Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

invisible man

How to Take Control of your Personal Impact: How visible are you?

Posted by Liz McKechnie

I was coaching someone recently who said he wanted to be more visible in the workplace.

He was doing really well and was considered a high flyer by his managers but was not moving as fast as he would like. His consistent feedback was about being low on personal impact. Quite simply he needed to make his presence felt a lot more and he wanted to know how to go about it.

We often hear similar stories in our management skills courses and of course there are plenty of techniques we offer to help frame conversations and raise confidence levels in particular situations.

However there is some very useful thinking that can be done that can underpin these practical tools. Read more

questions are gifts

The 3 Most Important Tips – How to Handle a Great Question & Answer Session

Posted by Liz McKechnie

In our Presentation Skills training course the subject of how to handle Question and Answer sessions can be greeted with anything from  sunny optimism to doom laden dread.

Some people look forward to them as a welcome relief from having to hold court alone and have the chance to enter into a more natural dialogue with their audience. For others there is a very real fear that questioners may be challenging or even hostile  or, quite simply, leave the speaker completely at sea as to how to respond.

As trainers we spend our days handling questions and challenges. If we dreaded them we couldn’t possibly offer the high level of interactivity that we do, and all discussions would be fraught with tension. The stress level would be ghastly.

 

Questions are Vital

 

But questions are vital to the way we work. They mean people are awake (which is always a good sign) and engaged.

So we actively encourage questions and apart from a few sticky moments here or there where we have to get creative, on the whole, we enjoy sharing ideas and exploring different ways of looking at the world.

Our mission is to help people feel so good about asking questions that they all ask even more!

 

How do we go about handling them?

 

Read more

10 Easy Ways to Play the Networking Game and Win

Posted by Liz McKechnie

When it comes to networking events do you hang round the buffet and desperately hope they provide wine?
Or do you plunge in and work the room like a pro, quickly making new friends with a firm handshake and a twinkling eye?
In my natural habitat I’d be the one seeking out the Dutch Courage because the room to me feels about as inviting as the North Atlantic on a February day in Scarborough. Read more