Career Success Demands Good Communication Skills

Now more than ever, it’s imperative to maximize your (and your group’s) communication effectiveness. From the many challenges posed by virtual communication formats to the need for robust dialog and fast discussion-to-decision cycles, the right communication skills are essential to survive and thrive in this environment.

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The Stuff of Career and Organization Success

While there may be a variety of x-factors that contribute to the most successful teams, how they communicate and ultimately collaborate is the equation for success.

People are complicated, vexing and remarkable all at the same time, and the only way to tame these forces and harness the hearts and minds of the people around you, is to strengthen your effectiveness as a communicator. Every day.

The decision to engage in the development of your critical success skills shows that you know what it takes to stand out in today’s environment: extraordinary communication skills. Communicating – essentially talking and listening – gets overlooked in our personal-professional development, yet it is the one skill we can point to that directly contributes to your success.

Introducing Crushing It with Challenging Conversations 4-Part Virtual Workshop

From succeeding in challenging conversations to designing effective messages for high-stakes situations, delivering and receiving quality feedback, and learning to create value with positive persuasion, the lessons and supporting materials are intended for immediate application in the workplace. Hosted by course creators, Art Petty and Laura Bantz, you'll level up your communication skills in four interactive live sessions.

4 Live Interactive Sessions

The workshop will take place over four 90-minute live online interactive working sessions, 4 weeks in a row and will focus on critical communication topics. Replays will be made available to you.

e-Learning Course Access

When you sign up, you'll get evergreen access to our popular Crushing It with Challenging Conversations online course and its tools and downloads to enrich what you learn in the live sessions.

One-on-One Coaching Session

As a bonus, I'm offering a one-on-one coaching session with you to strategize on your specific communication challenge. You'll walk away from our session with relevant tools and approaches.

The Four Live Online Working Sessions:

Replays will be available for any sessions that you cannot attend live.

Session One: Succeeding in Challenging Communication Moments on Wednesday, July 15th at 11:00 CDT

For those unexpected challenging communication moments, it’s essential to be at your best when many are at their worst. You will explore the variety of challenging communication moments and define and practice your Personal Reset Process essential for keeping the proper part of your brain in control of your responses.

Specifically, you'll learn:

  • How our brains are hard-wired to respond to unexpected challenging communication moments. Hint: we need to override this wiring!
  • Why “fight or flight” are poor options when the pressure arrives.
  • The power of developing and applying a Personal Reset Process to control mind and body in-the-moment will pay dividends for the rest of your career.
  • What your colleagues are thinking and hoping for when they see you in action.
  • The importance of saying nothing versus just saying something.
  • During the session, we’ll help you get started developing your Personal Reset Process.

Session Two: Strategic Message Design for High-Stakes Communications on Wednesday, July 22nd at 11:00 CDT

Every parent in the world has likely spoken the words, “Think before you speak and act”, and these lessons apply when you are preparing for a high-stakes meeting or presentation. From presenting to executives to meeting with industry experts to preparing to talk with your team about a new strategy or change initiative, investing time designing your message and narrative using a proven successful model will set you up for success.

Specifically, you'll learn: 

  • Why winging-it in high-stakes moments is potentially disastrous to your career.
  • Situations where you need to go deep in designing and testing your message and supporting points.
  • How to design, test, and deliver a critical message using a message mapping tool and process
  • Additionally, you'll start on a draft of their own message map in the live-session and work with Art and Laura via e-mail to review and complete it.

Session Three: Looking Forward to Quality Feedback Sessions on Wednesday, July 29th at 11:00 CDT

Most people cringe when the dreaded “F” word is muttered in the workplace: feedback. It is tough to talk to people about their performance, especially when the genesis is an issue or a problem rather than praise. However it is viewed, it is one of those things you cannot avoid, even in a virtual environment (sometimes, it happens more in a virtual environment). This session aims to explore the topic of feedback in both contexts as giver and receiver, and encourage your viewpoint of feedback to shift from dread to eagerness and curiosity. 

Specifically, you'll learn: 

  • Why we tend to dislike feedback and how to view it in a whole new light
  • The concept of feedforward: what everyone really wants from feedback itself
  • How to encourage a positive culture of feedback
  • Feedback in the virtual workplace - what we need to know
  • How to structure a quality feedback discussion using a feedback planning process
  • How to manage feedback discussions through the sticky spots and create value for all parties
  • During the session, we’ll work through a case using the Feedback Planning worksheet, with emphasis on developing and delivering your opening sentence.

Session Four: Bringing the Concept of Positive Persuasion to the Workplace on Wednesday, August 5th at 11:00 CDT

A high percentage of our workplace conversations are effectively negotiations. When you’re asking for help, resources, budgets or process changes, you’re involved in a soft negotation. In this lesson, we teach you to prepare and engage in these discussions using principles of positive persuasion intended to help you gain support and create value for all parties. The principles of positive persuasion help to create an environment of safety and care in the conversational transactions in which we engage regularly in the workplace.

Specifically, you'll learn: 

  • Why you need to view your transactional issues in the workplace as soft negotiations
  • Every “ask” follows a process called the persausion cycle. Understanding your need to help people move through the various stages of this cycle.
  • How to do your homework ahead of the negotiation and uncover the issues and interests critical to your counterparts.
  • How to apply the tools of positive persuasion to reduce resistance and gain support.
  • During the session, we’ll work together to help you prepare for an internal negotiation.

All The Tools You Need To Improve Your Communication Skills

Join us for this 4-part virtual workshop that will challenge you to listen, learn, practice, and grow as communicators in real-time.

Looking for the group rate? Email [email protected] for groups of 3 or more.

Sign Up Now for $397