Coaching

Coaching provides insights, understanding, encouragement and guidance to employees at all levels. Those charged with leading others benefit from being coached and from coaching others. Coaching is a interdevelopment process which improves skills for all parties. Visions, beliefs, vision, and behaviors can all be improved in order to achieve vastly improved results. Organizations are expecting employees to do more with less fueled by the massive changes of the last decade. Coaching can direct employees to approaches and techniques which will improve performance and reduce stress. Leaders develop greatly improved performance and strengthen relationships as a result of coaching. Followers increase their personal competence, confidence, and satisfactions when coached.

Some of the benefits from coaching include: helping stakeholders overcome their own obstacles or working habits that might limit their job satisfaction and success; reducing employees' reluctance to deal proactively with needed changes; developing improved communication in teams; applies positive personal attention to employees allowing them to feel valued by the organization; works toward empowering others; increases the coaches' interpersonal skills and knowledge of leadership; and isolating specific behaviors for change.

For this topic, KG utilizes two approaches. First, our consultants use executive coaching to develop leaders. Second, our trainers provide courses in how to coach others. In all cases, the training programs are based on specific needs and desired outcomes.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a defining characteristic of successful, twenty-first century organizations. It is the process of participation though which people, departments, and groups work together to achieve desired results. The five key factors identified by research for successful collaboration are: effective internal communication, effective external communication, inclusive membership, clear vision and goal setting. Trust, goals, and organizational structure must be altered to increase collaboration.

Collaboration focuses on the following concepts and adapts each collaboration intervention based on learning and implementing specific organizational behaviors:

• Understand the importance in today's environment for increasing collaboration. Includes the complexity of current issues, interdependence, and group orientation;
• Learn to recognize and overcome the barriers to collaboration including intergroup bias, group territoriality, and poor strategies used by organizational members when they negotiate with each other;
• Examine the importance of developing trust for collaboration and communication;
• Create strategies to recognize and decrease silos, politics, and bureaucracy;
• Gain the skills to increase personal credibility to develop trust including integrity, intent, capabilities, and results;
• Be able to act to increase relationship credibility to develop trust including talk straight, demonstrate respect, create transparency, right wrongs, show loyalty, deliver results, get better, confront reality, clarify expectations, practice accountability, listen first, keep commitments, and extend trust;
• Learn how to implement effective teamwork including a shared sense of purpose, clear roles and responsibilities, shared understanding of risks, challenges, and critical success factors, successful team work processes, strong relationships, and well managed interfaces;
• Understand the teamwork and collaboration tools needed to work with other individuals and departments; work with external stakeholders; create an informal and open work environment; respect and encourage different points of view; encourage constructive criticism of ideas without personalization; define clear and concise goals; and encourage and provide time for interactions;
• Communication: The Process That Creates, Develops and Maintains Collaboration including: Shared meaning ; Elements in the communication process; Understanding message clarity, feedback, shared meaning, distractions or noise, listening, nonverbal communication, questioning, and context; and Learn to communicate to improve relationships, listen actively and build respect-based relationships, and emotional self-control.

KG adapts collaboration interventions to the specific needs of the situation.

Communication: Internal and External

Communication is the energy that drives organizations but it can also be the embalming fluid. Even through effective communication is referred to as a fundamental skill, stakeholders rarely have extensive communication training backgrounds. In fact, speaking and listening, which are the primary vessels for many organizational transactions, are not skills systematically developed prior to gainful employment or on-the-job. Consequently, stakeholders tend to increase the utilization of ineffective approaches which defines the common sense observation that "more and more of the same can only give you more and more of the same."

Complicating the communication process is the increased reliance on digitized techniques ranging from email to message systems to mediated meetings to traditional methods. KG is keenly aware and well versed and researched in assisting organizations' in their needs to maximize effectiveness in the new, connected, and digitized world.

Communication is the process of using messages to generate meaning. In pre-2000 organizations there was a temptation to focus on presentations or other techniques and an admonishment that stakeholders should improve their listening skills. Writing skills were a correct focus in the business world but the critical interaction communication skills were neglected. Generating meaning underscores the importance of all elements of a transaction. In addition, this eliminates the popular phrase "Communication Breakdown" which provides a convenient excuse but does not encourage us to examine why the communication was ineffective.

