Tips of the week

Stress & Time Management –

Stress occurs when situations control you instead of you controlling them.

Four ideas to increase success in stress – time management include:

Use helpful self-talk to control anger. Ask yourself:

1. Is this worth getting angry about?
2. Is getting angry going to help?
3. Will this be important in two years, two months, two hours?
4. What would a calm person do?

Find out how our Toronto based time management skills training and other communications skills and leadership courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism.

Our time management skills training workshop provides the time management skills essential zero in on areas that will provide the greatest return.  Participants develop the methods to step out of the states of overwhelm, frustration, disorder, anxiety and lack of control into the state of mastery and satisfaction.

Stress Management –

Get control of how you react to events. You can always choose calm over chaos. Reacting without planning can trigger excessive stress.

Eight ideas to increase success in stress management include:

1. Look for the sources of stress in your job and personal life and minimize them.
2. Increase ability to cope with stress that can’t be eliminated… rest, exercise, nutrition.
3. Avoid burn-out because of too much stress
4. Avoid rust-out because of too little stress
5. Determine the optimum number of hours you’re capable of working.
6. Balance your life; find time for your physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual well-being
7. Eliminate time wasters.

Find out how our Toronto based time management skills training and other communications skills and leadership courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism.

Our time management skills training workshop provides the time management skills essential zero in on areas that will provide the greatest return.  Participants develop the methods to step out of the states of overwhelm, frustration, disorder, anxiety and lack of control into the state of mastery and satisfaction.

Leadership –

Staying Professional: Un-emotional & Problem –Solving Oriented

We choose how we can respond to challenging situations. In difficult situations we may respond with anger or frustration if we are not practicing professionalism. Our goal is to consistently deal with challenging situations in a calm, productive manner.

Six ideas to increase success in staying unemotional problem–solving oriented include:

1. Recognize your body’s physical warning signals that remaining unemotional will require extra effort, i.e. a tightness in your neck or shoulders or chest or  hands or stomach;  a flush in your face or  body
2. Take a step back mentally.  See the bigger picture.  Will this be important a week or a month from now?
3. Take a step back physically.  Reduce the extra adrenaline through movement.
4.  Buy time.  Say:    “I need to consider this.”   or  “I need to think this through.”   or  “I want to give this some thought”
5.  Anticipate your frustration with repeat offenders and plan your reaction to them.
6. Smile and tell yourself “I don’t sweat the small stuff”… and smile again.

Our leadership skills training workshop provides the skills for performing positively and clearly to enhance your career and personal success.

Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based leadership skills training and other management skills and communication courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism.

Business Writing –

Improve your results by improving your business writing skills!

Eight ideas to increase your success business writing include:

1. Say less. Be brief. Get to the point quickly.
2. Avoid jargon – people skip words they don’t understand.
3. Write once; edit twice. Proofread after you write, and then later.
4. Pay careful attention to names and numbers.
5. Save samples/templates.
6. Skip formality but master professionalism.
7. Motivate your reader by providing benefits
8. End with a statement or the action you want the reader to take.

Our Toronto based business writing skills workshop provides strategies and techniques to sharpen your business writing skills.

Contact us today to find out how our business writing skills training and other communications skills courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism. Our public workshops take place in Toronto.

Communication Skills –

You may need to be more sensitive when you disagree with your boss or a client or a team member in a team meeting

Six ideas to increase your success in disagreeing diplomatically include:

1. Start by restating or paraphrasing what you believe the other person has said. This will demonstrate your understanding.
2. Keep a neutral tone and positive body language.
3. Check for their agreement… if they don’t verbalize their agreement, are they nodding?
4. Keep restating until you get their agreement.
5. Value their position, feelings or thoughts by outlining what you believe is the worth of their position. “I can see the value in…”
6. Always add however… avoid using “but”.
7. Finally present your differing views, opinions or alternate suggestions.

Our Toronto based communication skills training course provides the communication skills for performing positively and clearly to enhance your career and personal success.

We can help you build your professionalism! Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based communication skills training courses and other management skills and leadership seminars and workshops.

Leadership Skills –

The most common feedback is no feedback! Let people know how they’re doing and what you need.

Five ideas to increase success with providing effective feedback include:

1. Stick to facts! Make your feedback neutral, free of value judgments.
2. Provide feedback as quickly as possible.
3. Provide feedback often.  Try to give positive feedback everyday!
4. Focus on important areas of performance.
5. Ensure that feedback is accurate, concise and easy understand.

Our leadership skills training workshop provides the skills for performing positively and clearly to enhance your career and personal success.

Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based leadership skills training and other management skills and communication courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism.

Communication Skills

Communication is personal!

Three ideas to increase communication skills include:

1. Use people’s by name at least once in any interaction (face-to-face, written, telephone)
2. Try to refer to a personal situation
3. Make people feel good about themselves; be liberal with compliments Our Toronto based communication skills training course provides the communication skills for performing positively and clearly to enhance your career and personal success.

We can help you build your professionalism! Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based communication skills training courses and other management skills and leadership seminars and workshops.

Assertiveness Skills –

Being assertive means being respectful, being realistic, and being responsible.

It’s a learned communication skill that will minimize conflict, build your confidence and greatly improve relationships Six tips to help you become to be more assertive.

1. Listen with empathy. Try to understand the other person’s point of view.
2. Agree to disagree periodically. Having a different point of view after discussion is acceptable.
3. Stay calm. Relax your face; speak in your normal un-emotional voice.
4. Use a problem-solving approach. Work to see the other person as your friend not your enemy. Think win/win
5. Use ‘I’ language. Use statements that include ‘I’ e.g. ‘I think’ or ‘I feel’; try to eliminate “You” from your statements.
6. Practice patience… work at lengthening your fuse.

Our Toronto based assertiveness skills training workshop provides the assertiveness skills essential to getting your ideas, plans and feelings across with confidence and conviction.

Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based assertiveness skills training and other communications skills courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism

Communication Skills – Be Positive –

Be the captain of your thoughts! Remember, you are what you think.  While we may have negative thoughts because it’s part of our nature, the faster you switch the, to positive thoughts the better!

Positive thinking is proven to lead to fewer problems, less stress, improved health and greater success.

Own your thinking! Make it work for you!. Find and focus on positive factors that do exist.

Four ideas to increase success with overcoming negativity include:

1. Change: “I want to… but… “       To:  I want to… and…
2. Change: “I can’t… because…”                To: “I won’t… because…”
3. Change: “If it weren’t for… I would…”      To: “I won’t… because…”
4. Change: “I have to… because…”            To: “I choose to… because…”

Our Toronto based communication skills training course provides the communication skills for performing positively and clearly to enhance your career and personal success.

We can help you build your professionalism! Contact us today to find out how our Toronto based communication skills training courses and other management skills and leadership seminars and workshops.

Time Management –

Whenever we overcommit we increase our increase level of stress and the potential problems related to the quality or our work, quantity we can deliver and deadlines we can meet..

Seven reasons you may overcommit include:

• Wanting to impress people
• Feeling obligated
• Under estimating the time required to complete a tack
• Over-estimating the time you can devote
• Preferring to start projects more than finish them
• Having difficulty saying no
• Earning money/commission based on your productivity

Our time management skills training workshop provides the time management skills essential zero in on areas that will provide the greatest return.  Participants develop the methods to step out of the states of overwhelm, frustration, disorder, anxiety and lack of control into the state of mastery and satisfaction.

Find out how our Toronto based time management skills training and other communications skills and leadership courses and workshops can help you build your professionalism.