March 2007 Newsletter

Hello. Welcome to the re launch of our regular communication. Here we’ll share our top training tips with you, tell you about freshest developments and give you some fun stuff to think about too.

Here's what we've got for you this month – advice on how to get your point across, some really juicy material on diversity (what it is, what it means and why it’s important to you, your staff and your organisation) some great tips to help you manage your stress and we’re giving you an opportunity to join us on one of our open programmes.

Here’s one we made earlier

- need help getting your point across? We recently showed Channel 4 “The Art of Assertiveness”

Practicing the art of assertiveness - need help getting your point across?

Sounds like a job for Jacqui. Jacqui Dove is one of our experts on assertiveness with a broad professional background in NLP, training and coaching. She recently showed a group at Channel 4 “The Art of Assertiveness”.

What did we do?
The challenge was to help the Channel 4 team understand people’s behaviour and know how to react assertively and with confidence when faced with difficult, aggressive or uncooperative people. We tweaked our standard “Art of Assertiveness” programme for Channel 4 adding some specific tools and techniques to ensure the training was focused to the individuals attending. The workshop was interactive and directly involved each individual for maximum personal impact.

How did we do it?

What is assertiveness?
What is it? And how assertive are you? People have different perceptions of what “assertiveness” really is. Breaking it down to its essentials, assertiveness is about communicating confidently and competently with others in an open and appropriate way. Attendees were invited to rate their current assertiveness level on a scale of 1 to 10, we then discussed how assertiveness affects everything from self esteem to how much confidence others have in us.

Setting personal intention
The background set and with assertiveness focused clearly in participant’s minds we invited attendees to think about their “intention” and what it is they really wanted to get out of the session. By encouraging personal engagement we could deliver individual benefit to attendees.

Next we examined the “impact” our combined body language, voice tone and the words we use can have. It’s not always what we think and, interestingly, when communicating with someone face to face our words can have the least impact on our message, especially when we meet someone for the first time. We actually communicate much, much more through our tone of voice and our body language.

Delivering techniques - credibility
The key to the art of assertiveness is to appear credible. To help participants to understand and improve their credibility we armed them with 2 robust, tried and tested skills to help them to become "credible" in situations were they need to be assertive. We examined how to "look" confident and credible and how to "sound" confident and credible.

To bring these tools to life and embed them meaningfully, each member of the team had a go, using the credible patterns and applying them to their own, very real, situations.

Feedback followed where participants were invited to get together and discuss how they came across. Were they friendly, approachable, credible, confident, shy, bored? Delegates then spent some time thinking about how they could apply the techniques learnt to actual situations highlighting a particular area of development.

Delivering techniques
Just say no!
One of the most challenging aspects of appearing credible is to learn the art of saying No. We can all articulate the word “no” but some find it really difficult to get the message across. We spent some time looking at those things that stop us saying no, and then worked on how we can become better at doing it.

The perceptual positions
We then looked at the situation from someone else’s point of view. It’s a bit like when you watch a film and you see the same event from several different people’s perspectives. We can actually learn a great deal from an outsider’s viewpoint.

Top Tips
We came up with 10 top tips for participants on making assertive requests. Armed with these tips and with a plan to take them forward, they decided on the actions they were going to take straight away.

Buddies
Finally we encouraged attendees to partner with a “buddy” who they arranged to meet 3 weeks after the workshop. Setting up this simple support structure with a pre arranged meeting time to ask questions and swap experiences promotes action and helps to embed the learning.

Feedback on the event was extremely positive and left delegates energised and with plenty of effective techniques to help them confidently and assertively communicate.

If you would like to talk to us about assertiveness contact john@you-unltd.co.uk

 

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Diversity at work – Big Bother?

– facing the reality of the situation.

But you need to face the reality of the situation.

Love it or hate it, Celebrity Big Brother did raise some interesting points. A record 40 thousand complaints to media watchdog Ofcom about the treatment of this year’s winner, Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty, has put diversity firmly at the top of the agenda.

Diversity should be more than just a fancy management term. It’s more than simply creating equal opportunities and shaping a work environment to attract the best people available regardless of race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability. It’s about focusing on how staff and managers can genuinely accept all others regardless of ethnicity or preferences and the great things that can happen when they do. It’s about honest human interaction without unhelpful barriers.

Chami Coomasaru is one of our internationally experienced consultants and a trainer in the field of diversity, cross-cultural communication and multi-national team-building. To get to grips with the topic and really find out what it means we asked him the questions to which we know you’d like the answers.

Chami on Diversity.

