Business Communication Skills

Business Communication Skills
Powerful communication techniques are vital for anyone who needs to influence others to achieve results. You need to influence both colleagues and clients to achieve your own and your organisation's goals. Combining a positive attitude with sensitive interpersonal skills gives you much more control and increases your personal productivity.
This two day programme is highly interactive and concentrates on practical techniques to develop your influencing skills in all forms of modern business communication.

Course Objectives

• Maximise your communication skills and personal credibility
• Speak fluently and confidently even under stress
• Handle difficult meetings sensitively and constructively
• Deliver confident, convincing presentations
• Overcome conflict and learn to deal with problem situations

Who Will the Course Benefit?
Anyone who wants to improve their ability to influence, motivate, inspire and communicate with others. It will be of particular benefit to: New Managers, Sales & Marketing Managers, Project Leaders, Team Leaders, Senior Managers, Consultants, Engineers, Business Managers.

Course Duration
2 Days

Course Content
Day One

What is Positive Influencing?
-The nature of management and leadership
- What is meant by presence and charisma? How can you develop it?
- Understand and control the messages you give out
- How is leadership seen physically?
- Exercise: Setting personal targets -What really matters to you?
- Who do you want to influence -why and how?

Create Personal Presence
-What stops you from having a powerful presence?
- Practical tips to create personal impact
- Draw people towards you, mentally and physically
- How your body articulates the non-verbal messages you project
- Exercise: Increase your personal presence
- Draw on techniques to strengthen the signals you give out
- How posture, breathing and voice impact on your personal presentation

Harness Physical Energy to Project A Positive Impression
-How do you waste energy? Let go of tension in posture, facial expression, voice, breathing
- Centre your body to use your natural energy -extend your energy
- Exercise: Powerful techniques to use at work to harness your energy

Influence A Meeting
-Adapt one-to-one influencing skills for a meeting
- Influence a meeting towards constructive discussion
- Identify who to focus on, drawing that person towards you
- Exercise: Influence positively in a group of people
- Turn aggression and conflict into constructive discussion
- Identify who you need to influence...and Influence them positively
- Understand status and keep your authority: with staff, peers and managers


Day Two

Influencing One-to-One
-Give feelings of control and self-worth to others
- The non-verbal signals other people project
- Why we get interpersonal communications wrong?
- Recognise and avoid counterproductive behaviour
- Practical tips to handle a stressful encounter
- Exercise: How to make others feel confident and valued.
- Tailor you message to people †s different ways of communicating

Give Influential, Interesting Presentations
-Putting together a well-structured presentation
- Choose the right tone and pitch of language
- Reduce technical material into jargon-free English
- Key presentation skills -make the presentation vivid and concise
- Build drama interest and colour into the presentation
- Control self-consciousness and create a confident first impression
- Powerful theatre techniques to control nerves
- Exercise: Develop a topic for presentation in groups
- Work on a given topic and present to your group. Give and take constructive feedback
- Using powerful language, colouring words, get your main message across
- Appeal to all five senses
- Turn an abstract idea into an inspiring action plan

Overcome Conflict, Handle Difficult Meetings, Negotiate
-Identify and prepare for situations which make you feel uncomfortable
- Find the reasons why you feel uncomfortable
- How to prepare for difficult meetings
- Acknowledge the feelings of others without losing their respect