People Skills

This is our most popular course… seems like there are lots of difficult people out there! Difficult people can disrupt a workplace and bring productivity to a halt. They inflame dissatisfaction leading to absenteeism and turnover. They add stress to any workplace. Many people are intimidated by difficult people and try to avoid them, which usually makes the disruption worse. This workshop presents frameworks for better understanding what’s behind difficult behaviors and strategies for addressing them.

Trying to prevent people from becoming difficult is the first strategy. Prevention strategies look at new ways of responding to difficult people before they become disruptive. However, prevention is not always enough and intervention strategies are also presented to help people learn how to intervene constructively with a difficult person.

These strategies can be applied when dealing with a wide range of difficult people; from customers to co-workers, direct reports or supervisors. The focus of the workshop is on understanding why people act in a difficult way and how to reduce the negative impact of the difficult person’s behavior. The design can be adapted to build on prior interpersonal skills training the participants have received, if you are looking for an “advanced” program.

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Identify what leads to people acting “difficultly”
2. Develop strategies for changing or managing the behavior of difficult people
3. Develop strategies for defusing emotionally charged situations
4. Develop strategies for managing/changing your own emotional behavior when responding to emotional situations
5. Communicate and problem solve with difficult people to resolve conflicts

Workshop Outline:

• Clarifying a staff person’s job in dealing with a difficult person
• Understanding why people act difficult – what motivates them to act that way?
• Understanding communication styles and identifying your own style
• Critical communication skills – listening and giving feedback
• Conflict management:
  • How to approach and change/manage a difficult person
  • How to defuse and successfully manage an emotional situation
  • How to move towards problem solving
• Case studies / role play / worksheet for a real person on the job
• Handling your own emotions: how you respond to difficult and emotional people and how can you deal with this more effectively?

This can be a full or half-day program. The full day program allows more time for case studies and role play practice so participants can more fully develop their skills. The program can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

This highly interactive program will provide you with practical skills and strategies to prevent and resolve conflicts with a wide range of people; from customers to co-workers to direct reports or supervisors.  You will learn more about what leads to conflict, how to proactively prevent conflicts and defuse tense situations, and how to facilitate problem solving to resolve conflicts.

Workshop Goals:

As a result of this workshop, you will be better able to:

• Identify the underlying causes of conflict
• Understand a range of communication and conflict management styles
• Identify and adapt your individual style for resolving conflict
• Explain how differences in styles impact communication and exacerbate conflict
• Listen strategically to facilitate understanding and prevent conflict
• Differentiate between positions and interests
• Effectively defuse conflicts and problem solve to resolve them

The workshop includes a communication/conflict style self-assessment, small group discussions, interactive exercises, short video clips, case studies, practical strategies to take back to the workplace, and a detailed participant workbook.

Here’s a testimonial from a participant… these strategies really work!

“Last month I participated in your conflict resolution workshop. I just wanted to express my thanks for the information I received.

I recently encountered a brief conflict with someone I would normally describe as aggressive. Perhaps this person is an ‘A or T’ personality. In any event, I would normally react by shutting down (recoil). I do not like conversations that are not calm.

In any event, I straightened up my posture, looked them straight on and stated my reasons for the action. Immediately, they recoiled, agreed, laughed, apologized for the interruption, and left. Conflict over.

As I sit here, I’m still in disbelief. I realize this is a baby step but it’s huge for me. I wanted to reach out and express my gratitude. With hope, I believe dealing with conflict will become easier for me.”

V. L., Supervisor, NYS Agency

 

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

– Epicetus

Listening is the single most important communication skill. It is often neglected in our fast paced work environment. Listening is the key to building positive work relationships and ensuring accurate communication. Turns out there’s not one best way to listen. It depends on the speaker’s communication style. In this program you’ll learn how to listen strategically and adapt your approach for people with diverse communication styles. You’ll learn ways to ensure communication is accurate (even when you’re doing the talking). Improve your listening skills to build two-way communication and be more effective at work and home.

Workshop Goals:

Learn how to improve your listening skills to:

1. Build cooperative relationships at work
2. Give and receive accurate information
3. Solve problems and resolve disagreements
4. Defuse tension and deal with emotional situations
5. Sell your ideas and better see where others are coming from
6. Communicate more effectively with people who have different communication styles

Workshop Outline:

• Identify the benefits and key elements of good listening
• Staying focused – preventing interruptions and internal distractions
• Effective body language and important cultural differences
• Communication styles – gaining an understanding of the four communication styles to improve listening effectiveness
• The role emotions play in a conversation and how to effectively deal with emotions in workplace conversations
• Positive listening responses (active listening)
• Listening responses that inhibit communication
• Elements of effective questions – a key active listening tool
• The power of paraphrasing
• Case study application
• Action planning: apply the lessons learned back at work
• Listening self-assessment. Review self as an active listener, honestly rate skills and identify areas of concern – work in groups to develop strategies to address these issues
• Summary/wrap up – final challenges and questions

This is a half-day program. It can be combined with a session on feedback for a good full day program. It can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

As workplaces become more team and customer oriented, it becomes more and more important for employees to develop strong communication skills that help them build strong work relationships. We’ve all been communicating since we were infants, but we don’t realize how our individual strategies can inadvertently irritate or confuse others.