Examples include:

Effective Communication; Leadership Communication; Effective Feedback, Reinforcement and Recognition; Maximizing Mediated Communication Effectiveness; Effective Meetings; Nonverbal Communication; Interpersonal Skills; Effective Presentations; Effective Listening; Intercultural Communication; Internal Communication Techniques; Team Communication Success.

Conflict Management

Conflict is an inherent and ubiquitous fact of organizational life. For example, executives report spending 18% of their time, or more than 9 weeks a year, resolving employee personality clashes. These represent emotional, or nonrealistic, conflicts. Out of control, these become dysfunctional or destructive. However, many conflicts are realistic and include the allocation of resources, job assignments, work processes, change, or the distribution of rewards. Anytime a group works together, disagreements over goals, direction and process will occur. Learning to work through conflicts enhances our productivity, work satisfaction, and increase our commitment to the group, organization, and individuals.

The following issues are fundamental to learning to manage conflict:

• Developing an understanding of the importance of knowing how to manage conflicts - Conflicts impact on group, team, organizational and personal success.
• Barriers to conflict management - Why it can be difficult and how to overcome the barriers.
• Active listening skills for conflict management - Developing the strongest power skill-effective listening.
• The five-step conflict management map - Understanding personal conflict management styles.
• Content vs. relationship conflicts - Why are the conflicts occurring?
• Developing more awareness of your emotions - Controlling our responses.
• Overcoming conflict through improved communication - Why communication is a learned skill and a conflict management tool.
• How to be solution focused not problem focused.
• Learning to proactively deal with conflicts.
• Understanding how to move beyond conflicts to behavior changes.

Customer Service

Changes in the customer/organization relationship have rendered traditional customer service programs obsolete. The digitized world, mobility, changing workforces and customer profiles, organizational structure, and globalization, among other factors, have drastically altered the meaning of customer service.

In addition, internal customer service through enhanced teamwork and collaboration, improved communication techniques, reduction or elimination of silos, continuous improvement. On-line merchants must depend on the connection between initial orders, billing and the delivery process. Service organizations (insurance, government, education) are now expected to provide glitch-free assistance which requires outstanding internal collaboration based on viewing all organizations subdivisions as providers (giving customer service) and consumers (receiving customer service).

What constitutes exceptional customer service? In most cases, creating and reinforcing exceptional customer service require alignment at all organizational levels. Consulting, to make certain the program is specifically designed for a particular organization, and training that is specifically adapted to different needs (not an off-the-shelf generic program). At a minimum, seven attributes define Exceptional Customer Service the KG way: proactive, exclaimed or passed on, highly responsive, solution oriented, customer driven, culturally drive, and broad definition of customers.

Good customer service, which is acceptable, includes: getting a problem-solved competently with no hassle, run around, or delay; dealing with people who know what they are selling, providing and doing; dealing with people who are authorized to provide information or make things happen; being treated as the customer wants, organizational anticipation of customer needs; and a beginning and ending of the transaction where the customer feels better than before it began. Customers expect to be: treated with respect, listened to, given a timely follow-up, and convinced the provider went beyond what was asked of them.

Examples Include:

Exceptional Customer Service; Developing a Customer Service Culture; Leading Customer Service Initiatives; Learning Organizations and Customer Service; Continuous Improvement and Customer Service.

Diversity/Intercultural Competence

Traditional examinations of diversity often were narrowly focused on specific differences. The entire make-up of the organizational world has been changing and this will continue with substantial increases in participation by traditional minorities and dramatic changes in demographics, multicultural backgrounds, and interests. The growth in female, African American, Hispanic, and Asian workers demands training and development in order to understand, value, and utilize these differences. Not only does diversity encompass more than gender or ethnic background, two-career families are becoming the norm, more individuals in the workforce are over 65 than in their teens, and people of color will outnumber the past majorities represented by white males. Generational differences are unlikely to disappear and organizations need to develop techniques for capturing the potential synergy. Finally, the internationalization of commerce has increased the need for employees to be prepared to work in a foreign country and to include other nationalities in the U.S. workforce.

Successful diversity or intercultural. competence programs are grounded in providing behavioral techniques and skills that lead to potential behavior change. Past programs tended to focus on differences and awareness which did not provide a platform for behavioral changes. KG consultants and trainers have carefully researched the current and future trends and the interventions can include single training programs or a more complete intervention. We have worked with foreign-owned companies operating in the U.S. to train their stakeholders on working and learning in another country. Our programs have also encompassed the multiple layers of the current and future workforce.

