Communication means expressing your thoughts, feelings and emotions in a way that you get your desired result. Communication Skills Training is therefore the key to everything you want in today’s world. Personally and professionally it is an extremely important tool if used with the right skills sets. Communication Skills training has hence gained a lot of popularity and is at the top of every corporate training calendar. Lets understand how communication skills can bridge the gaps and achieve common goals by some common examples. Example 1: Sudhir is a Manager in an MNC and has been working with them in the capacity of a manager since a long time. He is extremely good at his work and has been given targets by his boss, which he wants to achieve to ensure that his promotion comes through this time, as he now really wants to go to the next level. He however is a very closed person and has never shared the targets openly with his team. He is an extremely pushy and demanding boss and keeps telling his team members what to do. They in turn just follow his instructions blindly without ever raising their voice. They are in fact afraid to talk to him and don’t enjoy working with him.This has led to high attrition in his team. It is due to his closed and aggressive communication style that he has not able to achieve his team goals and has been stuck in his position as a manager for years. Example 2: Young and dynamic, Roy is a manager at the same level as Sudhir in another team. He has similar targets and a similar team size and has been working with this MNC since the past 1 year. Unlike Sudhir, he is not very hard working and even has less experience as compared to Sudhir. He on the other hand has a very different approach towards his team members. He shares the targets with his team openly and brings them togetherto discuss how they plan to achieve the targets. Every morning he invites team members to discuss the challenges they are facing and takes team huddles. They then work together towards solving the problems being faced. He knows each member personally and professionally and supports him or her wherever they require help. He questions team members in a way that helps them find their own answers rather than him telling them. The team discusses their conflicts openly and is very well bonded. This open communication has helped the team achieve their targets before time and Roy is due for a promotion any time. So what’s the difference in the two examples? While Sudhir had better skills, abilities and experience over Roy; his communication style was very closed and attitude quite negative. Hence he always faced difficulties with his team and was not able to grow. Roy on the other hand was open and approachable. He realised that the only way for him to grow was through the growth of his team. This was possible only by having a cohesive team, which had good communication amongst its members, the example being set by him, their leader. This was the power of exercising and learning effective communication skills. Today we work in an environment where we deal with all kinds of people right from an office boy to the CEO of the company. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we want to have results like Sudhir or like Roy. We can’t change people however we can change their response to us by changing our own skills. We have to understand that each person is different and has a different personality type. If we are able to identify the persons personality type and adapt our communication as per their style, our association with them improves and we can get better results. Effective communication begins with assessing our self first. We need to find out how our communication is with ourselves as well as some of our behaviors, which we display very often. We need to inquire and find out what kind of thoughts we keep getting, are these positive or negative, supportive or destructive. These will give us clues on our typical patterns. The best time to identify how we think is to observe ourselves during difficult situations, how we behave and think during present difficult situations as well as how we dealt with one in the past. We can also ask others around us for feedback as that may open up a perspective we were unaware of. We can also spend time ‘doing nothing’ as that gives us the space to understand what we do when we are doing something! These open our ‘blind areas’ to and this awareness gives us the power to change. By observing ourselves our thoughts start changing and eventually our entire outlook towards life starts changing. Our beliefs, motivation, attitude change and in turn change our behavior. As our behavior changes, the response of those around us automatically starts changing. Our Communication Skills Training focuses on changing your Inner LandscapeIt is however important to remember that along with awareness, self-acceptance also plays a vital role. While it is easy to accept our good side with pride we also have to learn to accept our dark side with love. If we keep beating ourselves for the not so good, we get stuck in a negative loop and keep running the same old patterns. Acceptance is essential, as what we reject comes back again and again till we accept it. So also, our dark side keeps coming back until we accept it and let go of it. Which all goes to say that all results finally depends upon us. We are the originator and hence what has to change to create the difference. When we change our communication the world around us changes. If you want to be a part of this change, visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/
