What's a Toad Day? (and why you need to know)
In everyone's life there lies a dark, festering pool of nasty tasks which have been shoved aside for so long that nobody wants to touch them, yet which will surely boil up into ugly crises if ignored long enough. You have them, I have them, everybody has them.
While these ugly cesspools aren't directly related to communication, the truth is that they can and will wreak havoc with every one of the Fundamentals of communication and throw you off your communications game for weeks or months. Thus, in order to enable clear, purposeful and productive communications, we need to deal with these ugly matters.
In this spirit, clever professionals have developed what we call a Toad Day. The notion is to set aside one, two, or more days per year to do nothing but deal with the Ugly File.
This module is dedicated to advancing effective communication by getting the nasty, threatening, dark shadows out of the way.
Scar Tissue: Why It's Important and How to Parlay It
The truth is that none of us are born smart, and most of us generally learn by making mistakes. Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Thus, those who have ventured and fought and taken wounds as the price of advancement have much to teach to their wiser followers who are prepared to listen to warriors who have waged battle and have the scar tissue to show for it. If the tribe is to prosper, it will prosper in the hands of the young who treasure and learn from the wisdom of their elders.
This module is about the old warrior communicating with passion and the young warrior communicating with respect-- how are hard-won lessons passed along from one generation to the next? How does this impact the organization's DNA and success?
Who's Your Audience? The importance of targeted communication
The ancient riddle asks if a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody to hear it, does it make a sound? Without addressing that conundrum, we quickly understand the point that speaking to nobody is futile.
This module focuses with laser precision on the need to read the audience with bull's eye accuracy. So many speeches and letters are sent off into space in hopes that some sentient being will receive and respond. If you have an infinite amount of time and resources on your hands, that's fine, but if you have limited resources, limited time, and the response of your listener really matters, then you need to focus on your listener. What does he already know? Why does he care about your message? Can he speak your language?
Reviewing the Fundamentals, this module focuses on understanding and focusing on the recipient of the communication.
Understanding the Difference Between Leadership and Management
What's this topic doing in a communications programme? Everything, actually.
Remember the Five Key Qualities of the Master Communicator? They are integrity, passion, mastery, appeal and attunement. As it happens, these are five key qualities of a great leader. If you're content to wear a badge and manage by the rules, you should consider some other module, but if you have a burning desire to lead your team, department or organization to be all they can be, then this communications module is for you.
Websites, Blogs and Newsletters
If you want to be a leader, these are the key to growing a following. Exciting and rewarding, yes. But the price is steep-- are you ready to pay it? In this module we will explore and compare the many vehicles which are available, how to begin, how to continue, how to find efficiencies by recycling material, how to get feedback, and yes, how not to run afoul of Canada's anti-spam legislation.
Traits That Make You Sound Amateurish (and What to Do About Them)
Talking to Yourself-- Learning How to Step Outside Yourself and Hear What You Really Sound Like
Learn quick tricks and develop lasting skills to self-criticize your messaging before you deliver. Learn how to improve on today's messaging so that tomorrow's is more professional. We will look both at simple steps you can take today and at more sophisticated learning techniques such as recording your talks for (frequently painful) playback and review.
How Many Kinds of English Are There? (And Why the Answer to This Question Can Spell Success or Failure in Your Communication.
This module explores the many varieties and flavours of English, with an occasional look at interesting cases in other languages. Dialects, mesolects, accents, regionalisms, professional jargon, slang-- these and more can be precision tools in the hands of the skilled communicator, but grievous traps for the unwary. We will learn how to tune yourself to your audience's normal language patterns, how occasionally to play safely with out-of-tune for effect but mostly how to avoid jarring your audience by being out-of-tune.
How I Moved From Doing What I Liked to Doing What I Loved
Many professionals and senior public servants have spent decades doing a solid job, but the passion is long gone. Over the years, though, without thinking about it, they have developed a skill set closely related to their fundamental passions and are ready to ignite, if only the oxygen of a dream is breathed into their lives.
This workshop is designed to identify the expertise and the passion and point them in the most rewarding direction, whether financial or personal, or both.
