Collaboration Consulting

• Presentations and Seminars

Strategic Communication Planning

"The opposite of reactive communication is strategic communication, a process by which the leadership of an organization deliberately manages its communications proactively so that they are open, candid, and focused on the marketplace and the customer as the first cause."

                                                   Roger D’Aprix, “Communicating for Change”

A strategic communication plan is a long-term guide for how to influence the feelings, attitudes and behaviors of our external and internal customers.  It is directly tied to the organization’s overarching vision, mission and strategies. This interactive presentation introduces you to the process and walks you through creating a basic strategic communication plan for a key aspect of your business.

Negotiating Made Simple

Negotiating is an interactive decision making process where both negotiating partners meet their interests.  It is a type of presentation that requires particularly careful preparation because we anticipate differences of perspective or opinion, perhaps even conflict.  An effective negotiating process, in fact, helps prevent conflict.  The desired outcome is a meeting of the minds with a mutually agreed-upon plan of action. 

The benefits of good negotiating are:

• Increased trust and respect.  Both negotiation partners openly exchange thoughts without judgment, accusation or hidden agendas.
• Best mutual outcome.  Both negotiation partners win. Solutions are well thought out and meet the interests of both.
• Excellent long term relations.  We are most comfortable with people, personally and professionally, when we are confident that we can work out our differences.

This presentation boils negotiating down to its most key elements, using a fun simulation.

Workplace Mentoring: Build your team one person at a time.

We often think of team building as a group event taking place separately from day to day work.  Workplace mentoring builds a culture of teamwork right on the job, by building teams one person at a time.

Workplace mentoring is an explicit one-to-one learning relationship between someone who wants to improve job or career skills, and someone who can help.  Workplace mentors are champions of teamwork. Mentors take a position of high interest in another’s development.  They share knowledge, encouragement, guidance and feedback about work content and organizational culture.  They advocate for the mentee’s success.

Businesses and other organizations have found that workplace mentoring not only builds high performance teams:

• Learning curves are faster with individualized learning.
• Fewer dollars are spent on training, because the workplace is the classroom, with the learner doing real work.
• The mentor and mentee both develop their skills.
• Mentoring becomes a “way of life” that increases the organization’s overall capacity to succeed.

This interactive presentation will teach you the Six Building Blocks of Workplace Mentoring. You will create a simple mentoring plan for yourself or someone else in your organization.

Stop your knees from knocking: prepare your presentation.

You have to give a presentation. It may be to a group, it may be to an individual. You are the information expert. So why do you have that feeling in the pit of your stomach? Why are your knees knocking already? Could it be that you’re thinking of winging it? Don’t do it! Your credibility is at stake here.

This interactive session will teach you simple tips to prepare your purpose, persuasion points, process, and presence.

Preparation = Polished Presentation

Four Steps to Get Your Customers to Complain − to You.

Why on earth would you want to do that?  A classic rule of thumb:  A happy customer tells four other people about experience with your business.  An unhappy customer tells ten others, too often as they are walking towards your competitor.

You do not have a chance to “make it right” unless you know what the problem is.  You want that customer to complain to you so you can address the issue, and keep or even increase their business with you.

These four steps will make it easy for the customer to complain.  Complaining is difficult to do, believe it or not.  Customers only complain when they care about doing business with you, or when they are really angry.  Learn how to show you care, and keep them from walking away.

Good feedback is relationship gold.

In your view, someone has room for improvement, and you are the most appropriate person to deliver the message.  Do you worry that this person may feel offended, upset, resistant, angry, or not “get it”?  Do you hope the issue will go away or someone else will intervene?  Do you charge in, say what you think and lay down the law? 

The point of giving feedback is to help another person understand how we see her or his behavior.  People hear feedback more easily when

• It is given objectively and supportively
• They are asked to give their point of view
• They understand the outcome of their behavior
• They are part of planning for improvement

Join us to see how to initiate these difficult conversations with confidence that you will both remain intact, the relationship will be strengthened, and the desired outcome will happen.  You will learn the GOLD Feedback Tool and how to apply it in your own situations.

Here are the most requested presentations and seminars developed and delivered by Collaboration Consulting.

Susan deGrandpre in a training session

Need a speaker? Call (207) 883-6978 or email info@collaborationconsulting.biz.