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Management Development Programs primarily focus on skills development training. However Most of the Management Development programs fail to bring out desired results as the concerned stakeholders have not been involved in the change process and thorough diagnosis is usually missing. Every program needs a thorough understanding about the current situation in the organization which is called as the organizational climate. Detailed analysis of the current culture can happen through sensing, systemic understanding of the organizations functioning, interviews, surveys, group discussions, detailed analysis and observation of the business and various departments. This preparatory work helps in determining if the gaps can be plugged by training alone or other interventions have to be looked upon. Diagnosing the Organisational Climate Together Usually training as standalone solution is never effective however many a times training programs and interventions are used as scape goats with a thought that training is the final ultimate solution and that becomes the biggest reason why training interventions fail miserably. What also typically happens with internal and external consultants is that they decide the pill before doing the diagnostic as they feel that the tools they know and have learnt are the best approaches for the given problem. This usually leads to disaster. What may be required is a thorough fact finding and brainstorming post the diagnosis about more long term sustainable changes using the right leverage points along with training interventions. Once it gets established that training is the solution via detailed diagnostics, the next required step is to look at a strong supportive environment also called as transfer climate which will help the participants practice the learning’s. This has to be provided by the HR, top management and the bosses without which the training program can become ineffective. In fact most successful interventions carried out so far have a strong buy in and involvement of the HR and the business. Another aspect required is action planning with regular follow up and refreshers courses apart from individual and group coaching. Follow up on the action planning by the HR and the Business Heads/Managers is important to ensure that there is seriousness in applying the learning once the training program is complete. It also helps participants in keeping and remembering to keep the learning ready with them so that they may action it as and when required. Learning also looses its essence if not repeated as participants forget in some time what they learnt and the role of refreshers becomes important here. This is the reason why one-off managerial skills development programs never bring desired results. It is only a measured systemic development which helps in bringing the desired change over a period of time and when an organization focuses on quick fixes and overnight change, the results are usually poor and fruitless. At The Yellow Spot, we strongly feel that it is not only the participants but their seniors, customers, peers and support functions who should also be considered as a part of interventions as they are the ones who also facilitate change by providing a transfer climate. Hence the focus of any management development program or managerial skills training should not be limited to only participants and respective stakeholders should also be included. To get the most out of your Management Development Programs, come visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/ I read two very interesting theories yesterday which I could connect to our Team Building Workshops. The first one was on the learning cycle and the learning styles that we all have. As per the theory, commonly known as the Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Kolb’s Learning Styles respectively, we all have a typical learning cycle that we tend to follow and should follow for maximum learning. We go through a particular experience, we then like to observe what happened in the experience, reflect on it, draw our conclusions from it and then go ahead and test our conclusions. So if I was to try to learn a skill at work, say how to handle irate customers how I would do it is:
David Kolb goes on to say that although we all follow the same learning cycle, yet we all have different learning styles. So while somebody might prefer the observation and reflection part, others might learn more by testing and actually doing things. The other theory I read was on how all of us use different areas of our brains for performing different functions. So although we all have similar faculties in the brain which can perform similar functions, the use of some come naturally to us whereas others just don’t. So while some of us may use our analytical areas more, others may use their intuitive faculties more. Now those using the analytical areas can also use the intuitive areas with practice, but it may be a strain as it’s not something that come naturally to them. Another interesting thing that I found in this theory is that we like being around people who use similar brain parts to ourselves and normally become friends with such people. On the other hand, we are naturally attracted to those who use complementary brain parts to ours and choose such people as a mate as they tend to complete us as cover up our so called weaknesses. So if you look at both theories, they give us great insights into teams. They both tell us that teams being made up of humans always have a common factor in them. They have similar ways of learning as well as similar brain functions. In that sense every team has a common thread running through it. However, if you go a little deeper you will realise that teams also have diversity. They are made up of different people who differ in the way they like to learn and differ in the way that they make use of their brain functionalities. So then is the commonality good or is the diversity good for a team? Am sure you all have the answer to this one and you will tell me that it’s really a no brainer! Both are good, the common pieces keep us bonded together as a single unit and the diversity helps us in performing a variety of functions which each team member excels