*Note: Participants must attend all three sessions in the series.

Whether they take place at work or home, with your supervisor or peers, crucial conversations can profoundly impact your career, happiness, and future. These conversations lead to strained relationships and poor results when mishandled or ignored. Grounded in decades of social science research, Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue teaches powerful skills to help you speak up quickly, directly and effectively when it matters most, including in moments of disagreement, risk or change.

This course employs the Crucial Conversations Model to present skills that can be applied before, during, and after a Crucial Conversation. By learning how to speak and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), you will begin to surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions, and then act on your decisions with unity and commitment.

Each session is highly engaging, and consists of group activities, pair-shares, and self-reflection work. Learners will have the opportunity to apply these principles and skills to a real-life challenge they may be facing and discuss their plan with a Learning Partner.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify problems contributing to poor results and struggling relationships at all levels of the organization
• Separate facts from emotions and identify what stories you may be telling yourself
• Share strong opinions without shutting down others’ viewpoints
• Spot the warning signs that indicate safety and dialogue are at risk
• Listen and respond effectively to other peoples’ concerns and feedback

Audience

All WashU staff and faculty at any level (Leading Self, Others, or the Organization)

Registration

Advance registration is required. This course consists of a series of 3 in-person sessions at The Link in the Loop on the dates specified. Each session is 4 hours in length. Attendance at all three sessions is required to successfully complete the course. This course requires a minimum enrollment of 12 participants.

Cost

There is a $168.50 fee to attend this workshop, charged to the learner’s default cost center, which covers participant materials, including:

• Crucial Conversations Learner Guide
• The New York Times bestselling book, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High (4th Edition)
• A course completion certificate

If you were to take this course directly from Crucial Learning, the cost would be $1,895. Because WashU has certified trainers to deliver the course, we are able to offer it to WashU employees at a special discounted price, valid for FY27 only.

Course Format

This in-person course is 12 hours total, delivered over three 4-hour sessions on consecutive weeks. Attendance at all three sessions is required to complete the course. The series is offered once per quarter.

FY27 Q2 Session Dates

• October 28, November 4, and November 11, 2026
• 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Virtual)

Note: You must attend all three sessions in the series you choose.

Facilitator

This series will be facilitated by a Certified Trainer in Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue from within the HR Learning and Development team.

Cancellation Policy

To cancel your confirmed registration, drop your registration in Workday Learning.

Cancellations must be made at least five (5) business days before the first session. Please see below for specific information regarding this policy:

• If your enrollment is cancelled before this deadline, the fee approved by your department will be refunded*.
• Cancellations made after this deadline will not receive a refund.
• No-shows will be charged the full course fee*.
• In case of illness or personal emergency, please contact HR-LearnandDevelop@wustl.edu. Exceptions to the cancellation policy may be made on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Learning and Development team. If a participant misses a session due to illness or personal emergency, that session can be made up at a future Crucial Conversations offering. It will be the participant’s responsibility to contact and coordinate this with the Learning and Development Team.
• *If a participant has already received the participant materials and then elects to cancel their registration, their department will be charged for the full cost of the program.
• Human Resources reserves the right to cancel classes or change dates. In the unlikely event that your training course does not take place or has changed, you will be notified via e-mail, and we will make every effort to reschedule the course.

All programs are subject to change.