communication training Archives - Axiom Communications Ltd

Social media training that means business

August 8, 2016

Social media training for leaders and managers deliver a return on your investment in these digital tools

It’s always struck me as ironic that organisations spend a small fortune on internal social media tools like Yammer, Jive and Chat only to find that no-one engages with them. So how do you maximise your return on investment in these channels and use them to help deliver business goals? Effective communication and social media training has to be the answer.

I find that all too often the icons for these social media tools appear on people’s desktops or devices without explanation. Perhaps it’s the modern equivalent of dropping a computer mouse on every desk overnight without showing anyone what to do with it or the benefits of using it. Famously in a Star Trek movie, when going back in time, engineer Scotty picked up a mouse and spoke in to it like it was a microphone.

The thing to do is properly launch the new social media tool with a clear explanation of why the business has invested in it and a compelling account (sparing the technical details) of what it can do for individuals and how it’ll help them get their jobs done better. And even if it’s too late for a launch, it’s perfectly acceptable to back-announce the new tool in a similar way.

In tandem with your launch or back-announcement, it’s also vital to train employees in how to get value from this shiny new tool.

Social media and employee engagement

In a social media training workshop we ran for line managers in one client organisation recently, we began with a general brainstorm of the things keeping participants awake at night. We then crossed out the challenges that effective employee engagement could not help with. The list stayed pretty much unaltered – the obvious conclusion was that the vast majority of line managers’ challenges could be tackled, in some way, through improvements or interventions in employee engagement.

Workshop participants were now bought into common challenges and energised to solve them. Enter some of the new tools at our disposal to improve employee engagement: internal social media. And that’s when the cynicism, negativity, even fear kicked in: “I don’t understand social media,” “What if people are negative online?,” “I’m too busy to use it.” And my all-time favourite in any change situation: “It’ll never work here.”

Such concerns are understandable. A quick Google search on “social media at work” returns results connected to discipline, grievance, being fired, policy and risk. Heady and motivational stuff, eh?

And yet nearly all participants said they were active on social media outside work. And most people love the collaborative tech I bring to conferences and events, such as the iPad-based activities powered by Crystal Interactive. So the appetite for interacting online with colleagues is clearly there.

Remove the fear factor

The next thing to do in our social media training session was some jargon-busting. The simple explanations we gave of frequently used social media terms were welcomed by those willing to admit they didn’t know what a hashtag was (and were probably even more welcomed by those who wouldn’t openly reveal their ignorance!) I like to explain a hashtag as looking like the top view of a box with its flaps open… #. See what I mean? Now you’ve got a box to store content about a particular topic so you and others can easily find it in future.

We also introduced some plain English guidelines on using social media inside the firewall. One of my favourites: “If you wouldn’t print it on a T-shirt and wear it in a public place, don’t key it into your social media platform.”

With the ice now melted in our session, I went on to share some case studies showing how internal social media can help address critical business issues. A good example is how British Airways used Yammer to drive innovation.

Build relevant case studies

In response to the familiar cry “Yes, but we aren’t British Airways”, the task was to create a bank of relevant case studies, based on participants’ own organisational issues rather than someone else’s. This is where our social media training gets really pragmatic. We get participants to vote for their three or four shared challenges and then create actual social media solutions and campaigns, to be led by participants, that address these issues. In other words, we help participants get to grips with how they are going to deploy social media tools – in their own business context.

We make sure we build measurement into the campaigns designed with participants. The aim is to end up with hard proof of the power of social media tools in that organisation. In combination, the case studies, measures and advocacy of those involved can then spark similar solutions and campaigns within that business.

Working with a global pharmaceutical company, we needed to reinforce some business change messages with an audience of 60 who last got together six months earlier for a face-to-face event. This time around, we had just three hours and needed to deliver the whole thing virtually. We combined WebEx with the social media tool Chatter to drive interactivity and action-planning through, for instance, getting participants to comment on content in real time, ask questions and complete quizzes.

