PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
Art of the Cocktail: Business Development in the Social Arena
Managing the impression you make and maximizing your ‘like-ability’ are the keys to making every networking opportunity consistently profitable. First impressions really are important. The way you greet people can set the tone for the entire interaction that follows. If you make a poor initial impression, you may spend the rest of your time overcoming it.
Meet and mingle with your colleagues while you learn from the pros. Brush up on the protocols of introductions, business card exchange, conversation management, and more. Learn the secrets to business development through rapport building.
We start with a 15 minute presentation covering the basics of:
- Emotional connection
- Authentic Communication in the Social Arena
- Approaching groups
- Introductions: yourself and others
- Cocktail etiquette
After this, we’ll list the issues that often cause confusion and discomfort for professionals attending social functions on the PowerPoint for participants to consider. Typical issues include, leaving groups, talking with client’s spouse, coping with criticism, handling gossip, transitioning to business talk, business card exchange, and many, many more.
Grace Under Pressure: Professional Protocols
We all need to be aware of how our behaviour is being viewed by others, especially clients. It’s no secret that clients and colleagues are using the behaviour they see to form their lasting impressions of you. Feel comfortable in conveying your best self by learning the why, when, where, and how of professional protocols. These “rules” of office behaviour are not restrictive; in fact quite the opposite is true. Knowing what the expectations are, and knowing how to meet them provides a foundation of confidence and composure that enables personal expression without the worry of: “am I doing this right.”
Performance Networking: Galvanizing Professional Support
Networking is the set of communication skills required to build relationships, inform others, and learn from and about co-workers and clients. Managing the impression you make and maximizing your ‘like-ability’ are the keys to making every networking opportunity consistently profitable. First impressions really are important. The way you greet people can set the tone for the entire interaction that follows. If you make a poor initial impression, you may spend the rest of your time overcoming it. In this fun and interactive workshop you will be given tips on putting your best foot forward with the right handshake, effective introductions, and presenting and requesting business cards with confidence. You’ll learn the differences of interacting in a large group venue verses the requirements of a more intimate setting. You’ll master the principles of impression management by exploring perceptual tendencies, the ins-and-outs of small talk, and the subtleties of office diplomacy.
Professional Image: The Psychology of Perception
A universal perceptual tendency is to “judge a book by its cover”. We form lasting opinions based on what we see. In fact, over half of the impression you convey to others is based on appearance. The look of credibility, composure and professionalism must accompany the message for an audience or client to accept it. You must be believed to be heard, and we believe what we see.
Be sure to send the full message by visually presenting your professional credibility. This seminar is about attaining a professional presence that in all circumstances speaks well of you. Learn how your body language, dress and personal style impact the decisions others make of you and your ideas.
Professional Presence: Communicating Confidence
To be self-confident in professional and social situations is a feeling of freedom- freedom to be you. To be encumbered by concerns of how you look, how you act, what to say, how to say it, etc. constrains your willingness to get involved, to be creative, to be assertive, ultimately to be yourself. This workshop takes the pressure off by giving you the easy to implement strategies of looking your best, conversing with confidence, and dining with grace. Learn how to network for results, listen to create goodwill, and make introductions with flair. Knowing you’re making the right impression with ease and comfort provides you with the psychological and emotional space to be yourself. This workshop is designed by choosing elements from our other full day workshops to create a customized experience for participants.
PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS
Attitude: The Power of Choice in Your Life
Take charge of your attitude and take charge of your life with new strategies for beating negativity, eliminating doubts, and setting positive goals. Understand the power of thought, and its impact on prompting emotion. Recognize that thoughts are a choice, and that the right choice leads to better decisions and better outcomes.
Being Effective through Assertive Communication
Are you submissive, aggressive or assertive? Find out where you fit and why assertiveness is the best way to achieve your goals. Learn the words to use, the secrets of body language, and how to interpret other’s behaviour to make positive assertiveness a productive force in your life.
