|
|
Skills-Building Seminars
|
I'm pleased to announce that my seminar, Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals, earned the Best Tutorial Award at the 2009 EuroSTAR conference in Stockholm. See #5 below for a session description. This seminar is based on my book on this topic, to be published in mid-2010.
If you’d like to discuss a seminar, please contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
To see if I’ll be offering these topics in a
public setting, check my speaking engagements.
Seminar topics can also be delivered as a keynote or
instructional presentation.
The seminars described in detail below include:
|
Offer opportunities for improvements in personal, team,
and organizational effectiveness
|
|
Focus on concepts, application and outcome to help you
attain specific objectives such as reduced conflict, increased
customer satisfaction or fewer communication snags.
|
|
|
Include case studies, group activities, and practice sessions
to reinforce key points.
|
|
|
Can be customized to address your specific needs and
concerns.
|
|
|
Blend process and content so as to build cooperation and
teamwork.
|
|
|
Provide examples of what has worked and what hasn’t in other organizations.
|
|
|
Include action-oriented guidelines that you can put to
use immediately.
|
|
|
Help you develop a plan of action for creating
specific, tangible improvements.
|
|
|
Will make you laugh while you learn!!!
|
|
My newsletter, Perceptions &
Realities, and my three books,
Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, Managing
Expectations and How to Establish Service Level
Agreements, provide additional information on seminar
topics.
|
1. Managing Customer Expectations
What do customers want, anyway? The answer need not be a mystery.
As important as it is to deliver solutions on-time and within
budget, it can be even more important to focus on how you treat
your customers. Strikingly often, it is this human element of
service delivery that has the greatest impact on customer
satisfaction. In fact, seemingly small measures can cause
customer satisfaction to soar to the top of the chart - or plunge
to the bottom. Drawing from both the fundamentals of human
behavior and complex organizational realities, this topic describes
policies and practices that contribute to a high level of
customer satisfaction.
Sample topics:
|
- Understanding the customer perspective
- High-impact customer pleasers and customer grievances
- Asking the right questions and asking the questions right
- Guidelines for building strong relationships
- Listening as an expectations-managing tool
- Strategies and techniques for becoming a skilled Expectations Manager
|
Related resources:
| | My books, Managing
Expectations and Communication Gaps and How to Close
Them. |
| | Articles on managing customer expectations |
| | Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter |
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
2. Establishing Successful Service Level Agreements
A service level agreement is a highly effective tool for helping
providers and customers manage expectations, communicate
effectively, clarify responsibilities, improve service
effectiveness, and build strong relationships. Yet, despite their
proven effectiveness, not all SLAs are successful. Some fail to
function as hoped. Others never even get completed because
insurmountable problems arise between the parties to the SLA.
This topic provides a comprehensive understanding of SLAs, why
they fail, and what to do to be successful in establishing them.
Sample topics:
- Understanding what an SLA is and is not
- The obvious and hidden benefits of SLAs
- The elements of an SLA and their functions
- How to plan, develop and manage SLAs
- Guidelines for writing new SLAs and evaluating existing ones
- How to benefit by not quite establishing an SLA
|
Related resources:
My handbook, How to Establish
Service Level Agreements, and my three SLA Guides
Articles on establishing SLAs
Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
3. Introducing, Managing and Coping with
Change
In uncertain times, such as that triggered by technological or
organizational change, people have a strong need to know
what’s happening and how it will affect them. Yet, so often,
communication in the form of information, empathy, reassurance
and feedback is lacking. This topic helps you understand the
strategies and practices that will help you successfully
introduce change, manage change efforts, and cope with change
when you’re on the receiving end. Models are presented that
explain both the cerebral and visceral experience of change.
Using these models, we’ll look at interventions to use - or to
avoid using - to minimize the turbulence of change and
expeditiously attain positive outcomes. The techniques presented
will also help you more capably and confidently deliver bad news,
gain buy-in for your ideas, and handle stressful situations.
Sample topics:
- The intellectual vs. the emotional experience of change
- Differences in how individuals respond to change
- Change models that elucidate the experience of change
- Tactics that accelerate (or hinder) the change effort
- Techniques and practices for implementing, influencing and coping with change
- Guidelines for becoming a skilled Change Artist
|
Related resources:
My book, Changing How You Manage and Communicate Change
My book, Communication Gaps and How to Close Them
Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
4. Communication Skills: How to Use Communication as a Tool
Communication gaps and traps are pervasive in most work settings.