Tellingly, the vast majority of participants had not so much as opened their Chatter account before the event. By the end of it, they were saying how much they had valued and enjoyed using the tool and how connected they felt with one another despite being spread all around the world.

If you’re serious about turning a social media icon on a desktop into an iconic case study of how social media can help deliver business goals, your social media training had better mean business.

Build communication capability – at a 20% discount

November 27, 2015

Book your communication skills workshop now to invest for success!

What’s your new year’s resolution? How about turning your organisation’s leaders and managers into better communicators?

After all, if you can get them to communicate with skill, confidence and passion, it’s the single best way for you to influence and engage employees.

And right now, we’re offering a 20% discount off our usual rates for all communication skills workshops booked before the end of the year.

Interested? Then read more about Axiom’s array of communication skills workshops on everything from communicating change to running meetings to business writing. Then contact us to make a booking.

Networking works

September 22, 2015

10 tips to harness the power of networking inside your own organisation

Let’s start with a little wager: I’m willing to bet that, while you’ve no doubt got some really great relationships at work, many of those relationships are with all the wrong people!

My evidence for this assertion comes from over 20 years of doing a particular exercise with leaders and managers in communication skills workshops. I start by asking them to write down the names of the people they’ve already got great relationships with at work; and then I watch their chests puff up with pride as they rattle off quite a list. After a break, I challenge them to identify those people they need to have great relationships with if they, or the work they lead, are to get their rightful place in the sun. Again, we get quite a number.

But here’s the catch. When we compare and contrast the two lists, a terrible realisation dawns. Participants exclaim in anguish: “We’ve got some great relationships, just with all the wrong people!”

If this might be true of you, too, then your challenge is to build on the good relationships you already have while designing and developing a whole set of new ones. That’s where networking has a big role to play.

A very helpful definition of networking comes from Steven D’Souza’s book Brilliant Networking. Steve tells us that networking is: “the art of being true to your own values, beliefs and character, whilst building and nurturing reciprocal relationships that help individuals, or the group as a whole, to achieve their goals.”

Why would you not want to do that at work?

We’ve all become familiar with the notion of networking outside of work, for example to help get a new job. But I’m constantly surprised how few people apply best practice networking techniques inside their own organisation. This can be to communicate the contribution you and your team make to business success; to build influence; to get a budget; to gain a promotion. But the most important application of networking is far more outward looking than those things: to help other people.

Martin Luther-King once said: “Life’s most urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” Genuine networking is not something you do only when you want something – it is something you do all of the time, as part of the day-to-day rhythm of being at work.

“Why should I help someone else?” you might ask. Because you can, is the simple answer. Think of it as an emotional bank account, where it is always good to be in credit because you never know when you might need to make a withdrawal.

So what does good networking inside the organisation look like in practice? Here are my top 10 networking tips:

Do it daily. Make networking something you do day in and day out, as much part of your routine as logging on to your computer and grabbing that first coffee.
Be super clear what you can offer others. Authentic networking is as much about giving as receiving. So be confident about what you can offer others: your expertise, experience, time, resources, contacts…
Focus your networking activities. Identify the great relationships you have now – and identify who you need to build great relationships with. Be selective about the ‘events’ you attend, from lunch-and-learn sessions to internal symposiums. Look at the attendee list and focus your energies accordingly.
Do some digging. Find out as much as you can about the people you want to meet. Try to list 10 things that might help you establish rapport. These can be work-related as well as pastimes, etc. Your existing network might be able to help.
Hone your elevator pitch. This will help you establish your credibility the minute you meet someone new. We all know first impressions last, so make it interesting and focus on the difference you can make. Remember to make eye contact – and not with your own shoes, or even theirs! Eye contact means just that, so be confident and meet their gaze.
Move in new circles. If you continually fish in the same waters, you’ll catch lots of the same sort of fish. In networking terms, that means you’ll create a depth of contacts in your own field. But a breadth of contacts in new fields might be more helpful in the longer term and will certainly expand your network.
Reach out to ‘super-connectors’. These people exist in all walks of life and they’re easy to spot. They’re very popular and they’ve always got company in the canteen line – and it’s a different posse every day. Everyone seems to know these people and they seem to know everyone, including the people you might want to build relationships with. Connect with them and they may be able to connect you.
Hail on all frequencies. Just because you like email doesn’t mean your contacts do. So be visible, go and get your own sandwich at lunchtime, speak at events, update your profile on the intranet, get published in the employee newsletter. You can’t be an effective networker and hide. Neil Munz-Jones’ excellent book, The Reluctant Networker can help here. List all of your contact details on your correspondence, including your social media presence. People often reach out via their mobile devices these days.
List all the ways you can keep in touch – then keep in touch. This might include sharing interesting articles, commenting on a common interest, inviting people to internal events or speaking opportunities – or you could try the good old fashioned ‘popping by’ or ‘we haven’t spoken in a while’ phone call.
Set high personal standards and keep to them. Build trust: return calls when you say you will, follow through on the actions you commit to, introduce people in your networks when you said you would. Become famous internally for being someone who does. Then watch ‘reciprocity’ kick in as other effective networkers follow the example you set and help you grow your network.