Being Your Best: Dealing with Difficult Situations
Interactions at work with colleagues, supervisors, and technicians don’t always go as smoothly as we’d like. One’s ability to maintain control in difficult to control situations is the hallmark of excellent communication’s ability. Learn to communicate via email and telephone to promote cooperation and effectively resolve issues that are deemed difficult. Recognize that conflicts will happen in the workplace, our goal therefore is to be at our best when it’s most required of us. Learn to use your voice and rapport building skills to reduce tension, deal with emotion, and make for a more stress free professional life.
To be at our best when we most need to be requires having the confidence and competence at recognizing potential problems and circumventing them before they escalate. Being assertive in clarifying expectations early in the engagement is essential.
This highly regarded course uncovers the often hidden motivations of why we act the way we do, and provides practical, easy to implement, strategies to turn negatives into positives and strengthen interpersonal relationships. We’ll explore the typical difficult interactions of your workplace and role play approaches that lead to improved outcomes.
Conversation Management: Attaining Goals Protecting Climates
Conversing with your clients at the office, a conference, the golf club, or any other venue is always an opportunity to create and strengthen the relationship, or to inadvertently weaken it. It’s the conversations we have that build relationships. Understanding the ingredients of good conversation, knowing what to say and when, directing and redirecting the interaction, and being capable when it becomes difficult, are the hallmarks of excellent conversation management. In this entertaining and interactive session we’ll explore a pragmatic model of interpersonal effectiveness. We’ll increase our self-awareness, capitalize on the perceptual tendencies of others, and appreciate talk that includes and excludes. We’ll delve into the important elements of the conversational process: attitude, attendance and contribution. You’ll be given tips on putting your best foot forward, preventing conversational problems, and repairing interactions that do go astray.
Diversity in Canadian Business: Emotional Intelligence at Work
Canada is becoming the most diverse country in the world. Meeting customer needs and providing quality service for this changing customer base is the biggest challenge facing the Canadian Service Industry. Customers who feel employees are indifferent to their needs will simply go elsewhere. Organizations that understand these new customers will be able to strategically align products and service communication to build strong relationships while cultivating customer loyalty and repeat business. The key to this is in our ability to adapt our sales communication to the comfort level and expectations of different cultures, different ages, different sexes, and different personalities. This workshop provides participants with the insights and practice required to make every customer interaction a personal and professional triumph.
Emotional Intelligence: “Most Predictive Trait of Success”
Join us for an illuminating program to view with new eyes the essentials of intercultural communication. Find out what the Harvard Business Review cited as the single most significant skill leading to career success. Leave with a new appreciation for generational differences and how we can thrive by tapping into our strengths.
Listening: The Emotional Power of Being Good
Learn how to expand your listening capabilities and become a more effective communicator. Listening is a learned skill that typically has been ignored as such; consequently, it’s our worst communication skill. Learn to take in greater amount of information, hear what’s not being said, and build relationships in this powerful session.
Social Styles: Relational Communication Skills for Professionals
This highly successful seminar brings participants to new insights about themselves, their colleagues, and their customers. Learn to assess the interpersonal style of others, and learn how to maximize your communication approach to enhance effectiveness and persuasiveness.
Woman Winning in the Old Boys’ Club
Appreciating gender communication differences, and separating gender stereotypes from reality is an important step to feeling comfortable in traditionally male, or female, dominated networking situations. Managing the impression you make and maximizing your ‘like-ability’ are the keys to making every networking opportunity consistently profitable regardless of gender disparities. Appreciate how gender stereotypes and misconceptions can limit our ability to professionally connect with others. Learn to maximize our gender particular strengths to enhance our professional interactions in and out of the office.
Workplace Climate: Office Diplomacy at Work
Unlike the weather, we control the communication climate in which we work. It’s up to us to decide if it’s going to be positive and confirming or negative and pessimistic.
Join us for an enlightening look at the control we have over our workplace environment.
- Delve into the psychology of our workplace behaviours and its influence on others.
- Understand the importance of creating a supportive workplace climate.
- Use language that fosters supportiveness rather than defensiveness.
- Listen as a tool to build goodwill.
We can’t control the weather, but we can create a workplace climate which respects privacy, fosters cohesion, and enhances professionalism.