They occur at all organizational levels whenever people offer
ideas, present information, introduce change, propose policies,
seek input, make recommendations, implement standards, give or
receive feedback, or simply converse - whether with customers,
colleagues, team-mates, management, or others. This topic
describes how to use communication as a tool for building
relationships, delivering superior service, strengthening
teamwork, managing change, and dealing with everyday
miscommunications.
Sample topics:
- Types of miscommunication and how to avoid them
- Ingredients of an interaction: what actually happens when we interact with each other
- How personality differences influence what, when and how we communicate
- Responsibilities of the sender and receiver of a message
- Identifying and minimizing ambiguities in communication
- Creating an effective communication plan
|
Related resources:
My book, Communication Gaps and How to Close Them
Articles on communication and consulting skills
Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
5. From Panic to Poise: Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals
Do you panic at the thought of giving a presentation? Are you skilled at presenting, but eager to strengthen your delivery? Is your speaking confidence in need of an upgrade?
Technical professionals aren't known for having the greatest presentation skills. Yet the ability to communicate articulately, whether to your coworkers at a team meeting or to an audience of hundreds at a conference, can significantly enhance your credibility, clout, and professional status. Delivering a presentation at work or at professional events is an opportunity to share your insights, convey important information, and gain a reputation as an expert in your topic.
As a highly experienced professional speaker who recalls what it was like to be terrified of public speaking, I offer guidelines, ideas and advice to help you become a proficient presenter.
Sample topics:
- Presentation anxiety and how to tame it
- Attributes of well-delivered presentations
- How to develop engaging content
- Logistical preparations
- Guidelines for presenting with confidence and competence
- Designing and using slides effectively
- Tips for presenting to management, customers and others
|
Related resources
Article: Boring Triggers Snoring
Article: Crash Course in Proficient Presenting
Article: Strengthening Your Speaking Savvy
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
6. Introverts and Extraverts in the Workplace
The introvert/extravert dynamic is a complex one. Introverts and
extraverts typically exhibit significant differences in behavior,
interaction preferences and work style. And the two often differ
in what, when, and how they communicate. These differences pose
special challenges in IT organizations because introverts are
represented far out of proportion to their numbers in the general
population, yet a large proportion of IT customers (and, of
course, some IT employees) are extraverts. These differences
frequently lead to frayed nerves and ruffled feathers. Worse,
they can lead to misunderstandings, extreme frustration, damaged
relationships, reduced productivity and flawed results. This
topic helps participants dramatically improve their understanding
of this dynamic so as to work effectively with their more
introverted or extraverted colleagues and customers.
Sample topics:
- An in-depth look at the attributes and behaviors of introverts and extraverts
- Misconceptions each has of the other
- The perceptions each has of the other - both the positive and the negative
- What each would most appreciate from the other
- Tools and techniques for working together productivity
- How to collaborate so everyone can do their best work
|
Related resources:
My book, Communication Gaps and How to Close Them
Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
7. Gathering, Interpreting and Benefiting from Customer Feedback
Most unhappy customers don’t complain. That’s difficult to
believe at times, but it’s true. And many customers who do
complain simply grumble and grouse to each other rather than to
the source of their dissatisfaction. Yet you can’t address
grievances and concerns if you don’t know what they are. And not
knowing can spell the difference between project success and
failure. Unfortunately, most organizations lack effective
feedback-gathering processes, and many of those that gather
feedback do so in a highly flawed manner that leads to distorted
and easily misinterpreted results. This topic uses examples from
numerous organizations to describe how to successfully gather
customer feedback.
Sample topics:
- The most flagrant feedback-gathering flaws
- The risks of surveys and how to minimize these risks
- When to gather feedback
- Alternative methods of gathering feedback and the tradeoffs among them
- Case studies of several organizations
- How the very process of feedback gathering can improve
customer satisfaction
|
Related resources:
My book, Communication Gaps and How to Close Them
Articles on gathering customer feedback
Newsletter articles in Perceptions & Realities newsletter
For more information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
8. Smorgasbord Seminar
This is a chance to design your own seminar in “one from column
A, two from Column B” style. If several of the above seminars
include topics of interest, let’s combine these topics into
a single have-it-your-way seminar that focuses on what's
most important to you and skips the rest. If this idea appeals to
you, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by
|
|
Karten Associates
Randolph, Mass., USA
Phone: 781-986-8148
Fax: 781-394-0530
Copyright © 2009 Karten Associates. All rights reserved.
|
|
