Recently Added Programs

Managing Challenges in Customer Service During an average working day in a call center, customer service agents (CSAs) handle dozens of customer calls. The calls may range from simple requests for product information to urgent demands for solutions to complex problems. The callers may range from quiet, logical, and professional in their manner to noisy, impatient, and infuriated. CSAs are expected to meet the challenges of handling all of these calls and customers with speed, skill, accuracy, and composure. This course helps CSAs to manage these challenges successfully. It teaches CSAs effective techniques for handling aggressive callers, such as controlling, outraged, and threatening customers. It also teaches CSAs practical methods of managing nonaggressive but nonetheless difficult callers, such as customers who demand more...

Professional Skills for Customer Service Agents As a customer service agent (CSA), the focus of your job is to solve customers' problems within a short amount of time. To do this, you have to understand the optimum methods for professionally processing a large volume of customers representing many different personality types. This can be a challenging task. You can successfully handle an agent's workload while satisfying customers by mastering a few vital skills. "Professional Skills for Customer Service Agents" covers professional issues such as call-center ethics and call protocol; procedures and techniques for handling calls and gaining customer confidence; and questioning and listening skills to help you address customer concerns more effectively. You will learn skills that help CSAs to efficiently and respectfully gather customer more...

The Customer Service Agent in Action There are now some 7 million customer service agents (CSAs) working in nearly 80,000 call centers in the United States. Call centers are burgeoning in Europe and the Pacific Rim as well, and experts predict that the number of CSAs will grow by 20 percent each year. Worldwide, revenues for the call center industry could soon reach almost $60 billion. The magnitude of these numbers suggests the important role that customer service agents play in today's business world. This course is designed to help CSAs understand their essential functions as well as the context and importance of their work. Increasingly, CSAs are responsible for managing customer relationships. Their jobs have evolved from simple processing of customer service requests to more complex nurturing of the customer, supporting more...

Internal Customer Service Conflict and Complaints Simulation Complaints are an inherent part of customer service, and this is especially true of internal customer service. No matter the level of vigilance, problems will arise, and when they do, they must be greeted with quick and effective responses to ensure that business can proceed. The Internal Customer Service: Conflict and Complaints Simulation has been designed to allow participants to practice handling customer service complaints within the relative safety of a learning environment. Over the course of the simulation, participants will apply their conflict-handling skills to overcome a host of obstacles and provide excellent internal customer service. Special emphasis will be placed on the participant's ability to nurture a customer service environment that is open to and accepting of more...

Overcoming Internal Customer Service Problems Managing relationships with your internal customers isn't always smooth sailing. When internal customer service does not go according to plan, problems occur, or communication breaks down, what can you do to get your plans back on track, and break down barriers? At times like these, you and your employees need to act swiftly and proactively to solve the problem, and regain the customer's trust. In this course, you'll learn the art of sustaining excellent service, and recovering the situation when things go wrong. By examining the pitfalls that can occur, and following a set of useful techniques and guidelines, you can salvage internal customer relationships, and increase your chances of sustaining customer service excellence. Managers, supervisors, customer service representatives, more...

Working With Internal Customers Excellent customer service lies at the heart of any successful business. However, you should not overlook the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of your fellow employees, your internal customers. By helping other people within your organization, you enable it to succeed. Great internal customer service improves people's morale, productivity, and external customer service, and ultimately makes your organization more financially secure. Giving great service to your internal customers means that people you work with can see, hear, and feel that they are valued. When employees value one another, the result is increased performance, which contributes to the success of the entire organization, and creates a positive and productive working environment. Customer service more...

Excellence in Internal Customer Service In today's fast-changing and highly competitive business climate, offering excellent customer service has never been so important. But what about taking a different approach? Has your organization tried looking inwardly to find the answers to offering great service? Organizations consist of an independent chain of individuals and functional units, each taking inputs from one another and turning them out into external customer service. If everyone within the organization works to provide their "internal" customers with better service, then the end customers will receive a much higher quality service in the long run. Focusing on your internal customers not only helps your organization to survive and prosper, but also has the added benefit of motivating your employees, meeting their needs, more...

