Developing Professional Assertiveness & Confidence

DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL ASSERTIVENESS & CONFIDENCE
Course Programme

UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS BEHAVIOUR
- What causes people to behave the way they do in different scenarios?
- How behaviour from colleagues causes us to react in different ways
- Understanding your personal behavioural style and how this impacts on others
- Understanding the four behavioural models
– Aggression
– Submission
– Assertion
– Passive

PERSONAL ANALYSIS – WHERE COULD YOU BENEFIT FROM INCREASED CONFIDENCE
- What aspects of your behaviour / communication should you change?
- Identifying key scenarios in which you would like to develop greater confidence and assertiveness
- Identifying personal barriers to success
- How conditioning and beliefs affect our behaviour in certain scenarios

INCREASING SELFESTEEM, SELF BELIEF & SELF IMAGE
- Why being “you” is essential
- Overcoming selfimposed barriers and limitations
- Understanding how your current beliefs may be affecting your current performance
- What do you say when you talk to yourself
- Selftalk can be an ally or enemy – which is it for you
- Breaking the negative selftalk cycle
- Boosting confidence with positive selftalk
- Using positive selftalk to prepare for key events
- Conquering the confidence killers:
– Fear
– Anxiety
– Anger
- Using your personal energy to wipe out fear
- Enhancing and building an energised selfbelief

ASSERTIVENESS & AGGRESSION AT WORK
- Defining assertiveness and aggression
– Why are some people “assertive” when others are considered “aggressive”
– The key differences in a business context
– What is and is not acceptable in the workplace
– Being assertive without being aggressive
- Techniques for effective assertive communication
- Getting your views, ideas objectives across in an assertive way – mastering the subtleties of influence
- Presenting and project a positive and assertive image

CONFIDENT COMMUNICATION
- First talk to yourself to overcome negative dialogue
- Next talk to others – a confident message
- Confident speak – the language of assertiveness
- Harnessing your natural communication strengths
- Using positive language patterns to make an impact
- The importance of being congruent – ensuring your verbal and nonverbal communication signals confidence
- Practical techniques for projecting confidence in tough situations:
– Presentations
– Reviews
– Meetings
– Events
- Looking, sounding and speaking with greater confidence
– Developing the vocabulary of confidence

THE ROLE OF BODYTALK
- Our nonverbal communication conveys more than you realise
- Reading the body language of others – what are they really saying?
- Developing confident body language
– Verbal techniques
– Physical techniques
– Unconscious communication
- How to use body language to enhance your communication success

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS
- The generic nature of difficulty
- Understanding anger, emotions and feelings
- Controlling fear and negative emotions
- Why certain people and situations drain your energy and effectiveness
- Dealing with criticism in a confident and assertive way
- Dealing with intimidation effectively
- Giving and receiving direct, constructive feedback
- Preparing for difficult situations – using the confidence “toolkit” to increase success
- Learning to say no
- Negotiating for a win, win solution
- Moving from the negative to the positive

DEVELOPING YOUR PERSONAL ACTION PLAN FOR CONFIDENCE AND ASSERTIVENESS IN BUSINESS
- Deciding where to take action
- How will you use the tools and strategies in business
- Identifying a key challenge you will tackle
- Rehearsing success and increasing confidence
- Your plans for future personal development