impeding our progress is the inability to coordinate effectively without our human frailties mucking things up. Michael Porcelli is a leader in the field of relational leadership since before such a field existed. The timing couldn’t be more appropriate for a masterfully designed toolkit built to address the hemorrhaging needs of people trying to get along and work together effectively.

Sara Ness

Founder & Chief Catalyst

Authentic Revolution

Porcelli has managed to distill complex communication practices into a simple framework. If you're looking to improve your communication culture, I don't think you can find a better resource than him.

Tataya Bailey

Founder, Lead Facilitator, Integral Master Coach

Prisma Leadership

MetaRelating training gave me clear and systematic communication practices I could apply immediately with our facilitators and participants who need ways to address relational tensions that inevitably arise while doing deep work together.
read all testimonials

Frequently Asked Questions

What is relational communication?

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Anytime you’re having a conversation with one or more people and the topic of the conversation includes something about your relationship with them. It’s an inevitable part our more significant relationships, and yet most people haven’t learned how to do it well.

Will there be opportunities to interact and practice the communication skills?

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Yes. The weekly live session will include interactive practice sessions. You’ll also have assignments to apply the communication skills in your everyday relationships.

I’m interested in doing together with some folks I know, do you offer group discounts?

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Yes we do! We can do group rates for two or more peoples. Please reach out and connect with us to find out more details.

I’m interested in this for my team, do you offer anything for organizations?

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Yes, indeed. We can deliver our training to your team if you have six or more people you’d like to sign up. We are able to scale up for higher numbers. You can also sign up with teammates for our public trainings with our group rates. Please have a look at our offerings For Organizations.

What is the time commitment for this course?

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We’ve designed the course to accommodate the often demanding schedules of many professionals. We estimate it will take approximately 3-4 hours per week for eight weeks.

There’s a single 2-hour live session per week for interactive practice, Q&A, and group coaching. The weekly learning module includes a multimedia presentation that you can watch on your own time lasting approximately thirty minutes, give or take.

There will be also be weekly exercises and practices, which are easily doable in one hour or less.

What if I have to miss a session?

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We understand life is unpredictable and priorities and other unforeseen circumstances arise. Though we don’t encourage it, you’re welcome to miss a session. You may not get the full value of the course if you miss too many sessions. And we will record the live sessions and distribute them to you and the fellow participants in your course.