Examples include:

Cultural Diversity; Intercultural Competence; Diversity; Millennials; Working in Foreign Organizations; Beyond Diversity to Common Ground.

Emotional Intelligence - Putting It To Work

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the dimension of intelligence responsible for our ability to manage ourselves and our relationships with others. Each day, both in our personal and professional lives, opportunities and challenges present themselves. It is EQ that enables us to recognize and move toward the opportunity for a positive outcome. And it is EQ that enables us to meet even the toughest of life's challenges.

EQ is the distinguishing factor: (1) that determines if we make lemonade when life hands us lemons or spend our life stuck in bitterness; (2) that enables us to have wholesome, warm relationships, or cold, distant contacts; (3) between finding and living our life's passions or just putting in time; and (4) that enables us to work in concert and collaboration with others or to withdraw in dispute.

The competencies and gifts that EQ encompasses are many. Included are skills that drive our internal world as well as our response to the external one. Some examples include personal motivation; personal mastery over our life's purpose and intention; a well-honed timing for emotional expression and emotional control; empathy for others; social expertise that allows us to network and develop relationships that enhance our purpose; character and integrity that enable us to appear genuine and aligned; a tenacity to face and resolve both internal and eternal conflict; and personal influence that enables us to advance our purpose. EQ is a very valuable component to our functioning.

In study after study, from many different industries and professions, those who had high Emotional Intelligence (EQ) competencies outperformed their colleagues. EQ is the dimension of intelligence responsible for our ability to manage ourselves and our relationships with others. Each day opportunities and challenges present themselves and EQ enables us to meet even the toughest of life's challenges.

EQ refers to the ability to accurately identify emotions in ourselves and others as well as understand and maintain those emotions successfully. The business case for EQ has already been made. Higher levels of EQ will help solve our retention and morale problems, improve our creativity, create synergy from teamwork, speed out information by way of sophisticated people networks, drive our purpose, and ignite the best and most inspired performance from our followers and colleagues. Developing EQ makes us more able to motivate ourselves, manage stress in our lives, and resolve conflict with others. In addition, EQ is well established as a critical aspect of successful leadership.

For this topic, there are generic issues but KG's trainers and consultants customize the content to each client's specific needs.

Exploiting Change

The years from 2000 to 2010 created or reinforced more significant changes than any other 10 year period in recent history. While change closes some venues, it offers many new opportunities if organizations are aware of how to exploit change. KG has worked with organizations and leadership teams in a wide variety of industries, non-profits, government, and other businesses to systematically move from trying to manage change to exploiting change. The natural tendency is to attempt to minimize the impact of change which closes individuals' abilities to discover growth opportunities. Our consultants are experienced in facilitating exploiting change sessions and our trainers are skilled at facilitating leading change training programs for all organizational levels.

When faced with change, the most obvious response is to simply resist and hope the need will disappear. One strategy is to simply "rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic". Short-term strategies like overtime can easily extend into on-going practices which may not be the most proactive means of actually exploiting change. Continued use of extensive overtime runs the risk of wearing out current employees and not developing newcomers to help the future operations.

A more common strategy is first order change. These changes occur as part of an organization's adaptation to a changing environment which is also experiencing first-order changes. Training on topics such as developing teams often provide the tools for a second-order change such as self-directed work teams. Changing business hours or procedures to accommodate a key customer who needs a new shipping date would constitute a first-order change.

When the change involves fundamental alterations in business structure or product development and production processes, there is second-order change. Technology advances, globalization, and economic turmoil have increased the likelihood for the need for second-order changes.

Changes tend to succeed or fail unless depending on how three issues are dealt with. First, failing to identify roadblocks. There will always be roadblocks to change and these must be identified and overcome or co-opted. Second, changes need to be discussed in terms of opportunities for the future. Finally, a strategic change formula should be employeed. This is C (Change) = f (function of) (Dissatisfaction) x V (Vision) x P (Pathways) > Co (Cost). In other words, the reasons for change and the chances for success must be greater than the inevitable costs of change.

Examples include:

The Leadership of Change; Managing Change Through Leadership; Innovation and Creativity During Change; Any Damn Fool Can Burn Down a Barn: Turning Negative Impacts Into Meaningful Opportunities; Becoming a Learning Organization; Anticipating and Overcoming Change Obstacles; Paradigm Shifts, Reframing, and Cutting Edge Innovations.