In everyone's life there lies a dark, festering pool of nasty tasks which have been shoved aside for so long that nobody wants to touch them, yet which will surely boil up into ugly crises if ignored long enough. You have them, I have them, everybody has them.
While these ugly cesspools aren't directly related to communication, the truth is that they can and will wreak havoc with every one of the Fundamentals of communication and throw you off your communications game for weeks or months. Thus, in order to enable clear, purposeful and productive communications, we need to deal with these ugly matters.
In this spirit, clever professionals have developed what we call a Toad Day. The notion is to set aside one, two, or more days per year to do nothing but deal with the Ugly File.
This module is dedicated to advancing effective communication by getting the nasty, threatening, dark shadows out of the way.
Scar Tissue: Why It's Important and How to Parlay It
The truth is that none of us are born smart, and most of us generally learn by making mistakes. Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Thus, those who have ventured and fought and taken wounds as the price of advancement have much to teach to their wiser followers who are prepared to listen to warriors who have waged battle and have the scar tissue to show for it. If the tribe is to prosper, it will prosper in the hands of the young who treasure and learn from the wisdom of their elders.
This module is about the old warrior communicating with passion and the young warrior communicating with respect-- how are hard-won lessons passed along from one generation to the next? How does this impact the organization's DNA and success?
Who's Your Audience? The importance of targeted communication
The ancient riddle asks if a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody to hear it, does it make a sound? Without addressing that conundrum, we quickly understand the point that speaking to nobody is futile.
This module focuses with laser precision on the need to read the audience with bull's eye accuracy. So many speeches and letters are sent off into space in hopes that some sentient being will receive and respond. If you have an infinite amount of time and resources on your hands, that's fine, but if you have limited resources, limited time, and the response of your listener really matters, then you need to focus on your listener. What does he already know? Why does he care about your message? Can he speak your language?
Reviewing the Fundamentals, this module focuses on understanding and focusing on the recipient of the communication.
Understanding the Difference Between Leadership and Management
What's this topic doing in a communications programme? Everything, actually.
Remember the Five Key Qualities of the Master Communicator? They are integrity, passion, mastery, appeal and attunement. As it happens, these are five key qualities of a great leader. If you're content to wear a badge and manage by the rules, you should consider some other module, but if you have a burning desire to lead your team, department or organization to be all they can be, then this communications module is for you.
Websites, Blogs and Newsletters
If you want to be a leader, these are the key to growing a following. Exciting and rewarding, yes. But the price is steep-- are you ready to pay it? In this module we will explore and compare the many vehicles which are available, how to begin, how to continue, how to find efficiencies by recycling material, how to get feedback, and yes, how not to run afoul of Canada's anti-spam legislation.
Traits That Make You Sound Amateurish (and What to Do About Them)
- “Please be advised that...”
- “I'd like to take this opportunity to...”
- “Umm,...”
- “Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking...”
Talking to Yourself-- Learning How to Step Outside Yourself and Hear What You Really Sound Like
Learn quick tricks and develop lasting skills to self-criticize your messaging before you deliver. Learn how to improve on today's messaging so that tomorrow's is more professional. We will look both at simple steps you can take today and at more sophisticated learning techniques such as recording your talks for (frequently painful) playback and review.
How Many Kinds of English Are There? (And Why the Answer to This Question Can Spell Success or Failure in Your Communication.
This module explores the many varieties and flavours of English, with an occasional look at interesting cases in other languages. Dialects, mesolects, accents, regionalisms, professional jargon, slang-- these and more can be precision tools in the hands of the skilled communicator, but grievous traps for the unwary. We will learn how to tune yourself to your audience's normal language patterns, how occasionally to play safely with out-of-tune for effect but mostly how to avoid jarring your audience by being out-of-tune.
How I Moved From Doing What I Liked to Doing What I Loved
Many professionals and senior public servants have spent decades doing a solid job, but the passion is long gone. Over the years, though, without thinking about it, they have developed a skill set closely related to their fundamental passions and are ready to ignite, if only the oxygen of a dream is breathed into their lives.
This workshop is designed to identify the expertise and the passion and point them in the most rewarding direction, whether financial or personal, or both.