Courses Available

Dealing with Difficult People

This presentation / keynote is designed to deliver an understanding of why difficult people act as they do and to provide tools for addressing those difficult situations. When we encounter a reasonable person acting unreasonably, there are several highly effective strategies for restoring the relationship to a productive and functional state. This presentation will offer the tools to control our own emotional responses and also show ways in which we can manage the other person effectively. If you have frequent interactions with difficult people, this presentation is for you. This session contains the following material:

Introduction and exploration of the concept of conflict
Three components of most conflicts
Strategies to maintain professionalism in the face a difficult situation
Active listening skills
Strategies for defusing the highly agitated person

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will leave with a deeper understanding of conflict; how and why it occurs within our business and interpersonal relationships. Additionally, a series of tools, tactics and strategies will be provided which will serve to enhance confidence when faced with challenging engagements. This will include a specific strategy for defusing or de-escalating an angry or agitated person.

High Pressure Negotiation: The Next Level

Any human interaction in which at least one of the parties has an “agenda” can be considered a “negotiation”. We negotiate during our everyday engagements; either business-related or in our personal situations and not all negotiations are limited to the boardroom. This presentation / keynote is designed to provide an insight into how people can be more effective during everyday negotiations.

Participants will learn how to manage the negotiation process and manage emotions during difficult interactions. This session will offer a model to prepare for a negotiation and will provide a structured process to follow to ensure the best results possible.

The presentation / keynote contains the following concepts:

The struggle we often experience between meeting our substantive needs in the negotiation while maintaining or improving the working relationship
Traditional “Positional Bargaining” compared with the more effective “Interest Based Negotiation”
Strategies for “creating value” for both sides during the negotiation
Elements contained within the negotiation
This workshop also provides a number of interactive scenarios that allow participants an opportunity to apply the skills learned during the early stages of the workshop

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will leave with a deeper understanding of negotiation strategies and ways to enhance effectiveness with a view to creating value for both parties.

Additionally, attendees will be provided with a structured format for preparation and engagement within a negotiation.

Leadership Workshop

This workshop is designed to offer a diverse menu of topics from which specific modules can be selected depending on instructional objectives. This session emphasizes the value of “leadership” over “management” and highlights the importance of relationships being at the core of effective, adaptive and transformational leadership.

The following modules are available for inclusion:

Constructive Conflict Management: Turning negative personal interactions into positive and productive experiences.

Influencing Others: Proven strategies for applying influence to get people to do the things we need them to do; this is all about “winning them over” and not about “winning over them”.

Effective Communication Skills: Learning new strategies for communicating free of assumptions to maximize our interpersonal and business relationships.

Motivation and Inspiration: A review of how we, as individuals, can increase our level of inspiration and how that serves to motivate those around us.

Dealing with Problem Behaviors: A review of our default and sometimes ineffective strategy for managing the problem employee as well as additional tactics and verbal skills to motivate them more effectively.

Managing Change: Understanding how change can adversely affect the workplace and how to convert that negativity into a positive and productive process.

Effective Time Management: Identifying our “time wasters” with a view to setting appropriate time management goals and thereby increasing our organizational effectiveness.

Ethical Based Decision Making: Using a series of hard hitting, workplace based ethical dilemmas to illustrate how our world is seldom black or white.

Goal Setting: Using the concept of SMART goal setting (Specific goal, Measurable goal, Achievable goal, Realistic goal and Timely goal) to move our leadership objectives forward.

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will be provided with a series of leadership concepts designed to enhance or supplement already existing leadership capacity. Additionally, the training modules contained within this session are designed to provide enhanced levels of confidence in managing sub-optimal behaviors.

Masterful Communications: Every Word Matters

Participants of this presentation will be introduced to high pressure communication strategies and an awareness of how success or failure in relationships is predicated on communication abilities. Be it in the business world or in an interpersonal relationship, effective communication is critical and this presentation underscores the importance of strategic and purposeful communication.

This keynote incorporates the following:

A discussion relating to how perceptions and assumptions affect communication
Strategies for managing high emotions during high stakes engagements
An exploration of how to take communications to the next level
An examination of the differences between hearing and listening

Learning outcome: This presentation will transform communicators from good to amazing. Participants will leave this keynote with the tools and communication tactics to flourish in a high pressure and high stakes engagement.

Influence: Gaining Voluntary Compliance

The successful business professional has the ability and capacity to influence others and to that end, understanding the fixed action patterns people posses is a critical component. Most people are “hard wired” to respond to specific stimuli and knowing what those triggers are allows the successful influencer to move people down the path toward voluntary compliance.

This keynote presentation provides:

The differences between influence and manipulation
Strategies for the application of influence; getting people to comply
A series of real life examples to illustrate the application of influence

Learning outcome: This presentation will offer strategies for gaining voluntary compliance and an understanding of the importance of influence as opposed to manipulation. Participants will take away an understanding of how these strategies apply in real life interpersonal and business engagements.

Enhancing Employee Safety Through Situational Awareness

This keynote is designed to enhance employee safety in the workplace through the exploration of the factors that drive people toward violence. The session will offer an examination of specific behaviors of concern and how our personal intuition can be an asset.

The presentation will conclude with specific considerations and suggestions to be incorporated in the unlikely event of a violent event.

