Round Tables are designed to overcome the shortcomings of traditional management development, through conferences, trade shows and consultancy;

1. Round Tables address the complex issues of management and leadership. 
Most professional development activities deal with elementary concepts and skills presented in generic formats, this may be appropriate for learning specific skills, such as computer applications. It may also be useful for mid or entry-level employees, however, for senior professionals "training" is often a waste of time and money.

2. Round Tables provide continuous support for your efforts to improve yourself and your organisation.
Most professional development consists of either a workshop or seminar. You go, you sit, you listen, and you leave without any opportunity for discussion, fine tuning to your situation or follow-up. Back at the office you return to the 'to do' list that has accumulated while you were away and your good intentions slip away.

A Round Table presents you with new ideas, methods and tools; then engages you in a discussion with your peers to tailor these to your situation. Then at the next session you will be asked, 'What happened? How did it go? Can we provide any more help?'

This continuous, sustained support enables and accelerates implementation.

3. Round Tables are a forum for dialogue about real and immediate concerns. 
Usually professional development occurs in large groups, which offers little opportunity for participants to talk about and grapple with the very real challenges they currently face. They work on hypothetical cases, which are devoid of the complexities and multiple dimensions of reality.

Participants are left on their own after they return to work to apply the theoretical concepts to their actual circumstances.

4. Round Tables create a supportive and confidential environment where you can be honest.
Even when a professional development activity is designed to address real-life problems, participants usually are reluctant to be completely open about their situation.

In public settings people want to put a positive face on themselves and their organisations. This seriously hampers the ability to deeply understand and address the causes of problems.

Round Tables are structured and chaired to foster absolute confidentiality, extremely high trust and deeply honest conversations.

Some entities go by the label "round table," but fail to deliver the benefits described below.

A recurring meeting of executives, whatever it is called, will not in itself lead to new insights, practical solutions and effective implementation to real problems. A Round Table must be designed and managed with care, to enable members to build trusting relationships, and to bring "out of the box" thinking to the group. This requires a skilled facilitator.

Without careful steering, a round table will lose its energy and direction. Either it will wither as members lose interest, or it will evolve into a pleasant but not very effective social gathering.

By bringing together a small group of high-level professionals, in a supportive and confidential environment, over a period of years Round Tables have a real impact on the participants and their organizations.

To see if you would benefit from a Round Table click here