TRAINING & COACHING
Dougal Rose
How I Became a Trainer
After working for 10 years as a professional actor I embarked on a venture which became London's first ever bicycle based courier company named ON YER BIKE. We employed many other actors as cyclists and the business grew very quickly. Around 10 years after its formation the company sold for £1.5 million. Unfortunately for me I had made an earlier departure - doh! However, the combination of my acting and business background lead me into training consultancy specialising in presentation, communication, personal influence & impact skills.
For over 25 years, I have trained thousands of people within international orgnaisations including:
Apple, BMW, Duke of Edinburgh's Award, IBM, Glaxo SmithKline, Nokia and many others...
In the same way that a guitar needs re-tuning and sometimes needs a completely new set of strings, so you should be sharpening and renewing your personal skills for work.
We are living in an age where everything has become less predictable, and none of us can rely on life long careers - they hardly exist any more. So the way forward is to take every opportunity that comes your way to learn new ideas and take ownership of your own skills development.
My main areas of specialism are:
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presentation skills (face to face & on-line)
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public speaking (public events or conferences)
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personal impact & influencing
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media awareness & handling media inteviews
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training for trainers
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business writing for readability
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leadership communication skills
MAKE YOUR TALENT SHINE
Presentation Skills (face to face or on-line)
Many people worry about presenting with good reason - a presentation can make or break your reputation. But don't get too stressed because your'e in with a big crowd of people who feel the same. However you do need to practice and develop your skills, even if you consider yourself an experienced presenter. The digital age we now live in means that a growing number of face to face presentations can be recorded for people to access on-line, and cutting down on travel means more presentations have to be delivered as a webinar. My presentation skills training delivers practical tips and, most importantly, real to life practice sessions that help you develop and hone your skills for either face to face or on-line presenting. I work with small groups of up to eight people and provide individual coaching. I have also devised a unique programme providing bite-size & bespoke distance learning. This is delivered over two on-line sessions (over Skype) and which can include in-depth pre reading material and one to one follow up reviews.
You will learn how to:
- prepare a powerful presentation
- structure a presentation for maximum attention
- open and close the with impact
- maintain audience engagement throughout
- personal delivery & stage-craft skills
- present compelling and influential information
- manage difficult questions effectively
Brief details of each of my main training subjects can be found as you scroll further down, but firstly here's a simple idea you can work on straight away.
Positive Analysis
During my acting work I have always found that the best directors (in stage, film or TV) are the ones that focus on peoples strengths and allow them to shine in their own right. I have utlised this phylosophy across all my training & coaching activities and found that positive analysis always works well and is always very well recieved.
Try applying this idea to yourself. Next time you do something - maybe a task or a project at work, try to avoid the usual review that mainly looks at what didn't go so well. Instead focus on everything that went right, or the challenges that you managed to overcome. Make a full list. Don't skimp or overlook anything, however small. The list will surprise you and you will find out exactly what you applied in terms of knowledge, ability and skills. Congratulate yourself. You will have discovered some of your key strengths and, in the process, learnt something valuable that could help you with something similar in the future.
Now apply the same thing to someone you need to influence. Look at their strengths. Look how they manage to cope under pressure. If it's someone you find difficult to get on with, look for anything that redeems them! Then let them know what you have noticed that's positive about them and thank them for what you have learnt. Be honest and straight talking, don't over do it or under do it. Just be factual. Watch their face light up as you tell them. You have just made an impact on that person which they won't forget.
LOOK FOR THE
BRIGHT LIGHTS
Public Speaking (public events or conferences)
A public speech can give even a seasoned actor the shakes. It's that thought that you don't really know the audience. You may have an idea of why they are there to listen, but you may not know their particular focus or knowledge level.
The core skills that make a public speech different to any other presentation are two-fold. Firstly it's about finding a myriad of failsafe ways to engage people with the information, and secondly it's the stagecraft skills that help you deal with the setting, particularly if it's a large venue.
My training can be adapted to help cope with all aspects from creation of the speech right through to the delivery. The training can be cater to groups of up to eight people or as individual one on one coaching.
You will learn how to:
- create and prepare a great speech
- structure the speech to gain maximum attention
- open and close the speech effectively
- maintain audience engagement throughout
- make the most of personal delivery skills
- utilise effective stage-craft techniques
- manage questions effectively (public or media)
Personal Impact & Influencing
When you automatically click with someone there is something of a science involved. People sometimes call it chemistry when referring to a love interest. That same so called science can be used to enhance your impact with people at work.