The session will include the following:

Sources of potential violence; where it can come from
Indicators of potential escalation; factors that drive people toward violence
Concerning behaviors to be aware of
Situational awareness and how that can enhance personal safety
Intuition and how it applies to situational awareness
Preparation and measures to put in place in advance of a violent event
What to do if something violent happens in the workplace

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will gain an understanding of the pattern of escalation; how people move toward violence. Also, people will gain an awareness of the application of situational awareness and how raising awareness can lead to a higher degree of workplace and interpersonal safety.

Ethics-Based Decision Making

This presentation is designed to invite participants to examine their own personal and ethical “line in the sand.” During this presentation, people will be offered a number of ethical dilemmas and invited to take a position on each issue. Participants are free to enter into the discussion, or maximize their ethical learning by observing the interactive discussions.

The learning occurs during the interactive discussion around which position is the “correct” position, and during most sessions, many people flip from side to side based on the information being discussed. This engagement will also present people with a structured model for making those difficult decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma.

Ethics defined and explored in detail
Discussion of organizational values
Justifications people use to be at peace with unethical decisions
Differences between ethics and the law as it relates to employee obligations and behaviors; lawful is not always ethical
Specific case examples that illustrate the need for ethical based decision-making and underline the importance of having a decision making model to follow when faced with ethical dilemmas

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will be encouraged to engage during this session as the greatest level of learning occurs through participation in the discussions. People will leave the presentation with a clear understanding of how to apply structured models when faced with an ethical dilemma.

Workplace Violence - Prevention & Prediction

This presentation/ keynote is designed to raise awareness around workplace violence issues. Traditional thinking suggests this is not an issue we need to concern ourselves with, however the reality is that workplace violence is occurring in our world.

This presentation will invite participants to examine risk within the context of their own workplace and look at ways to best manage those risks.

The session will include the following:

Statistical data to illustrate that violence can happen anywhere
Factors that contribute to violence in the workplace
Profiling information and pre-incident indicators that assist in risk assessment and potential for violence; what to look for in your workplace
Discussion relating to intuition as it relates to identifying potential threats
Actions to take when an incident occurs within our workplace

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will be provided with an understanding of the risks inherent in the everyday workplace. With this information, people can examine their own workplaces with a view to identifying potential risks and put measures in place to mitigate those risks.

Teambuilding

In many cases, the success of a work or business unit depends on the cohesiveness of the teams that work within that area. This session focuses on taking an existing work group or team and increasing cohesion to maximize team function. This is an experiential workshop and involves interactive activities as well as a presentation of team related dynamics. If teamwork, collaboration, synergy and an engaged culture are important, this session is for you.

Learning outcomes: Participants of this session will engage with other members of the team with a focus on collaborative problem solving, team dynamics, relationship building and interpersonal communication.

Suicide: Assessment and Intervention

This presentation is designed to deliver a complete spectrum of information relating to suicide, spanning from motivation for suicide through signs and indicators, and strategies for managing a potentially suicidal person. This information is applicable for anyone that may be in contact with a potentially suicidal person from loved ones, friends, employees, co-workers or even complete strangers.

Suicide touches many lives and this presentation will provide information relating to factors that motivate people toward self harm and illustrate the differences between a suicidal gesture and a suicide attempt.

This session will offer the tools to effectively assess and if necessary, manage a potentially suicidal person and includes:

Introduction and exploration of the reasons people consider suicide as an option
Differences between suicidal attempt and suicidal gesture
An exploration of the methods of suicide
Risk assessment for suicide including a specific plan and probability for intervention
Suicide assessment tool used to evaluate and assess potential lethality
Communication strategies for assisting the suicidal person
This presentation also includes a series of actual suicidal case studies to illustrate the teaching points offered during the session

Learning outcome: Participants of this session will gain an understanding of the reasons or motivations that commonly drive a person toward suicidal behaviors. People will leave the session with the confidence and ability to recognize concerning behaviors as well as the ability and tools to engage a potentially suicidal person.

Advanced Presentation Skills

This presentation is designed for anyone that is required to deliver presentations, speak in public, instruct in a classroom or who just wants to develop confidence in speaking in front of others. Public speaking is said to be one of the most debilitating fears for some people, and this course will offer tips and tricks to develop your confidence in speaking, instructing or presenting.

The session contains the following material:

Crafting an appropriate introduction and strategies for creating a positive first impression
Presentation style and how to bring the material to life
Connecting with the audience and building rapport
The use of humor; best friend or worst enemy
Managing nervousness and how to channel nerves into positive enthusiastic energy
Managing questions; those from the audience to the presenter and those the Presenter asks the audience to draw out responses
The big finish and a powerful take-away and the effective presenter attempts to finish the session with a robust

Learning outcome: This session is designed to provide strategies and tools to enhance presentation confidence and ability. Participants will complete the session with everything they need to design, craft and deliver amazing presentations.

Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is subtle and difficult to pinpoint. This presentation is designed to raise the level of awareness to ensure this doesn’t happen in a workplace. Workplace bullying is insidious, but present in many workplaces and to varying degrees. In some cases, the workplace bully walks a fine line, flirting with the corporate respectful workplace policies and in some cases, the bully has absolutely no regard for those policies and operates openly.

This presentation will identify specific behaviors, look at ways to protect employees from the workplace bully and to provide a strategy in the event a bully is operating in the workplace.

The presentation provides the following:

Workplace bullying defined and what specific behaviors are associated with this type of activity
Typical profile of the workplace bully
Strategies we can use to confront the workplace bully and a discussion of why, in many cases, we choose not to confront the bully

Dealing with Difficult People

High Pressure Negotiation