Performance Metrics for an Inbound Call Center The call center environment typifies the active, fast pace of the business world. In this hectic environment, is there time to consider how things are being done? There should be. As the call center industry slowly transforms into a customer management industry, the impetus will be on call center managers to ensure customers receive the best service possible. But where do you look to analyze performance? Is performance quantifiable? Yes it is Call center performance metrics outlines the path to improved operations. This course will explore the full range of call center performance metrics. It will look at where the metrics come from, what they reflect on, and how they can be analyzed to improve performance. This series is targeted specifically for call center managers, but would also be a more...

Inbound Call Center Technology Today, the technology within the inbound call center is constantly changing and improving. How can you, as a call center manager, keep up with this advancing technology? Moreover, why should you? This course will explain the fundamentals of inbound call center technology, and explore ways current technology might evolve. It examines different methods of obtaining this technology, and outlines how to protect your call center through Disaster Recovery Planning. Understanding inbound call center technology is one important step to providing better service to your customers. Having technical knowledge of the call center is a considerable advantage when few in the call center environment understand the technology they work with. This series is targeted specifically for call center managers, but more...

Inbound Call Centers People Management Inbound call centers are often the only link between a company and its customers. As a call center manager, you want to hire agents with special customer service "genes." Good call center agents do a better job on the telephone, are happier with their work, and genuinely enjoy helping customers. This course will help you staff your call center with the right people for the job. You'll learn how to select the best candidates, accommodate agent diversity, and become aware of union and nonunion personnel policies. Have you ever wondered how to attain high agent performance and low employee turnover? This course will show you how. You'll learn about calculating agent requirements, building workforce schedules, and conquering employee absenteeism. Finally, this course will present procedures more...

Inbound Call Center Management Leadership Did you know that your personality can greatly affect your leadership skills? Are you aware that even if you are a fabulous manager, you may not be an effective leader? As a call center manager, how can you motivate everyone, including senior management, to work together toward a common goal? As you progress through this "Inbound Call Center Management: Leadership" course, you will become aware that enhancing your leadership skills can move you closer to your goal of managing an efficient and team-oriented call center. By participating in this course, you are ensuring that your call center will receive the best management and leadership that you can provide. This series is targeted specifically for call center managers but would also be a valuable asset for call center executives committed more...

The Inbound Call Center Inbound call center managers of this century will face many of the same challenges that their counterparts faced in the 20th century. The emphasis will still be on the development and acquisition of cost-effective methods to provide customers with the service they demand. By ensuring that you have a good knowledge base of the inbound call center industry, you are establishing a sturdy framework for success. This course will provide you with the knowledge needed to identify customer care benefits resulting from key events in the history of call center technology; recognize the effect of environmental factors on productivity; apply the processes to turn the phone answering service into a business center; understand the value of linking with the rest of the organization; and employ methods to more...

Call Center Telephone Sales How many times have you attempted to get your point across over the phone, only for it to end up unsuccessful? Would you like to improve your conversational skills? When you take this course, you will learn how to save your and your customer's time. Learn which principles and techniques of selling, professional presentation approaches, and telemarketing laws apply to you. Using your time efficiently is important because time is money Remember this course is dependent on the previous call center courses; to be a good sales rep, you need a combination of communication and customer service skills. This series is targeted for new, front line agents at a call center. more...

Call Center Customer Service Have you just become a call center customer service representative? Maybe you are experiencing some feelings of anxiety, as do many novice agents. You may be concerned about dealing with customers' issues one-on-one. Fortunately, there is a comprehensive training course for people in your situation. This course will help you overcome reservations about customer service in a call center setting. This course for potential or new call center agents is designed to introduce the learner to the necessary information and tools required to professionally handle customer service calls in a call center environment. Becoming a great customer service representative requires having finely tuned communication skills. Therefore, it is suggested that the you take the course "Call Center Communication more...