I started with a challenging assertion – so let’s end with a call to action. Harness these 10 tips and the power of effective networking inside your business, build really great relationships with all the right people – and you and the work you lead will thrive.

PS If you want to add me to your network, then feel free to connect on LinkedIn or Twitter via the buttons at the top of the page

Next steps

Do people in your organisation need some help on any of this? Axiom communication skills workshops:

Building communication capability

July 15, 2015

Workshops help staff make maximum impact during major organisational change

More than 100 patient safety specialists at AstraZeneca have taken part in workshops to equip them with the communication and interpersonal skills to make more impact than ever before.

Designed and run by Axiom, the training supported a major project, billed as One Patient Safety, that brings together previously separate patient safety teams at AstraZeneca into a single organisation with a consistent way of working.

Patient Safety leaders reviewed our range of engagement skills workshops and chose four to include in a global ‘capability build’. In May and June, Axiom’s Chris Carey and Miles Henson led workshops in the US and Sweden on:

In their feedback, participants gave an average rating of 9.3 out of 10 for the communication capability workshops. Their comments included:

“Lively, lots of new info, practical.”
“Blend of great examples, practical, useful.”
“I learned a number of new things about negotiating that I can put into practice.”
“Engaging and provided real-world evidence for adopting a positive view.”
“I thought I knew everything about presentations – before this course!”

Our work to support One Patient Safety has also included writing and producing a range of printed and digital communication materials to engage staff worldwide. More workshops for Patient Safety staff are scheduled around the world later this year.

See our range of in-house communication skills workshops.

Knowing me, knowing you – it’s the best way to influence and lead

February 2, 2015

Beware the assumption that everyone else thinks like you do.

Axiom’s Miles Henson argues that leaders and managers need greater skill in tuning into others – and gives some tips for influencing your colleagues right now

However hard we try to get through to someone, sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Usually, that’s down to a mismatch between our default style and the style of the person we’re talking to. Too much detail, too much excitement, too much command-and-tell, not enough reflection – all these can lead to mis-communication and failure to bring about the change we want. For leaders and managers, it’s often the biggest barrier to getting results through others.

The key is to adapt our approach to the preferences and needs of the other person so we can talk in a way that engages and motivates them. Sounds simple enough, right? But for most of us some hard yards are needed before we are able to communicate in the self-aware, attuned and flexible way that’s needed.

Over many years working with outstanding leaders, managers and salespeople, I’ve come back again and again to an accessible and unerringly accurate model that helps people become skilful influencers.

DISC is a behavioural and communication assessment tool that examines people’s traits and how they act in a work setting. Its main output is a profile that categorises people based on four traits: dominance (D), influence (I), steadiness (S) and compliance (C). DISC has been used by more than 40 million people worldwide and is scientifically validated and recognised by the likes of the British Psychological Society.