Humor, Success, and Productivity

Humor is a critical gauge of employee satisfaction and organizational success. An impressive amount of research directly links humor and fun to increased employee satisfaction, better customer relations, increased safety, enhanced health-all with increased success and productivity.

Humor allows the analysis and discussion of various important issues, relieves stress, and increases acceptance of difficult, unpleasant, or complex ideas. Fun, not horseplay, enhances creativity and teamwork. The majority employees spend more time at work than any other activity and creating a climate that will be satisfying and help team members. In the end, learning to increase humor and fun might be the most critical interpersonal and leadership skills to be developed. Humor is not horseplay nor is it negatively directed at other team members.

• Humor can direct our attention to critical success issues including explaining organizational complexity or where do I fit in?
• Humor does not mean we have to be funny, but we do need to have a sense of humor. Humor is based on the unexpected or punch line. When something is incongruent, a surprise or provides unexpected insights, people tend to find humor.

Leadership

While there currently no single definition of leadership, successful leadership promotes the capacity of follows to achieve results, overcome adversity, and/or renew their commitment. There are literally thousands of books on leadership but KG's focus in on accomplishing tasks, uniting individuals, or allowing others to follow with clearly articulated visions which is the first major characteristic.. Willing followers, influence, emotional intelligence, information seeking, situational adaptability, and communication are the remaining six. KG utilizes a wide variety of approaches to examine and develop these seven characteristics. Current research underscores that leadership is not born but made which allows successful coaching, leadership training, evaluation, and empowerment. Unlike some earlier organizations, leadership in the modern company must permeate every level.

A further examination of the seven characteristics follows:

• Vision. Leaders forward a vision that clarifies direction, provides meaning, and motivates followers. Visions allow people to commit to common values and objectives within an organization which provides the foundation of corporate culture.
• Willing Followers. Leaders have willing followers which places the relationship between leaders and followers as the pivotal issue. While being in charge can achieve short-term outcomes, followers who understand and believe in the organization offers immediate and long-term success.
• Influence. Leaders are able to influence the behavior of others and sway others to join in action. It is the capacity to set priorities and goals.
• Emotional Intelligence. Evidence indicates that leaders who can create environments that are emotionally positive reap the benefits of long-term business success. The increasing importance of Emotional Intelligence at all levels of an organization means KG has provided a separate category in "Our Services" for this type of consulting and training.
• Information Seeking. Leaders seek information and encourage others to do the same. Effective leaders know that important decisions require a thorough understanding of the alternatives, consequences, and internal and external influences.
• Situational. Effective leadership depends on doing the right thing at the right time with the right goals and the right person. One size fits all does not apply to effective leadership. Leaders adapt to circumstances. The title effective leader occurs only when the individual(s) have been key factors in others' success.
• Communication. Leaders utilize communication to effectively create visions, develop consensus, coach and motivate others, and use symbolic behaviors. Walking the talk has emerged as a key factor in the followers' actions. Listening, feedback, two-way processes, recognition, clarity and telling clarifying stories are all important leadership communication attributes.

Examples include:

Leadership; Leadership Strategies for the Future; Leading During a Crisis; The Leadership Link to Effective Change; Leadership of Change; Learning Organizations; Leadership Communication; Leading as Supervisors, Team, Group, Shift Leadership Skills; Effective Motivation; Effective Meetings and Presentations.

Mediated Communication

The remarkable adoption of a vast variety of mediated and digitized communication techniques requires a deeper understanding of each one in order to make the proper choice of using the best one for a particular situation. The massive growth in digitized techniques has created a revolution in communication. By their very nature, these changes flatten corporate pyramids, change the competitive picture, redraw communication channels, and alter the traditional pathways to success. However, as with any communication technique, the best match between the needs of the communication process and multitude of choices needs to be made.

The following six issues are paramount: (1) Social presence - Are you really there?; (2) Media richness - The lean and mean theory; (3) Possibility for instant feedback; (4) Ability to convey multiple communication cues; (5) capacity for nonverbal communication; (6) potential to tailor messages to personal circumstances. With conferencing tools (audio, document, group, personal, web, whiteboarding), messaging/mail tools (email, instant messaging, text messaging, video mail), hybrid tools (social networking, virtual worlds); and repository tools (team sites, spaces; digital asset management); and distribution tools (blog, webcast/streaming, podcast) as possible choices, consultation and training is needed to make the best choice given the circumstances.