Call Center Communication Skills Communication skills are very important for a successful career in customer service and sales. This is especially true in a call center environment. Call centers can be high pressure, fast-paced environments where you may have to deal with hundreds of people in one day. That is why it is so important to fine tune your communication skills. This course will examine handling different personalities, questioning skills, and telephone skills. These skills are essential to help you to communicate effectively and professionally with your call center customers. This series is targeted for new, front line agents at a call center. more...

The Call Center Industry When people pick up a phone and hear someone greeting them from the XYZ Company, they put little thought into the people, process, or technology behind the phone call. To them, the person on the phone is just a voice on the other end of the line. This course will examine all of the aspects of a call center. In order to facilitate this examination, this course has been broken down into three parts: overview, call center organization, and call center technology. This course is targeted for new, front line agents at a call center. more...

Consulting with the Internal Client Simulation Internal consultants have become more and more prevalent in the business world today. Rather than hiring an outside firm, many companies are building their own internal consulting units. These units are faster, cheaper, and more connected to the projects they manage. Internal consultants within these units must have strong communication, research, diagnostic, and presentation skills. In this simulation, you are a marketing manager at Millennium Mobility, a global manufacturing company that makes peripherals for handheld computers, PDAs, and mobile phones. The internal consulting unit at Millennium is expanding and you are interested in a position within that group. It won't be given to you though; you have to interview for it. If hired, you will have to practice your research, diagnostic, more...

Evaluating Internal Assignments So, is it success or failure? It's crucial that you take time to review your project and confirm outcomes on completion. What has been achieved, and what didn't go as planned? And how have you performed personally? Of course, success depends on your ability as an internal consultant to continually develop in the role, increase your skills, and make overall improvements in your performance. This course will help you to review internal consulting projects, complete successful handoffs, and identify improvement opportunities to "kick start" your personal development. Anyone with some specialist knowledge who has recently moved, or is considering moving, into internal consulting more...

A Workable Solution for Internal Clients One of the many challenges of working as an internal consultant is that of "making things happen." But making decisions isn't always easy. There are so many options and you may encounter resistance to changes you propose during internal consulting assignments. How should you deal with this? And how can you be so sure that working practices won't simply revert back once you're "off the scene?" You don't want to be seen as a "visitor" who simply recommends change and then lets others make it happen. This course will focus on decision-making tools and models, and how they can be used to improve your diagnosis. It will also deal with the crucial issue of change; how to manage and implement it successfully so that you really do make a bottom-line improvement to the business. Anyone with some more...

Establishing a Relationship with Internal Clients Even if your clients are internal to your organization, you still need to spend time getting to know them, and understanding what it is they require from you. When you are dealing with internal clients, there may be a temptation to think you know everything about them, and about the project. This course will stop you from making that mistake. It will enable you to understand your clients' needs clearly, in terms of project requirements and the way they work. By understanding your clients, you will be able to adjust your approach to the project accordingly, and take an appropriate role within the team. You will also be in a better position to build an effective and successful team that can function quickly and effectively. Anyone with some specialist knowledge who has recently moved, or is more...

Internal Consulting Skills What skills do you need to be a successful internal consultant? What skills do you have already, and which should you develop further? This course gives you the opportunity to review your existing abilities and ways of improving your current performance. Internal consulting is not only about your specialist or technical knowledge. It's about your ability to communicate. If you fail to get your message across to other people, your ideas will be lost, and even your best plans will fail. Fundamentally important are your abilities to communicate effectively, manage meetings more successfully, present your findings with clarity and impact, negotiate your way to a desired outcome, and manage all internal projects to time and budget. Anyone with some specialist knowledge who has recently moved, more...