Knowing yourself

Not surprisingly, most of us are a blend of one main trait and one or more subsidiary traits. Legendary Manchester United football manager Alex Ferguson is high on dominance – they seek and hold onto authority, they are driven, competitive and decisive. Entrepreneur Richard Branson, meanwhile, is primarily an influencer who works with and through others and empowers them to deliver, although he also has a streak of dominance that gives him his competitive edge. Tennis star Andy Murray mixes steadiness and conscientiousness – he’s precise, rigorous and focused on and off court.

The point is not that any one style is better than the others. Each has strengths – and of course corresponding pitfalls and blind-spots. Those high on dominance can be too impulsive and leave other people feeling pushed around or even bulled. Influencers can come across as over-optimistic and insincere. Those with a lot of steadiness in their profile might be slow to change and might be stuck with limiting beliefs. Compliant types can seem aloof and, from a need to ‘get it right’, can end up using 1,000 words when 100 would do.

Influencing and leading

The real value of the DISC model is that we can use it to become self-aware – to identify our own habitual ways of behaving and communicating – and then to read those we work with. That’s the foundation for being able to adapt how we communicate to tap into the other person’s needs and motivations.

DISC was a big help when I was coaching the UK chief exec of one of the global carmakers. The executive team he led was operating well below optimum, mostly because of an atmosphere of mistrust and misunderstanding. We explored and applied DISC to open his eyes to how his default style of dominance was causing him to be seen by some of his board colleagues as a table-banging bully.

From there, he learned to see how others’ needs and perspectives were different. His marketing director, an influencer, responded better to a softer approach. My client learned to find out more about him and his life, to ask how he was from time to time and, crucially, to listen to the answers he got. His finance director, who had quite a lot of compliance in his profile for someone who’d made it to such a senior role, needed more than just headline goals – he needed my client to get more involved with him in the detail.

Based on our work, the chief exec became a more effective influencer. He didn’t change his basic personality – he was still decisive, results focused and would dish out the ‘hairdryer’ treatment now and then. But he was more adaptable and subtle. Over time, the board started functioning better as a group rather than being a collection of talented individuals who rarely saw eye to eye.

Accessing the benefits of DISC

At Axiom, DISC is the centrepiece of a one-day workshop we run in-house for companies’ leaders and managers. Knowing Me, Knowing You helps participants gain greater self-awareness and hone their ability to attune to others. It challenges their engrained thinking and ways of interacting with others. Crucially, it provides practical tactics for effective influencing of a wide range of personality types – and plenty of chances to practise.

DISC has many benefits in employee engagement – including influencing others to support and contribute to a new strategy or initiative resolving conflicts and enhancing collaboration in and between teams.

We recently used DISC in work with leaders from the UK branch of international insurer Generali. Before the event, participants completed a DISC self-assessment questionnaire and received a personalised evaluation of their natural communication style. On the day, they explored ways to adapt their style to meet the needs of others with different DISC profiles. The workshop was just one element in an on-going package of support for Generali that seeks to drive up employee engagement by first building leadership capability.

And what about for those of you who can’t get onto one of our programmes any time soon? There’s no substitute for proper training in applying DISC, but even so it can be useful to think about the concept in the context of your day-to-day interactions. First of all, what might your profile be? And how does that compare with the profiles of those you work with? That simple step can help you avoid the trap of assuming that the other person thinks like you do.

Using DISC in your communication today

And some practical tips for communicating to someone in your team based on their likely profile:

If they’re primarily D (dominance), then keep your communication pacey and at headline level. Try to avoid challenging them in public; do it privately. And don’t be offended by short sharp responses – it’s all about the task remember.
If they’re more of an I (influence) type, they need to know you value the relationship so don’t make it all business. Talk ideas and opinions and not too much detail as they will get bored. Be enthusiastic and above all check that they are listening.
If they’re mostly S (steadiness), then they will always need time to reflect. They are relationship people but don’t impose your views as they will become stubborn or, worse, stop listening. Change needs to be given its proper context.
And if they’re C (compliance) by nature, it’s all about the detail of the task. They will see you as superficial if you’re always big picture or always smiling. Get into the nitty-gritty, make it logical and present your arguments with facts.