This has nothing to do with seniority or any kind of hidden agenda or manipulation. It has everything to do with making the most of your interactions with people so they view you in a positive light.
My training in this subject covers three main aspects; how you think internally, how you view yourself and others, and how you interact. You will learn the difference between 'above the line' and 'below the line' thinking and how those thought patterns make a difference to your effect on others. This can be delivered to groups of up to eight or as individual one on one coaching.
You will learn how to:
- use your strengths to your best benefit
- maximise working relationships
- enhanced difficult working relationships
- communicate with greater impact
- influence and persuade effectively
- manage your work & life balance
- create an effective impact & influence action plan
Media Awareness
& Handling Media Interviews
Since the rise of social media, unexpected media attention can happen at any time. An event that causes enough people to comment in any of the social networks automatically causes mainstream media to pay attention.
This means that any company, charity or public service (and individuals) can come under the spotlight. The only way to be prepared for such an event is to pro-actively prepare, and that's what this training is all about.
The two titles above can be combined or delivered separately as required. Media Awareness looks at who the media are, how they operate and how to prepare for media attention. Handling Media Interviews gives bespoke coaching and practice for all those who may be selected for press, radio or TV interviews - all of which may include internet coverage or broadcast as well.
You will learn how to:
- proactively plan for unexpected media attention
- avoid pitfalls when media contact occurs
- use media to positive effect
- handle press, radio, TV or internet interviews
- pitch messages for target audiences
- utilise questions to communicate key messages
- handle difficult questions effectively
- make a positive personal impression
- build good relations with media professionals
Training for Trainers
Most people who are selected to teach others are chosen for their knowledge. The unfortunate truth though is that great knowledge does not always transpire into great training ability. Long winded teaching sessions loaded with hundreds of complex slides, covered in text and too many diagrams, can actually equal very limited learning! Worse still if the trainer has pitched the training too high for the learners.
Even if you aren't delivering slide based training, you still need to watch that the very level of your knowledge isn't a hindrance to the learner.
This programme looks at how you can ensure the knowledge in your own brain is properly transferred into the brains of your learners. This will help you plan, effectively deliver and clearly assess the results of all your training delivery.
You will learn how to:
- plan and prepare effective training
- analyse learning styles & adapt the training
- pitch a training around how people learn best
- create an interactive & participative approach
- maintain trainees engagement
- ensure the learning is memorable
- utilise personal delivery techniques
- use questions to assess objectives are met
Business Writing for Readability
For a moment, have a think about the number of emails you receive that you put off reading until later, or that you deleted because there wasn't much relevance to you. Then consider the junk mail you place in the bin. Even more so, the letters, reports and presentation slides that have been sent to you that now sit somewhere in your computer, but you haven't read them fully yet. Actually you did read them (of course you did), but you can't remember all the contents now, so you might have to take another look...sometime!
Now consider that others may well be doing the same thing with items you have sent them (pause for thought).
One of the biggest misconceptions people make is in thinking that other people will be eager to read the documents you sent them.
So lets go back to the beginning and really learn how to make sure your careful produced business messages sent in writing actually grab attention and hit the target.
You will learn how to:
- create effective business writing
- grab and maximise the readers' attention
- follow a logical path for all business writing
- get your message across with maximum clarity
- influence the reader(s) where required
- save time for yourself and the reader(s)
- gain the readers response and action(s)
- apply success factors to all business writing
(letters, emails, reports, proposals, business bids,
marketing & sales literature)
Leadership Communication Skills
Scan the internet on the subject of leadership and you will find a huge amount of information about leadership principals, leadership qualities and ways to be a great leader. All good information, but it's the putting it into practice that can be a challenge.
This training focuses on one of the main top qualities of good leadership - communication. In our ever more unpredictable and complex world your work requires quick, strong, clear and precise communication.
Try an experiment. Next time someone asks you if they can have a few minutes of your time, note how long they actually take. See if "a few minutes" actually means half an hour.
What business needs is for communication to be as precise and accurate as everything else. Combine this with good networks that create rapid sharing of information and speedy responses between teams and you have a much sharper edge to the business.
You will learn how to:
- maximise clarity in all communications
- manage complex information to create brief messages
- deliver persuasive & influential communications
- manage meetings to produce clear outcomes
- manage attitudes during difficult conversations
- manage responses to ensure positive outcomes
- produce clear and influential business writing
….and you discover how to apply the above to:
- presentations, webinars & webcasts
- letters, emails, reports & proposals
- meetings, performance reviews & interviews
Fees for groups start at around £600 for up to eight people
Fees for one to one coaching start at around £200
Call me on 07814 516108
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