In addition, users need to utilize the right choice guidelines: Rich media + unambiguous task = communication failure; rich media + ambiguous task = effective communication; lean media + unambiguous task = effective communication; lean media + ambiguous task = communication failure. Applications to digital or mediated communication choices. An appreciate for synchronous-asynchronous on media choice needs to reinforced.

KG consultants and trainers will offer specifically designed interventions.

Millenials

This group brings a different outlook on life into the workplace. Those born in the 1980s will soon dominate the your workforce. Here are some conclusions worth considering when hiring and working with millenials. Since millenials are the future of an organization and the group who will support other's retirements, learning to deal with them is vital. While it is tempting to demand that they pay their dues and conform just like earlier generations, this may be a wasted effort. As with all employees, the good ones will seek other opportunities and the poor ones will stay for the salary.

Important findings in recent research should increase an organization's ability to hire, retain, and develop millenials.

1. Feeling of entitlement. Shockingly high expectations for salary, job flexibility and duties. Seem to expect everything the 20- or 30-year veteran has the first week they're there. A natural outcome of the self-esteem movement centered on making children feel good about themselves. It is, for the employer, too late to change the your employee's upbringing. Be prepared to explain to young people that success and privileges will not happen overnight; add that you know this is frustrating, but that is the way business works. Your patience and understanding will pay off.
2. The best thing to do is realize this generation is not "spoiled" and does not "have it easy." Millenials have been raised thinking they were special and getting great deal from their parents. They face an enormous mismatch between what they expect and what they will actually get.
3. They will work hard, but even harder if they are praised and appreciated. They were raised on extensive praise and almost expect it. They are not motivated by feelings of duty-working hard is not a virtue in itself, but it is worth it if they are singled out and recognized. They will be frank and might even few qualms about sharing information we might consider sensitive or private. They appreciate directness rather than abstraction. They do not have an automatic respect for authority and will feel free to make suggestions if they think it will improve things. We may have to earn their respect rather than receiving it simply by position in the company.
4. They learn best by doing. Raised on the Internet and in collaborative learning classrooms, they are not used to sitting through long, boring lectures. Training seminars will put them to sleep if they are not interactive. One on one training should be Socratic and task-oriented-don't just show them something, but have them to it themselves.
5. They are very flexible and used to dealing with diversity. For example, if you need someone to meet clients who are from a different culture or background, a young person-even if he or she is not from the same background-will adapt to this situation well. They may need some guidance on how to deal with older people. They may come off as being disrespectful when they are merely being friendly and informal.
6. They appreciate flexible schedules and independence. They will not respond well to micro management, and will find tight schedule stifling. During job interviews, it will help to include "we want you to have a life."
7. They do not take criticism well. They are used to feeling important and having their work praised. When you need to criticize their work, begin with something positive and explain the reason behind your criticism. Do not be surprised if you encounter defensiveness.
8. They can be ambitious. The optimism of youth, combined with the instant gratification technology has provided, often leads to impatience. Some will expect to be a senior manager within five years. It might be best if another young person-perhaps someone with just a few more years' experience-explains the usual length of career paths. This is especially true of the most qualified young people; even more than others, they have been encouraged to have lofty ideas about their future. Other young employees may have the idea that their job is only temporary, and before long, they'll break into acting, sell their screenplay, or get on American Idol. Don't worry, they'll find out soon enough they shouldn't quit their day job.
9. Salary is important to this generation. Every generation has valued compensation, of course, but young people today face an uphill battle to buy houses in a real estate market that has far outpaced inflation (not including the current economy). Add in escalating costs of health care and child care, plus a staggering amount of college debt, and young people are often in very precarious economic positions. Nothing raises the ire of a young person more than an older person who doesn't understand economic realities and assumes the young are spending on luxuries.
10. One of the best recruiting tools is good benefits. A job is an excellent health care plan is extremely difficult to leave. Retirement plans are a surprisingly good recruiting tool considering the youth of this generation. With so many more dual income families, perks like on-site day care, flexible schedules, work-at-home options and generous parental leave policies will also significantly improve retention.
11. Females will be just as confident and assertive as males. Males are likely to be interested in cooking. Metrosexuals will be interested in fashion. Women who have children will return to the workplace. Men are getting more and more involved in child rearing and many young men are not willing to miss out on their children because they have to work twelve hours a day. With more women getting a college education (57% of 2008 grads), an increasing number of men will make less than their wives. This is all based on a strong desire to have children and a decreasing standard of living for young families.

