Transformational Skills Courses

Communication for Breakthrough

Influencing action; aim for the heart and capture the minds.

Whether dealing with associates, managers, staff members or crews, the way you speak and listen as a leader plays a critical role in your ability to get the results you need. Often we think of communication as a one-way street – "I speak, you listen"; or worse, "You do what I want you to do." Today’s business world, however, calls for influencing action through winning the hearts and minds of others – people up, down, across and outside your organization.

How You Will Benefit

Designing and practicing a leadership message that builds employee understanding and ownership of a strategic future
Generating conversations across traditional lines that break down barriers, strengthen teamwork, and accelerate problem solving
Addressing head on tough questions or difficult issues that stand in the way of working together
Ability to create messages that apply to different groups whether one-on-one or in large or small groups
Understanding the different roles of leader and manager, including when each is appropriate, and how communication may change
How to deliver a clear request for action, to elicit a committed response

Who Should Attend

Formal and informal leaders

Logistics of Sessions

2 day session

Context is Decisive

What is driving your employees’ actions, business as usual or an outrageous future?

Introducing an organizational change is the easy part. The challenge comes as people struggle to map new ways of thinking, new practices or operating tools, onto the firmly entrenched habits and ways of operating in an organization.

How You Will Benefit

Disclosing the language, behavior and attitudes that drive your current actions
Aligning on a created future that shapes language, behaviors, attitudes and actions
Understanding the basics of breakthrough thinking

Who Should Attend

Formal and informal leaders

Logistics of Sessions

1 day session

Power of Your Word

Powerful leaders inspire and influence action by "walking the talk".

The most basic tool for effecting changes – or accomplishing anything in an organization – is language, or conversation. This program provides people with conversational habits that bring clarity, responsibility and effectiveness to business processes, and supports them in elevating their results and making a difference at work.

How You Will Benefit

Communicating in a way that is direct and strengthens relationships
Understanding the importance of aligning your deeds with your words
Promoting ownership and partnership aligned on business outcomes
Accelerating the resolution of problems or breakdowns

Who Should Attend

Formal and informal leaders

Logistics of Sessions

1 day session

Project Manager Alignment

Build the strength and capability of your project managers to spearhead a change initiative.

Whatever the specific challenges involved in your chartered project, the commitment, strength and capability of the Project Manager are critical factors to its success. And while a Project Manager may have lengthy experience in shepherding routine projects to completion, the accelerated targets of a breakthrough project bring a new level of demand.

How You Will Benefit

Understanding what’s needed to interrupt “business as usual” and produce a substantive transformation and cultural change
Understanding the key elements, processes, and actions for causing a Breakthrough
Creating an unwavering stand for the success of the project, even when it calls for being “unreasonable”
Gaining a familiarity with the operating states through which a team will move in the course of executing their work
Learning a method of generating committed conversations to manage breakdowns and accelerate progress toward results
Grasping the basic project management tools, including project plans, scorecards, clear contracting and effectively managing promises
Understanding the difference between leadership and management

Who Should Attend

Project Managers of breakthrough initiatives

Logistics of Sessions

3, 1 day session over 3 months

Business Acumen

Impact your results by accelerating your employees understanding of the business; ground them in the fundamentals of your business and tie what they do to the strategy and objectives of the organization.

Your people’s ability to own and forward strategic objectives is a function of their grasp of the financial realities on which your business rests. Even those with a strong business background may be unfamiliar with key variables affecting your industry or organization – and this lack of awareness may limit their ability to stand for, represent, and take action on your short and long term business strategy. Topics are tailored to your specific business environment, and may include any financial elements that play a significant role in the way you measure and calculate business value.

How You Will Benefit

Understanding how your business makes (or loses) money
Understanding where profits go, and the impact of profits on capital programs
Understanding how different operations in the business contribute to the viability of the company
Understanding how your organization stacks up against competitors
Gaining the ability to tie what you do to the overall strategy of the organization
Identifying areas where you can make a significant difference for your organization

Who Should Attend

All employees

Logistics of Sessions

Multiple 1 day sessions

Process Simplification

Get into action: eliminate inefficiencies and bottlenecks in your core processes.

Amid the swirl of shifting priorities and rapid change, many businesses have adapted by adding, deleting or ignoring processes across the organization – processes that may become convoluted or include significant inefficiencies, given the needs of the business.

How You Will Benefit

Understanding the core elements of achieving a “breakthrough”
Learning tools to map a current process
Understanding what drives the creation of processes
Identifying bottlenecks in the process and specific actions to resolve bottlenecks
Collaborating and sharing of best practices
Developing action plans to simplify, improve and re-design inefficient process

Who Should Attend

Project teams

Logistics of Sessions

2 day sessions

Integrating Champions

Reducing the dependency on consultants to drive a change initiative.

Too often training is provided in a vacuum and not directly linked or expressed in terms of the needs of an organization. Participants are left to work at forging connections between the principles and tools provided to them, and their real-world business concerns. Champions, from your organization, partner with consultants in the design and delivery, and link learnings directly to your organization's concerns.

How You Will Benefit

Direct involvement in customizing and partnering in delivering a course
Developing leaders in driving a change initiative
Being coached and developing the muscle to coach others
Ability to transfer learnings to practical applications within your organization

Who Should Attend

Champions for each course

Logistics of Sessions

Training integrated with delivery of a course