We were lucky to have Sarah Stokes and Shari Elle lead us through an interactive session on moving from conflict to co-creation at SydDT #123 on Thursday night. How to structure hard conversations with nonviolent communication.
So many great insights with time to reflect and practice a powerful framework…
- Observations. Observing what’s happening without judgement
- Feelings. Naming how we’re feeling about it with self-compassion – and without falling into the trap of faux feelings
- Needs. Understanding what matters to each of the people in the interaction – and what we each need
- Request/how might we. Proposing actions that contribute to the need and are focused on what we DO want. There was also the critical point that we need to be ok if we get a “no” to our request… and that this points back to another need to identify
I learnt a lot and the reflection brought a few things into focus with plenty of things I’ll put into action. Thanks again Stokesy and Shari, I loved it!
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such a fun night. Couldn’t make it or just want to relive it? Watch it now.
Thanks to Dominika Strumińska who did the awesome graphic recording this month. This initiative is a collaboration with Shapeshifters and their Think Visual! meetup community. SydDT is a friendly environment for people to practice their live graphic recording skills.
A massive thanks to Sasha Pometko and Frankie Balfour from Atlassian, Alan Chen and Diana Ayoub from Shapeshifters, and Dynamic4 for making it all happen.
Our next meetup on Thursday, 12 March is our International Women’s Day event – SydDT #124: IWD. Building Positive Change in Our Workplaces & Society with Emm Carter & Catherine Fitzpatrick. Kate Linton and Lucas Mara are the lead organisers for this one.
Meetup Announcement
Thursday, 12 February 2026 @ 6pm. Atlassian, Sydney
We’re lucky to have Sarah Stokes and Shari Elle kicking off SydDT for 2026 with a workshop on moving from conflict to co-creation… how to structure hard conversations with nonviolent communication.
This will be a practical workshop-style session on using authentic communication methods to navigate conflict and the difficult situations we face as designers. Things like saying no to a feature request, receiving pushback on design implementation, and the age-old speed vs quality conversations.
In the workshop you’ll get to use a simple, repeatable process for turning difficult conversations into opportunities for deeper connection and collective problem-solving.
Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the design thinking community. New members are welcome!
Speakers
Sarah Stokes
Design Leader, Atlassian
Sarah is a Design Leader at Atlassian with over 20 years of experience in digital and service design. She’s spent her career building design teams, coaching people to do their best work, and facilitating the kind of strategic thinking that leads to products customers actually love.
As a qualified coach, she’s genuinely invested in helping both individuals and teams grow. Sarah leads teams focused on creating products and services that make a real difference for the people who use them.
Shari Elle
Founder, The Communication Group
Shari Elle works with purpose-driven leaders who know their real edge is navigating human friction while creating better futures.
Founder of The Living Work and a globally recognised expert in leadership and human relationships, she helps leaders stay grounded, relational, and effective in moments of tension.
With 25+ years experience, Shari has supported over 10,000 people and organisations including CSIRO, CommBank, PwC, and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment to turn conflict into clarity and co-creation.
Co-founder of Nonviolent Communication in Australia, she integrates NVC with contemporary leadership and design practice.
Event Sponsors
This event is brought to you by Atlassian, Sh8peshifters, and Dynamic4.
We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.