Negotiating

Negotiating is a vital part of doing business. In fact, many of our actions are negotiations in progress as we solve problems, settle disagreements and work for the best solutions. However, many individuals do not understand the structure, techniques, and approaches available to positively influence an outcome. Negotiating, when done well, obtains the best possible outcome for both parties guaranteeing short term satisfaction and a long term business relationship.

The traditional view of negotiating as a disagreement has been replaced with seeing negotiating, in most business situations, as a win/win process. Almost all business negotiations have moved from a win/lose or distributive approaches to integrative negotiating.

There are several key concepts:

• Obtaining successful agreements. How to develop options for joint gain.
• Recognizing conflicts, eliminating roadblocks, and resolving issues.
• The negotiation process: planning pre-negotiation, preparation, developing strategies and tactics, negotiation techniques, the negotiation session , and closure and implementation. Using objective criteria and standards to ensure fairness to both sides. Negotiate or talk first and then decide rather than entering the negotiation with a fixed solution.
• Developing a BATNA-the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. This increases the negotiator's ability to identify another choice for agreement increasing flexibility and allowing the negotiation process to reach a satisfactory outcome.
• Identifying your negotiation style and how to effectively utilize it. Learning to separate people issues (e.g., emotions, communication, reliability) from the problem or substantive issues (e.g., terms, dates, figures).
• Using negotiation skills to influence others, obtain support, and develop projects. Work on mutual understanding of each other's perceptions.
• Negotiating with difficult people and on difficult issues. Focus on improving relationships and productivity.

Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisal is the process by which someone evaluates an employee's work behaviors by measurement and comparison with previously established standards. While companies encourage effective performance appraisals, actually conducting a successful and useful performance appraisal is a learned skill. KG can evaluate the current performance appraisal processes and provide training and coaching in effective appraisals.

At a minimum, performance appraisals should document the results of an on-going appraisal process and effectively communicate the results to the employee. Performance appraisals should provide specific judgments of past performance and develop future performance. Performance appraisals functions include: providing input into administrative decisions, including salary adjustments, retention, job responsibilities, and promotions; developing employees, especially in the areas of higher performance, motivation, and goal-setting; identifying training needs by locating employee skill deficiencies as early as possible; helping in planning future human resource development strategies based on the level of talented and skilled people moving up the organizational ladder; and providing legal documentation of performance problems of marginal and poorly performing employees.

Six Underlying Principles for Performance Appraisals

1. Be objective - Judge the job, not the individual
   • Your goal is to examine the work results, not the individual. Words like initiative and attitude are examples of words that can make perfect sense to you but have remarkably different meanings for others. If an employee is chronically late or routinely fails to complete assignments in a timely manner, rate the employee of these particular points of behavior.
   • When you want to make a general comment such as "Please get the work completed more quickly" substitute what work in particular, what is a timely manner, and why it is important. Remember, just stop and ask yourself "Why do I want to say that?" and you'll have behavior nor personality.
   • Your can avoid claims of unfairness or discrimination if you confine your appraisal for an employee's performance to HOW the employee does the job. Letting your personal likes or dislikes play a role in your assessment isn't fair to the employee or the productivity of your department. Being objective means keeping your focus on the specifics of the job.

2. Goals and standards that make the grade
   • Standards should come from the same sources as goals: the job description the organization's specific needs. In addition to job descriptions, examine the employee's present ability, review the performance of the employee's co-workers, and look at the employee's past performance.
   • If there are weaknesses, listen to the employee's reasons for the inadequate behavior and get the employee to become part of the solution by taking an active role. In most cases, the best source for why something is not adequate will be the employee.
   • Setting realistic goals and standards gives the employee the opportunity to understand what you expect, and the chance to meet those expectations. By involving the employee in this process, you will gain the added benefit of improved cooperation, and a well-defined program against which to measure success.

Presentations

Modern organizations must effectively present themselves to a wide variety of internal and external audiences. Opportunities and demands for effective presentations range from small group/team meetings to training opportunities to larger audiences. Successful presentations help organizations prosper and individuals get ahead. Presentations are used to evaluate new ideas, sell products and services, explain policies and actions, and train new and veteran employees. This training and/or coaching topic will make internal presentations more effective, increase the productivity of meetings, strengthen sales, marketing, or fund-raising opportunities. Communication skills will improve with customers, clients, and colleagues.

