Building Positive Workplace Relationships: Your Key to Success

• Understanding the importance of people skills and how they affect your job
• Determining your interpersonal strengths and weaknesses: how you work with people
• Analyzing your interpersonal behavior and what it’s telling you
• Evaluating common behavior styles and how to communicate with each to get what you want
• Why communication is such a big deal in effective workplace relationships
• Activity: Self Profile and analysis

Making – and Keeping – a Favorable Impression on Others

• How your interpersonal skills affect others – and what you can do about them
• Making a strong first impression: introducing yourself and meeting others
• Establishing rapport: making others feel valued
• Building win-win relationships with employees, peers, and superiors
• When people skills go bad: top mistakes that can sour any relationship

Create an Environment That Fosters Excellent Communication

• Words and phrases that you should avoid – and what to say instead
• The communication breakdown: where it happens and how to stop it
• Verbal vs. nonverbal: how each impacts communication and your message
• How to avoid sending contradictory and confusing messages
• Avoiding common “speak now, apologize later” situations
• Creating a connection when you aren’t face-to-face
• Activity: Analyze common barriers to effective communication and their solutions

Using Listening Skills to Your Advantage

• Why listening skills are crucial for building solid relationships
• Understanding the fundamentals of active listening
• How to make people feel “heard” by using reflective listening and responding
• Silence is golden: using “attentive silence” so the speaker can think, feel, and act
• What to do when the person you’re listening to just won’t stop talking
• Activity: Test your listening skills with interactive audio clips

Building Bridges Across Your Organization

• Overcoming the challenges of communicating across generations
• The secrets to building relationships in a multicultural workforce
• Crossing the divide: working effectively with other departments
• Forging bonds with those whose work and communication styles are different from your own
• Overcome negativity in the workplace – and stop it from spreading
• Activity: Group discussion: Boosting morale and productivity in culturally diverse workplaces

Calm, Cool, and Collected: Strategies for Managing Conflict

• Finding the source of the problem
• Tips for keeping your emotions in check
• Strategies for defusing others’ emotions
• The 3-step process for working through conflict
• How to ensure that everyone walks away a winner – and why it’s vital for solid workplace relationships
• Activity: What would you do? Video clips and analysis
  

Working With Difficult People and Other Tough Situations

• Getting through to their psyches: why difficult people are difficult
• Understanding how your behaviors and attitudes impact others
• Strategies for quickly defusing explosive situations
• Tips for giving and receiving criticism and still getting positive results
• Finding the right words: scripts you can use in tough situations
• Creating a foundation for getting positive outcomes no matter the situation
• Activity: In the line-up: understanding difficult personality types and how to forge positive relationships with each.

Keys to Persuading and Influencing Others

• Strategies for getting buy-in for your ideas – every time
• Negotiation skills successful pros use time and again
• Quick and easy methods for winning over an adversary
• How-to’s for persuading others
• Understanding and avoiding common barriers to getting your point across
• Your last resort: what to do when they just won’t see it your way