So what is diversity all about? What does it mean?
Basically, diversity is about understanding the differences between people, not just in terms of the more obvious attributes such as age, gender, race, physical ability, sexual orientation, religion, but also in terms of differences in background such as past experiences, skills, values, culture, social class, etc.

Diversity training for organisations makes employees aware of these differences between people and helps everyone to understand the needs and qualities of others, creating a positive and inclusive working environment.

Why should we be bothered about it?
Diversity is increasingly becoming a focus area for organisations. This is not only for political or social reasons but also because managing diversity is good for both the bottom line of the business and the working environment of the organisation. For example: working in an inclusive environment where diversity is valued means that staff will feel more valued for the individual contributions they bring to the organisation, they will be happier at work and productivity will increase.  Diversity also encompasses legal issues which employers should be aware of, to avoid making 'mistakes' which may lead to discriminatory allegations, potentially leading to tribunals.

Isn’t is just a fancy management term?
Not if you care about the way your company treats it's employees, and even it's suppliers and customers, and you want to ensure that everyone works to their full potential, benefiting both the individuals and the organisation as well.

Is it my job to set the diversity agenda?
Depends on the organisation.  A Managing Diversity program needs to have the backing of the company's top management but the vision and objectives of a training program are often proposed by the trainers (who are the experts in the field) and aligned with the company managers and HR.

Don’t the lawyers just deal with this kind of thing?
Yes - but only when the procedures have failed and the company is potentially facing being sued.  The whole concept of diversity training should be holistic: creating an inclusive working environment where everyone feels valued and can contribute to their full potential.  The managers should understand diversity principles at work and be aware of the relevant laws which underpin the various issues.  By understanding the issues and demonstrating that your organisation has paid due attention to this subject you are in a better position to avoid litigation in the first place.
 
What did you think of Shilpa’s treatment on Celebrity Big Brother?
Personally I think she was on the receiving end of some of the unfortunate normal behaviour of ignorant and insecure people - exactly the sort of thing that diversity training would aim to avoid via better education and understanding of people's differences.  The unusual and intense situation created within the Big Brother house was a key trigger in this instance. However this kind of discrimination and bullying happens all the time in many places.  In a working environment it's clearly unacceptable and highly disruptive, hence the importance of diversity training in highlighting awareness of differences, why people may be behaving the way they are and ensuring that there is a support mechanism to deal with it. 

What do I need to know to tick the government boxes to make sure I am compliant?
If your only objective is to be legally compliant then you're not understanding the benefits of diversity training for your employees and your company profits, and you won't be approaching it in a helpful way to really make a difference.

So what should I do?
Rolling out a diversity training program is one thing.  Then you need to review and monitor the success of the procedures you have set up.  This should be a dynamic and ongoing process which becomes part of the way the company and all employees operate.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about diversity?
It's a hugely important issue that should be taken seriously, and everyone can reap the great rewards. 
 
Our “Diversity - Insight and Impact” workshop (recently featured on Radio 4’s PM programme) will not only guide you through what you legally need to know to be compliant but will help you to get under the skin of diversity so you are better equipped to understand the true breadth and impact on you, your staff and your organisation.                                     

Want to know more? email john@you-unltd.co.uk or call +44(0)20 3202 0001

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An opportunity to join us on one of our open programmes.

Communicating effectively with you is very important to us.

We have compiled a short list of questions to help us understand how and when you would like us to talk to you. As a thank you we will be inviting 10 of you to join us on one of our open programmes. Answer our questions here. 

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And finally, some useful stuff

to help you “Practice Safe Stress”

Here we will regularly reveal some of our top tips for better performance at work.
This month we’ve taken a look at stress.
 
Practice Safe Stress – As stress manifests itself as a problem physiologically it makes sense to use that route to preventing it occurring. There are lots of things you can do around exercise, diet, rest and relaxation. They’re simple and they work.

Diet – your energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. This is primarily a reflection of the level of your blood sugar.

• Keep balanced by eating regular meals throughout the day – try not to skip any!
• Avoid / reduce stimulants like coffee, sugary foods and fizzy drinks and minimise alcohol.
• No multi-tasking or rushing. Just sit down, eat and concentrate on the food.

Exercise – Take cardiovascular exercise three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging). Keep at the peak of your exercise for at least 15 minutes. This increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin and improves blood sugar levels. *

Rest & Relaxation

• Take breaks and get away from it all when you can. That break from what you are focusing on can make you all the sharper when you return.
• Get enough sleep – You know how much you need to feel refreshed in the morning. Give yourself a chance at playing at your best by getting enough in the tank for the day ahead. Be as consistent with your sleep patterns as possible because your body loves regular patterns.

*consult with a doctor if you have any doubts about a safe level of exercise for you.

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