Tips of the week

Communication Skills

Disagreeing with a person you report to or a client is a challenging process.

Six ideas to increase your success in disagreeing diplomatically include:

1. Before you disagree, restate or paraphrase what you believe the other person has said to demonstrate your understanding. Do this with a neutral tone and positive body language.

2. Check for their agreement… if they don’t verbalize their agreement, are they nodding?

3. If they don’t agree, keep restating until they do.

4. Acknowledge that you understand their position, feelings or thoughts by outlining what you believe is the value in the suggestion. “I can see the value in…”

5. Add however… do not use “but”.

6. Then present your 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

Five ideas to increase success with providing effective feedback include:

1. Make your feedback neutral, free of value judgments.  Stick to facts.
2. Provide feedback as soon as possible.
3. Provide feedback frequently.  Like a vitamin pill, use the following guide: one positive feedback per person per day.
4. Focus on significant issues.
5. Be certain feedback is accurate, concise and readily usable.

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 Skill

Make it personal!

Three ideas to increase communication rapport include:

1. Address people by name at least once in any interaction (face-to-face, written, telephone)
2. Try to refer to a situation that is personal to the other person
3. Compliment people whenever possible

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 looking after your needs by expressing want, feel or believe in a way that’s respectful of others. It’s a communication skill that can reduce conflict, build your self-confidence and improve relationships

Here are six tips to help you learn 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

You are what you think.  While everyone has negative thoughts; it’s part of being human, you can be a captive or a captain of your thoughts

The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you have.  A positive approach results in fewer problems, less stress, improved health and greater success.

We own our thinking and we can make it work for us.  The key is to focus on positive factors that 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

Why do you overcommit?  Overcommitting creates stress and potential problems with quality, quantity and delivery.

One idea to increase your success in managing your time is to identify your patterns.   

Do you take on too much because you:

• Want to impress people
• Feel obligated
• Under estimate the time required to complete a tack
• Over-estimate the time you can devote
• Like to start project more than finish them
• Have difficulty saying no
• Earn based on your production

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.

Leadership

Creating a motivational climate is the most challenging aspect of leadership.

Seven of the most respected leadership qualities include:

• Honesty
• Decisiveness
• Leading by example
• Delegating
• Recognizing others
• Being objective
• Tolerating disagreement.

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.

Time Management – Interruptions

The person who interrupts you most often in a day can be… you.

Three ideas to increase your success in minimizing interrupting yourself include:

1. De-clutter your work space.
2. Prepare before you start; gather all your required materials, equipment etc.
3. Commit to finish whatever you start.

Our time management skills training workshop provides the time management skills essential zero in on the 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.

Leadership Skills

Turning less than desirable performance to acceptable and acceptable performance to superior performance is a most satisfying experience for anyone who acts in a leadership capacity.

Four ideas to increase success with coaching include:

1.  Demonstrate the most respected leadership qualities: honesty; decisiveness; leading by example; delegating; recognizing others; being objective; tolerating disagreement.

2.   When providing feedback, capture “real” behaviour.   Focus on facts; not judgments.

3.  Ask… don’t tell.  Hold them responsible for solutions to performance problems. Ask:  Is there a reason?  Is there an explanation?

4.  Focus on the future, not the past. Ask, “What can be done to fix it for the future?”

Our Toronto based 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.

Time Management

Effective time management leads to success!  Now is the best time to commit to mastering it.  You can learn how to manage your time and be more organized.

Three ideas to increase success with Time Management include:

1. Only use one time management calendar.
2. Keep your calendar assessable at all times.
3. Use post its for activities that are repeated weekly or monthly.

Our time management skills training workshop provides the time management skills essential to zero in on the 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.

Contact us today to find out how our time management training skills course and other communications skills and leadership training programs and workshops can help you build your professionalism.  Our public workshops take place in Toronto.