Skills Trainings

One of the most common tools of organizational intervention are experiential learning opportunities, often labeled skills trainings. The following brief descriptions of our trainings are here for your general information. The possible themes and aims of a skills training are much more wide ranging than this list. When developing a training, we always look for the specific needs of the given team and customize the training program, the methods, the exercises and the proportions accordingly, in order to maximize the learning experience of the participants. The take-aways from our programs are directly applicable to the workplace, from the next day on.
The success of trainings depends on the involvement of the participants. Our added value lies in our tested methodologies, our experience, our personality and our emphasis on participant contribution to the success of the given program. The higher their commitment and deeper their involvement in the process, the more they get out of the training.

SELF-AWARENESS
Self-awareness trainings in an organizational setting can have many goals. They may help in personal integration, in establishing a balance between personality and the role played in the workplace, in accepting success and living with failure, or in coping with a changing environment. Learning about our own functioning will help in understanding that of the others. Exercises in giving and receiving feedback will make cooperation with colleagues, subordinates and superordinates much more simple and clear. The training is also effective in improving the social skills of the participants. Accepting themselves will increase their self-confidence, while accepting the others will make them more tolerant and open: generally more pleasant and effective to work with. They will also find themselves more at ease when working with others. Participation on a self-awareness training can entice participants to further train themselves and thus motivate them to participate on other programs seen as important by the organization. The effectiveness of these programs can thereby increase significantly.

COMMUNICATION
Through the examination of the specificities of interpersonal communication, the training helps participants get an overview of the effects of their communication, enrich their communications toolkit, making thir work more successful and their relationships more harmonious.
Topics:

• the process of communication
• the relationship of utterance and message
• verbal - non-verbal - paraverbal communication
• the role of feedback
• the interpretation of body-language

PRESENTATION
In our understanding, the most important presentation tool are the presenters themselves, and the personal impression they make. For this reason, we lay emphasis not just on rhetorics, style and structure, but also on speech techniques. Participants can test and improve their skills in various presentation situations and find solutions that are most fit to their personalities in making them effective and credible speakers.
Topics:

• goals – content – situation – audience – preparation
• rhetorics, genres, text structure, short structure samples
• styles, balance of the rational and emotional
• oration technique exercises
• the role and opportunities of visualization
• use of visual and other aids

RHETORICS
This training works well as a stand-alone skills course, if the goal is to develop verbal skills and speech performance. It can also serve as a module in a series of trainings simulating real life situations, where participants’ performance is monitored and continuous feedback is given. The exercises and situations offer opportunities for participants to explore a diversity of speech themes, genres, structures and styles. A course in rhetorics will develop participants’ spontaneity, sensitivity to the audience, as well as their speech style. Their speech effectiveness will increase both in business meetings and in speaking before larger groups that are resisting or antagonizing the speaker or his/her message. Difficult as the exercises in this program may be, they will help participants overcome their fears and will give them a powerful boost of self-esteem as they begin to experience their own capabilities.

ADULT EDUCATION TECHNIQUES
This training is for people who are not professional educators themselves, but often fulfill a teaching role as part of their work. The goal of the training is to help them convey information and transfer knowledge in a way that is easy to learn and apply to everyday practice.
Topics:

• the specific issues in educating adults
• group processes
• education tools, group methods
• personal coaching
• visualization, presentation

TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAMS
We understand training the trainer as a 4-tier process, involving self-experience, development workshops, group or individual preparations for the first trainings and ongoing supervision in becoming a trainer.

• preparations for the training program, diagnosis
• fine tuning client and participant needs
• goals and methods
• contracting with the group
• use of group dynamics for spontaneous „here-and-now” situations
• analysis of group processes
• analysis and support of different participant learning styles
• training exercises, structures exercises: design, adaptation, implementation
• instructing games, creative techniques
• trainer personality and toolkit
• Rogers, Gordon, TA, MBTI, NLP

MEETING FACILITATION
People spend much of their working hours in meetings. The quality of these meetings does make a difference. The training helps in deciding what type of meeting is needed, and provides a range of methods for facilitating them effectively.
Topics:

• meeting types
• facilitating a debate
• time management
• team methods
• preparations and follow-up

