Dave Collins

TEC Canada Speaker | Founder & CEO – Oak and Reeds | Vistage Speaker

Dave Collins is the Founder and CEO of Oak and Reeds, a training consultancy that helps clients develop essential communication skills for both work and life through interactive content. Over the past eight years, Dave has worked with global brands like Nike, Airbus, Salesforce, TikTok, and Google, training leaders on how to collaborate, manage, and communicate more effectively. With a dual degree in communication and economics from Northwestern University, Dave now resides outside of Oakland, CA with his wife and son.

Dave Collins

TEC Canada Speaker | Founder & CEO – Oak and Reeds | Vistage Speaker

Dave is the Founder and CEO of Oak and Reeds, a training consultancy that helps clients develop essential communication skills for both work and life through interactive content. Over the past eight years, Dave has worked with global brands like Nike, Airbus, Salesforce, TikTok, and Google, training leaders on how to collaborate, manage, and communicate more effectively. With a dual degree in communication and economics from Northwestern University, Dave now resides outside of Oakland, CA with his wife and son.

Dave’s Topics

Change is inevitable, and successful professionals must learn to navigate challenges and opportunities with confidence. In this workshop, emerging leaders will gain the tools needed to lead teams through uncertain situations and adapt to change in creative ways. Focusing on critical change planning and execution, participants will learn how to communicate upcoming changes effectively to colleagues and direct reports. The session will also equip leaders with skills to identify and address behaviors indicating how individuals are coping with change, allowing them to provide tailored support and guide others through the “change curve” to ensure success.

While many shy away from conflict, working through disagreements collaboratively can enhance productivity and foster personal growth. In this workshop, participants will learn practical techniques for navigating conflict in hybrid and remote settings, focusing on building self-awareness of conflict tendencies and adapting to the situation at hand. The session will provide strategies for assessing conflict scenarios and making strategic decisions to resolve issues effectively, all while strengthening trust and communication among remote colleagues.

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn and apply the proven “GROW Model” for coaching, a simple yet effective method to help colleagues and direct reports address challenges. The session will cover essential communication skills for effective coaching and offer opportunities to practice these techniques. Participants will engage in coaching exercises, where they can coach, be coached, and observe the model in action, while receiving real-time feedback to refine their approach and apply the tools to real-life scenarios.

In this interactive virtual workshop, you’ll learn essential management tools to navigate the challenges of distributed teams and avoid common communication pitfalls. With remote work often leading to communication overload, we’ll explore best practices for setting clear virtual collaboration expectations and offer practical discussion guides to help you lead your teams in establishing new communication norms. This session aims to turn remote work into a period of personal growth and team cohesion, rather than isolation, by ensuring your team stays connected and engaged.

Have you heard of “Yes, and”? This concept from comedic improvisation is a powerful tool for unlocking your team’s creative potential. Improv, the practice of unplanned interaction, is a skill we all use daily—yet we rarely have a script to follow in the workplace. In this high-energy workshop, we’ll explore how improvisation can boost creativity and collaboration, especially in remote and distributed teams. You’ll learn simple, practical tools to enhance virtual teamwork, spark innovation, and bring more excitement and energy to your collaborative efforts.

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