in. Right? My question to you is that although we all know this and say it, is it really something that we believe and practice? Is it something that really comes from our core? Do we really appreciate diversity? The fact is that most of us are unfortunately unable to appreciate it although we may try very hard too! Why, because of an innate need to be accepted. Have you ever thought of why we like people who are similar to us? It’s because when someone is similar, it somewhere confirms to us that we are also alright which in turn makes us feel more accepted. If you look at it the other way also, you will realise that we don’t like things which are different from us. Most of the conflicts in the world occur because of this. So we don’t like people who are of a different religion or from a different country or city. The conflicts that we have in office are also mostly because of different opinions and different personalities. So is there some way to appreciate these differences then? Join our team building workshops and we will happily show you the way to have a bonded yet diversity appreciating team. Visit our website http://theyellowspot.com to learn what skills your team members have and how you can leverage them. Sales Training is extremely important as the number one focus of any company post coming up with a unique product or service is to sell it. If you can't sell your product you will perish. The market either has a need for your product or else you have to create it. When Steve jobs was about to introduce the touch pad phone in the market, he said something very interesting to his friend who said that this was not going to work in a market that was used to key pad phones. Steve Jobs' answer was that the buyer does not know what he wants and he was going to put in every effort to make the buyer learn to adapt to it. We all know now what happened post that in the cell phone industry with Apple being a pioneer in the touch pad technology and being followed by so many others! The same funda applies to sales. You either fulfil an existing need or you create something so radical that your buyers have no option but to get hooked to it and get so used to using it that that it actually turns from being a want to a need! So what are some of the rules of successful selling? The number one rule of successful sales is that the point of focus is the customer. The number two rule is, well, that you focus on the number one rule! Most of the companies inadvertently focus on their product and services and then try to match it with the customer needs. However this is where they fail or they struggle. Successful companies always focus on the customer and their needs and then check out if the product or the service matches this need. An interesting question that arises then, is if their product is not fulfilling the need of the customer, can they come back without selling it to them? After all, leaving the sale for the good of the customer itself is an indirect sale. The same prospect will go and tell ten different people around him about how genuine your intentions were and it will automatically lead other customers towards you. This word of mouth will really give your sales a shot in the arm. An effective sales training will always teach you this. Selling skills training is not about hooking the customer and getting him to buy your product. It is about how to be genuine, how to focus on customer needs, how to create an impact by fulfilling the promises given, how to establish a rapport and how to learn to let go and how to stay in touch with the customer even post your role being over. If your sales team learns this and imbibes this in their daily behaviour, then success is bound to happen. However it must be remembered that this attitude cannot be imbibed into the sales team until the top management is also aligned to this philosophy as it is only possible as a top down approach. The management has to eat, drink, sleep and talk this at all points of time and any one not aligned to it has to be questioned. Are you willing to take this stand !!!! If you would like to know more about the Sales Training we conduct, please visit our website at http://www.theyellowspot.com/ Happy Selling:) I have been talking to a large number of soft skills trainers as of late. Actually soft skills trainers would be an incorrect tag, corporate trainers would be better. We have recently launched a Business Partner program wherein we work with trainers from different leagues of life across the globe, to give clients the best possible experience. Sounds interesting? The trainers we have spoken to found it too So let me tell you a little about the program to give you a better idea. You know how we have been working with various expert vendors to provide our clients with a wider range of offerings in fields like E-Learning, Organisational Development, Executive Coaching, Project Management, Risk Management, IT, Computers, Finance, etc. Well we thought since this model is working so well, let’s come up with a model for Freelance Trainers where we tie up with them and further broaden our offerings. Now you must be wondering how this really works and how it benefits everybody. Let me explain. How it Works: The corporate trainers that we tie up with go out into the market and represent us as Business Partners. So they get business in our name and we get it delivered. Simple isn’t it? Benefits to Clients:
Benefits to Business Partners:
Benefits to The Yellow Spot:
Well those are the points that I can currently think of, am sure there must be more that you can think of. I’m hoping you must have got an idea about this program and why we keen to promote it. It’s really a Win-Win-Win solution for the Client, Business Partner and Us. Isn’t that just great! Visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/ to know more or call us on +91 9769733305. See you soon:) |
The Yellow Spot
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