NEGOTIATION
The success of a negotiation depends as much on preparation as on quickness of thought and concentration. It is a function of what kinds of resources can the negotiator mobilize. Training participants will learn theoretical models that are immediately tested in real-life situations – without the element of risk – in order to get them the desired results, when the time comes.
Topics:

• preparation
• the structure of negotiations
• active listening
• asking questions, putting forth arguments
• developing a joint solution
• tactical tools that support reaching an agreement
• negotiation partners and negotiation styles
• time management in negotiation

SALES
This training acquaints the participant with the behaviors and processes that lead to successful selling. By reviewing the participants’ own sales methods, it helps enhancing strengths, eliminating flawed patterns and adding a number of new instruments to the toolbox through hands-on, intensive exercises.
Topics:

• the sales process
• client acquisition
• preparation
• networking, needs assessment, the benefit argument, handling complaints, closing techniques
• presentation opportunities

ASSERTIVITY
This topic provides space for participants to practice the method and communication technique that enables them to work and participate in the organization in a win-win scenario.
Topics:

• submissive, aggressive and assertive behavior
• assertivity techniques in communication
• conflict management
• a different approach to problems

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Through this program, participants can examine their relationship and natural reactions to conflict. They can learn techniques to enrich their behavior patterns in order to develop their coping styles and problem-solving methods.
Topics:

• the nature and process of conflicts
• interpersonal and intergroup conflicts
• conflict management techniques
• behavior options and their effects

COOPERATION SKILLS
The most important hallmarks of working effectively in a team are: mutual acceptance, openness to each other, openness to different solutions, trust, joint responsibility, personal contact between tem members, and honest communication. All members are responsible for effective cooperation and a good atmosphere. Participants on this program gain insights into their willingness to cooperate, as well as the supportive and/or detrimental role cooperation and competition can have on teamwork.
Topics:

• the prerequisites of cooperation, its necessity and its effects
• intergroup communication, intragroup communication, interpersonal communication
• self-awareness and collaboration
• factors and techniques aiding and impeding cooperation
• competition or cooperation

TEAM BUILDING
Supporting the group in becoming a team, this training offers experiences on group processes and team roles, providing opportunities for team members to shed behaviors that are destructive to team effectiveness and/or detrimental to team climate, while finding constructive, helping roles that support them. The training is suitable both for permanent teams and project teams.
Topics:

• team roles – my role in the team
• opportunities and constraints in the process of becoming a team
• conflicts
• value clashes – common value system
• the team and its leader

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Individual performance depends on personal systems of organizing work life and timetables. This training supplies methods and opportunities for participants to rethink their goals and lifestyles, to „audit” their organizing abilities and practices, while receiving hands-on tricks and tips they can use to quickly increase their effectiveness significantly.
Topics:

• identity – goals – practices – priorities
• work planning and time management
• time as a resource
• lifestyle – visioning – assertivity

LEADERSHIP
Participants receive support in analyzing and rethinking their activities as managers and leaders. They can examine their behavior in leading and subordinate positions, thereby also shaping their relations with co-workers. Apart from taking a thorough look at their own motivations, they learn about what drives individuals and what consequences various leadership actions might entail.
Topics:

• leadership role and identity
• situational leadership
• assertive communication in leadership
• leadership behavior to increase performance and cooperation
• the art of delegation
• the role of motivation in managing colleagues
• power motivation in leadership

MOTIVATION
The goal of the program is for participants to understand what drives the individual, based on which they can establish a connection between individual motivations and organizational goals.
Topics:

• the process of motivation
• motivation theories
• basic motives
• social – performance – power motivations
• commitment and loyalty

CUSTOMER-ORIENTED BEHAVIOR
Colleagues working in customer service or help desk positions are often in direct contact with company clients. Even in the toughest situations, they must be able to build company credibility, trust and prestige, keeping in mind the importance of the customer. This training is designed to give theoretical background, useful ideas and a place to practice for participants.
Topics:

• verbal and written communication
• customer service on the phone
• handling difficult clients
• time and workflow management
• the role of the environment
• etiquette and protocol
• appearance, dress styles