Above all, the old adage holds true: the meaning of the communication is the response you get. That’s why awareness and flexibility are so important.

Take a look at our Knowing Me, Knowing You workshop or contact us to discuss other ways we can use DISC to support your company’s leaders and managers.

Miles Henson is an Axiom consultant and communication and behavioural change specialist

Generali speaking, engagement starts with leaders

December 19, 2014

Top team at major insurer create their own development programme to build engagement capability

Leaders from Assicurazioni Generali SpA United Kingdom Branch (Generali UKB) are better able to influence their teams after learning to identify and respond to others’ habitual ways of behaving and communicating.

The 40 senior managers at the insurance firm honed their engagement skills in a workshop run by Axiom’s Miles Henson. The Knowing Me, Knowing You training is based on DISC, the behavioural and communication assessment tool that provides an insight into people’s personality traits and how they behave at work.

Before the event, participants completed a DISC self-assessment questionnaire and received a personalised evaluation of their natural communication style. On the day, they explored ways to adapt their style to meet the needs of others with different DISC profiles.

The workshop was just one element in an on-going package of support for Generali UKB that seeks to drive up employee engagement by first building leadership capability. In a kick-off workshop, we helped the organisation’s managers set their goals for business performance and employee engagement and then create their own bespoke engagement skills development programme that we would deliver. Knowing Me, Knowing You topped the wish-list.

In subsequent workshops, we helped leaders discover how to use storytelling techniques to engage employees and provided the leadership group with intensive training on the theory and practice of communicating change.

Rocco Romanelli, Head of Generali UKB, says: “Axiom has helped the company in understanding the meaning of employee engagement and therefore we are now much better equipped to motivate our people to execute the business strategy and deliver on our priorities.

“Axiom has challenged us to go further than I thought possible in a very short space of time.”

Our work with Generali UKB continues.

Full case study of Axiom’s work with Generali UKB

Our views on the essential communication skills for leaders and managers

The right way to write: How to be a better communicator part VI

October 27, 2014

Leaders and managers can’t rely only on charisma and setting the right example

They also have to influence others with the words they use. So how come so many write so badly? In this blog, the last in a series of six on the essential skills of employee engagement, Axiom copywriter Paul Johnson offers some tips on business writing

In 20 years as a corporate writer, I’ve met countless people at all levels who are very impressive face to face; they get their messages across with clarity, they convince, they sometimes even inspire. Yet ask them to put their ideas in writing, whether for a big set-piece presentation, a blog post or an important report, and it’s a different story – usually a long, boring and incoherent one. That’s often true even for those who could be expected to have an advantage thanks to a university degree or a background in marcomms.

Maybe it’s because, since leaving education, no-one has ever given them any pointers on their writing. Besides, what we learned to do at school, as we inched painstakingly towards an essay word count or tried to show examiners how terribly clever we were, is just plain counterproductive in the real world.

[Read more…]

Knowing Me, Knowing You: New communication training workshop to boost influencing skills

May 12, 2014

However hard we try to get through to someone, sometimes it just doesn’t happen

Usually, that’s down to a mismatch between our preferred communication style and the style of those we are talking to. Too much detail, too much excitement, too much command-and-tell, not enough reflection – all these things can lead to a mis-communication and a failure to bring about the change we want.

Knowing Me, Knowing You is a new workshop from Axiom that helps leaders and managers identify and understand people’s habitual ways of behaving and communicating so they can more effectively influence others. It is based on DISC, the behavioural and communication assessment tool that provides an insight into people’s personality traits and how they behave at work.

The difference it will make

Clear understanding of people’s habitual behaviour and communication styles through a simple and memorable model.
Greater self-awareness and self-confidence.
Improved ability to read others and communicate effectively with them – from the moment the workshop ends.

The workshop is designed and delivered by Axiom consultant and interpersonal communication expert Miles Henson. It is part of Axiom’s suite of communication skills training workshops for leaders and managers.