First impressions are lasting impressions. For some, this knowledge increases anxiety which can be minimized through presentation training and/or coaching. Novice presenters often overlook the fact that audiences pay less attention to the message and more to voice tones and body language. Effective delivery is a learned behavior and failing to pay attention to this vital issue will lead to reduced success or failure. Understanding the audience will improve the preparation and delivery of the speech. Preparation which includes gathering information, limiting the speech to no more than seven points or concepts, and beginning with the end in mind will produce outstanding results. Question and answer opportunities can make or break a presentation.

Successful presentations are the result of training and/or past presentation opportunities. No one is a born speaker with a gift for gab. Instead, some individuals have opportunities to make presentations or be in front of an audience and this practice makes them effective. Past experiences can also ingrain counterproductive behaviors. Regardless, training or coaching can greatly improve our presentation skills. The mediated environment surrounding modern organizations requires everyone to examine their presentations approaches and consider important alterations that maximize the effectiveness of their mediated presentations.

General Principles

• All effective presentations focus on the meaning of the word communication which is to create some common meaning between the presenter and the audience. Presentations are not about information as much as they are about communicating the critical parts of the message in a meaningful way to the receivers.
• Presentations should function as a means of offering information that often overviews more complex, technical or lengthy materials that can and should be handled in the written backup materials. Your goal should be to present a clear overview of the material, explain the most significant aspects to guarantee receivers understand the concepts, and create and retain listener interests. Too much detail in a presentation will simply be lost since receivers tend to forget 50% of a message immediately after a ten-minute presentation and the retention dives to 25% within 48 hours.

Problem-Solving

All problems are opportunities -- sometimes in disguise! Problems can be referred to as "challenges," "situations," or "discovering opportunities" but there is a stimulating, positive side to problem definition and solving. Often the initial problem is only a surface indication of deeper issues. However, successful problem solvers caution that "if the answer were obvious, we'd already be doing it." Or, H.L. Mencken, a famous American editor and political commentator, said: "There is always an easy solution to every human problem-neat, plausible, and wrong."

Organizational problems come in many forms and KG specifically adapts any problem solving intervention to specific needs. Various processes from internal and external communication to continuous improvement to project focus demand varied approaches to problem solving.

Problem solving requires a process that includes: developing a thorough understanding of the current situation and defining the problem; completing a thorough analysis; thoroughly considering solutions; and developing a plan. The following guidelines are useful. 1) Spend time on solving the problem. A problem precisely defined is already half solved. 2) Isolate the problem. This can be difficult due to spending the minimum amount of effort on problem definition so we can work quickly on solving it. 3) Often the surface problem is only a symptom of a more important problem. For example, having a fever is a symptom of something more serious -- perhaps a cold, the flue, or even pneumonia. Similarly, in a company with rapid turnover, turnover is not the problem.

Situational Leadership

Situational leadership is an effective approach to developing, managing and motivating Individuals because it fosters a partnership between the leader the individuals that the leader supports and depends upon. In other words, situational leadership is not something the leader does to subordinates, it is something the leader does with the subordinate. Situational leadership is a proven process for developing people so they can reach their highest level of performance.

Situational leadership allows the leader to consider interacting variables in each leadership situation and effectively adapt their leadership approaches. Situational leadership training teaches leaders to adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation including the task, relationship and team member. Learning to analyze the needs of the situation and then adopting the most appropriate leadership style greatly increases a leader's success in developing subordinates.

Strategic Planning

Organizations, departments, teams and individuals do not plan to fail, they just fail to plan. With the velocity of current changes, strategic planning can appear to be a foolish journey. Actually, these recent challenges underscore the importance of examining our current operation and our future expectations.

Strategy establishes unique value proposition compared to competitors which will be executed through operations that provide different and tailored value to customers; identifies clear tradeoffs and clarifies what not to do; focuses on activities that fit together and reinforce each other; and drives continual improvement within the organization and moves it toward its vision.

Research indicates that 95% of a typical workforce doesn't understand its organization's strategy, 90% of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully, 86% of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy, and 60% of organizations don't link strategy to budgeting. Effective strategic planning includes techniques for putting the plan into action.