This workshop will present strategies for building stronger connections, communicating more clearly and effectively, and successfully resolving differences.

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Understand differences in how people communicate
2. Adapt your style to better connect with others
3. Use listening and feedback to improve communication and connections
4. Be a collaborative team player

Workshop Outline:

• Understanding differences in communication styles
• Learning how to adapt to better connect with each of the styles
• Critical communication skills – listening and giving feedback
• Understanding the role of different cultures in communication
• Case studies / role play skill practice

This can be a full or half-day program. The full day program allows more time for case studies and role play practice so participants can more fully develop their skills. The program can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

The need to be able to give and receive constructive feedback is not restricted to supervisors and managers. Especially in today’s team environment, everyone needs to be able to let customers and co-workers know, in a constructive way, how their behaviors impact the workplace. Staff are often intimidated by the thought of giving direct feedback and often offended when they receive feedback that isn’t delivered well. This workshop gives them the skills and strategies needed for one of the keys to successful work relationships.

This workshop can be tailored to supervisors giving feedback to direct reports, team members giving feedback to their co-workers, or customer service representatives giving feedback to customers. Whether you are giving or receiving feedback, the core elements are the same – understanding the two key components of feedback and being able to facilitate the feedback process.

We typically view “constructive” feedback to mean critical, negative feedback. We turn this around and present two kinds of constructive feedback – corrective feedback to help people improve their performance and powerful positive feedback, which is key to successful work relationships and is a lot more than saying “good job”. We eliminate negative, critical feedback – that has no benefit in the workplace (or at home).

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of the workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Give powerful positive feedback to reinforce constructive behavior
2. Give effective corrective feedback to help change negative behavior
3. Use problem solving strategies in conjunction with feedback
4. Adapt your communication to better match the communication styles of the people to whom you are giving feedback
5. Receive feedback constructively

Workshop Outline:

• Understanding the two key components of feedback
• Seeing “negative” feedback in a new (and positive) light
• Understanding communication styles and its impact on feedback
• Practicing techniques for powerful positive feedback
• Designing and delivering corrective feedback
• Sharpening listening skills to support feedback and problem solving
• Strategies to facilitate problem solving
• Practicing corrective feedback
• Tips for constructively receiving feedback, even when it’s poorly delivered

This is a half-day program. It can be combined with a session on listening skills for a good full day program. It can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

Negotiation is a set of skills and strategies that enable people with differing views or goals to find a solution that is mutually satisfactory. When people have conflicting goals in the workplace and this disagreement is not negotiated proactively, it can fester and lead to destructive conflict.

Many people shy away from negotiation because they have no understanding of the negotiation process. Like any process it has some fundamental understandings, core strategies and a set of skills. The goal of any negotiation is a mutually satisfactory outcome. In some cases this is not possible and this workshop also addresses ways to maximize your success where a mutual solution is not in the cards.

Workshop Goals:

By the end of the workshop, you will better be able to:

1. Describe various approaches to negotiation
2. Analyze and describe what leads to conflict/disputes
3. Plan and implement key steps and strategies to promote successful negotiation
4. Use advanced negotiating skills for dealing with difficult situations

Workshop Outline:

• Understand what leads to conflict
• Understand differing negotiation styles
• Learn to adapt your style to better connect with others
• Understanding the difference between positions and interests
• Key strategies for effective negotiation
• Advanced breakthrough strategies for dealing with difficult situations

This can be a full or half-day program. The full day program allow more time for case studies and role play practice so participants can more fully develop their skills. The half-day program does not address the advanced breakthrough strategies. It can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts and eliminating the discussion of negotiation styles.

Most of us try to practice the Golden Rule and treat others the way we want to be treated – with respect and kindness. Much to my amazement… I learned a number of years ago that not everyone wants to be treated with respect and kindness as I understood it! Turns out people have a wide range of preferences for how they want to be treated. So we developed a simple and powerful model to help you better understand these range of preferences – T.E.A.M. Communication Styles®.  We also coined an update for the Golden Rule, called the Golden Rule 2.0®.

This program will help you better understand how others want to be treated, and more importantly will help you adapt your natural style to better connect with others. It’s a simple and powerful concept that turns out to be challenging to successfully implement. This program will give you a solid start on the Golden Rule 2.0® path for communicating with others at work and at home.

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Understand differences in how people prefer to be treated
2. Adapt your approach so people feel respected and treated well
3. Adapt your communication, including listening and feedback strategies, to better connect with others
4. Work effectively with other

Workshop Outline:

• Understanding differences in communication styles
• Seeing the power and challenge of the Golden Rule 2.0®  
• Learning how to adapt your approach
• Critical communication skills – listening and giving feedback
• Case studies / role play skill practice

This can be a full or half-day program. The full day program allows more time for case studies and role play practice so participants can more fully develop their skills. The program can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.