COACHING AND COUNSELLING

AIMS

To help participants, especially managers, to enhance their ability to coach, give feedback and support others to improve performance.

KEY FEATURES / TOPICS

This workshop focuses in a practical way on helping managers to learn the key skills involved in coaching others and to practise these skills so they have the confidence to apply them. Specially it covers: The Basic Rules of Coaching

• Agreeing standards of achievement
• Measuring and Agreeing actual performance
• Influencing Skills
• Effective Feedback giving

The Situations Where Coaching is Appropriate

• Differing styles - the Situational Leadership model

The workshop enables participants to practise the skills using Role plays and CCTV. Finally participants agree action plans for specific situations back at work.

Linked Workshops

Performance Management, People Skills.

DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH PEOPLE

AIMS

To help individuals to communicate and deal more effectively with others by understanding themselves and their preferences first and then learning about different styles and preferences.  It is a base learning block for People Managers as well as individuals who need to work with others in their jobs.

KEY FEATURES / TOPICS

Using Myers-Briggs typology individuals are given  an insight into how they and others deal with the world around them.  Resulting behaviours are examined and effective ways of dealing with others suggested. This leads to a realisation of the need for differing communication styles.  The skills needed for effective communication - both Receptive and Expressive are explained and practised.  This covers the skills of Active Listening and Assertiveness. A key feature of the workshop is the practical use of these skills using exercises, role plays and CCTV.

Linked Workshops

Team Building and Handling Customers Effectively

INTERVIEWING SKILLS

AIMS

To teach managers the skills of interviewing and enable them to practise them in a variety of situations, e.g., Recruitment, Disciplinary, Problem Solving, Appraisal, Grievance and Counselling.

KEY FEATURES / TOPICS

Participants are taught the skills needed in any interview situation - Listening, Questioning, Empathy Building etc. Using external candidates as well as role plays and CCTV, participants practise the application of these skills: Recruitment - Preparing a Job and Person Specification - Preparing interview questions - Conducting the interview - with feedback from the external "guinea pigs" Appraisal - Using the company's actual appraisal documentation, participants’ role play Problem Solving, Discipline, Grievance and Counselling, participants role play various situations and are given group and video feedback.

Linked Workshops

People Skills, Coaching and Counselling, Negotiating and Influencing

NEGOTIATING AND INFLUENCING

AIM

To give participants the skills to negotiate both externally with customers and suppliers and internally with other departments and Company personnel.  This develops these useful skills in those who would not normally regard themselves as sales people but who do have important supplier/customer relationships.

KEY FEATURES / TOPICS

This Workshop is very practical using role plays, video recording and feedback and ideally actual real life Company specific negotiation situation. Topics include:

• Active listening skills
• Assertiveness - especially handling criticism, aggression and submissive behaviour
• Influencing Skills
• Resolving Conflict
• Negotiation Skills
  • Planning
  • Discussing
  • Proposing
  • Bargaining
  • Closing

Linked Workshops

Dealing Effectively with People, Assertiveness

PRESENTATION SKILLS

AIM

To develop effective individual presentation styles, and the skills of preparing and giving presentations.  Participants will develop self-confidence and the skills of:

• Being able to 'read an audience'
• Deliver messages appropriately
• Handling difficult audiences

KEY FEATURES / TOPICS

The workshop is very practically based, using CCTV - each participant having their own video tape to take away to assist in their continued development. Initially participants give a short presentation which is recorded.  The six stages of presenting are taught:

• Clarifying the Objective
• Planning the Content
• Preparing the Material
• Rehearsing
• Presenting
• Evaluating

Further presentations are made with video and group feedback and coaching.  Other topics covered are Body Language, Breathing and Relating to your Audience.  Videos are shown to reinforce these points. Finally the participants rehearse, with coaching, and make prepared presentations which are recorded. Linked Workshops

People Skills

PSYCHOLOGICAL SELLING

AIM

To increase the effectiveness of sales people by helping them to understand differing personalities of 'their Customers' and being able to modify their selling styles to suit each customer. KEY FEATURES / TOPICS This workshop is designed for sales people who have the basic selling skills gained through Basic Selling Skills Training

• Using Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, participants are introduced to the needs of their own and of different personality types.
• They are helped to understand how to recognise the different 'types' of customers.
• Through role plays they learn how to sell to different types in order to be most effective.
• They identify the different types within the actual customer base and set out action plans to deal with them.
• It is useful to have a half to one day follow up 3-6 months later to review their action plans, their success rate at typing their customers and the resultant sales success rate.

Linked Workshops

People Skills, Negotiation and Influencing Skills

Developing people Skills A Case Study: Communication Skills for an International Government Agency Adept ran a five day Communication Skills programme for a UK Government Agency in the country they were working with. The workshop covered a range of communication skills with the purpose of building confidence and focus in dealing with others. It was an intensive programme which enabled individual participants’ communication skills to be diagnosed and developed. A wide variety of exercises, questionnaires and practice sessions was used including one to one coaching and the use of interpersonal questionnaires such as the FIRO-B.  The key aims of the programme were to help individuals understand how they communicated with others and then build their confidence in a whole range of communication areas. For example some of the content covered areas such as:

• Communication Styles
• Listening Skills
• Meeting and Facilitation Skills
• Assertiveness Techniques including clarity in giving key messages, dealing with criticism , saying no when appropriate and creating a culture of individual respect
• Conflict Handling and different Styles
• Influencing Skills including the use of Cognitive Biases
• Presentation Skills
• Using Body Language effectively

As we said it was a very intensive week which some delegates found took them way out of the comfort zone. The benefits were enormous. On an individual level people agreed that the programme had given them confidence in working with others, saying what they meant and listening. As a result their individual satisfaction went up and to a far greater extent their level of performance. Work became easier and people were more effective as clearer communication meant that they knew what was expected of them and could also let others know what they needed. The misunderstandings and personal complaining went down. On a team and organizational level the output of the agency was improved and very strongly linked to this was their reputation in terms of their communication with their partners. Obviously more is needed to deliver great performance such as clear strategy and effective systems but focusing on communication as they did enabled these areas to be looked at and improved as well.