A strategic plan should include:

• A mission statement and a vision statement
• A description of the company's long-term goals and objectives
• Strategies the company plans to use to achieve general goals and objectives
• Action plans to implement the goals and objectives

Major Steps in Strategic Planning

1. Mission statement - To define and organization or department's core purpose. Why do we exist?
2. Vision statement - To explain where an organization is headed, its future state. To formulate a picture of what your organization's future makeup will be and where the organization is headed. What will it look like 5 to 10 years from now? Bringing things into focus.

Successful Selling

Organizations cannot exist without effectively selling services, products and/or knowledge. This program focuses on creating better relationships, generating more sales leads, delivering better presentations, creating more effective proposals, handling objections more easily, understanding customers better, closing more sales and staying motivated and focused.

Key concepts for a successful selling:

1. The Five Steps. (1) Attention: How to Gain a Favorable Start; (2) Interest: How to Capture It; (3) Presentation: What It's All About; (4) Desire: Building the Emotional Want in Your Offer; (5) Close.: Getting the Commitment and the Order.
2. Qualities of a Professional Salesperson: Image, Attitude, Depth of Knowledge, Breadth of Knowledge, Sensitivity, Enthusiasm, Maturity, Professionalism, Flexibility, Interest in Self-Improvement, Self-Control.
3. Building Relationships and Consultative Selling
4. Understanding Buyer Behaviors
5. Goal Setting and Time Management
6. Mastering Time and Territory Management
7. Self-Motivation
8. The Sales Presentation and Proposals; Differentiating Your Offer
9. Sales Questions
10. Overcoming Objections
11. Closing
12. Identifying Qualified Customers
13. Dealing With Objections for Constructive Outcomes
14. Selling to Diverse Audiences
15. Communication: Key Language and Terminology, Effective Listening Skills, Understanding Nonverbal Communication, Setting
16. Emotional Intelligence
17. Negotiating Effectively
18. Cultivating New Business; Leveraging Existing Relationships for More Business
19. Cross-Selling and Up-Selling
20. Why Customers Love Your or Leave You
21. Mastering the Telephone
22. Other forms of Technology to Complement Sales Effectiveness; Making Technology Choices Based on Purpose; Using Database Management; Strategic Accounts

Teams and Team Building

Teams and teamwork are underpinnings for most successful organizations. Between 70% and 82% of all U.S. firms have reams, and the number is increasing. Teamwork skills are one of the most commonly required skills in the work environment. Teams are formal work groups consisting of people who work together to achieve common goals.

Teams can range from self-directed work teams to virtual problem-solving teams. Often teams are ongoing groups of individuals who coordinate their activities, even when they are not in constant contact. Special task groups, intact work groups, new work units, or participation from various parts of an organization assigned to achieve a common goal are examples of teams. When team members are actively involved, there is a marked increase in understanding, shared vision, collaborative team strategy, buy-in to the implementation process, and use of the knowledge of participants. Teams can effectively improve processes, increase creativity, make higher-quality decisions, improve communication, reduce turnover, increase employee morale, and respond to global competition. There are important issues that must be considered when deciding to create, improve, or develop teams and team building.

Team building refers to a broad range of planned activities that help groups improve the way they accomplish tasks and help members enhance their interpersonal and problem-solving skills. It can help problem-solving groups make maximum use of members' resources and contributions. Team building can hep members develop a might level of motivation to implement group decisions. Team building is applicable to a large number of situations, from starting a new team, to resoling conflicts among members, to revitalizing a complacent team. The importance of team building is well established.

Keys to team effectiveness include: 1) clear mission, vision, goals, and purpose; 2) effective communication; 3) limited size; 4) skill levels appropriate for the complexity of team actions; 5) trust; 6) appropriate and supportive external leadership; 7) links between team activities and rewards. Effective training and development of teams must consider the needed steps to enhance these seven keys.

Work groups, project work teams, improvement teams, high-involvement work teams, and team integration all represent specific team design and processes which should be approached differently.

The role of individual rewards, management styles, and segmentalism must analyzed and understood.

Effective team communication, collaboration, conflict management, internal and/or external customer relations and satisfaction, problem-solving, equality, training and development, shared vision, proactive feedback and monitoring, decision-making, and leadership must be utilized.

The rise in virtual teams further underscores the importance of team building in order to maximize the mediated communication methods and enhance the interpersonal effectiveness of team members.

The key consultant for teams and team building is Dr. Tom Harris, author of Small Group and Team Communication, 5^th ed., (2010) and Applied Organizational Communication: Theory and Practice in a Global Environment, 3^rd ed.., (2008).