Essentials of Internal Consulting You may already have a reputation as something of an area specialist. Perhaps you've now been asked to deploy your knowledge in an internal consulting role. Or maybe you've always been attracted to this role and you would now like to find out more? What will it mean for you? What does an internal consultant do? How do you become one? And if you have just become one, what is expected of you? This course addresses these questions. If it is a new role for you, it will support you and help you to grow. If you have already begun, the course will enable you to pinpoint the activities that will become the mainstay of your role and help you to become a more effective internal consultant. Anyone with some specialist knowledge who has recently moved, or is considering moving, into internal more...

Consulting with the External Client Simulation Modern corporations employ consultants for their experience, knowledge, and skills. The primary responsibility of these consultants is to facilitate decision making for senior management. To do this, external consultants gather information using proven techniques, analyze current business situations with specific diagnostic methods, and make recommendations based on those processes. In this simulation, you are a consultant at LocoMotion Think Tank. Your assignment is to advise Automation Control Inc., a technology management company, on the possible acquisition of Data Query Limited, a database management company. You are taking over the client from Clark who is retiring. Clark will make an excellent resource to you throughout the sim. The simulation is based on the SkillSoft series more...

Evaluation and Review So, is it success or failure? It's crucial that you take time to review your completed project and confirm the outcomes. What has been achieved, and what didn't go as planned? And how have you performed personally? Of course, success depends on your ability as an external consultant to continually develop in the role, increase your skills, and make overall improvements in your performance. This course will help you review any consulting project, bring about successful handoff to the client, and enable you to identify improvement opportunities to continue your own personal development. Anyone with some specialist knowledge and general management experience who has recently moved, or is considering moving, into external consulting more...

Managing Delivery Delivering to clients is the most important thing you do as an external consultant. Everything else--the selling and the fighting to win the contract--stands for nothing if you fail to deliver outstanding results time and time again. To keep your reputation intact, delivering to time, quality, and budget is the very least that you must achieve. To ensure that clients remain enthusiastic about what you can offer them, you must deliver effective project management throughout the consulting assignment. Set milestones to check on performance regularly, and implement monitoring and control systems. Keeping motivated and focused will also be a challenge, particularly if the project is lengthy and demanding. It is unlikely that everything will run smoothly. You may experience difficulties that more...

Diagnosing and Planning Your success as a consultant depends on your ability to diagnose each situation correctly. You need to use your previous experience, and bring fresh ideas to every new contract. Frameworks and models help you to make an effective diagnosis. They help you to evaluate the strategic position of the client organization, which is vital. To deliver solutions that are relevant and appropriate to the client's particular business, you must have a knowledge of the organization. Each organization is unique: there are different people and different challenges. One size does not fit all. You cannot respond to each and every organization in the same way. Rapidly learning about the peculiarities of each business is one of the biggest challenges you face. Take the time to plan what you deliver to clients. more...

The Client-Consultant Relationship Getting to know your clients and their needs are the vital first steps to establishing productive working relationships. Understanding more about their organizations and what they expect from you will be essential if you are to provide a high-quality service that will excite them. You will also need to know how to recognize all the stakeholders and the real decision makers within an organization, and build teams that can function quickly and effectively. Anyone with some specialist knowledge and general management experience who has recently moved, or is considering moving, into external consulting more...

Essentials of External Consulting You may already have a reputation as something of an area specialist or problem solver. You may have a number of years of general management experience, or you may have recently acquired a management qualification. Perhaps you've now been asked to deploy your knowledge in an external consulting role. What do external consultants really do? Although they may work in a variety of disciplines, clearly the role means being an advocate or representative of your organization. For such a role, you'll need excellent client-facing skills. These include communication and listening, presenting, report-writing, meetings and negotiation. Combining this with, in equal measure, qualities of leadership, creativity, and emotional intelligence. In this course, you'll find out more about the role of an more...

Framing the Problem When you frame a picture, you intend for the viewer to examine everything within that border. Problem framing is similar in that you must not only consider what objectively makes up the problem itself but also what subjective tendencies influence your view of the situation. This course is designed to help you effectively frame problems so that you're sure your line of sight is aimed straight toward the solution. You'll discover how to recognize and gather information about a problem so that all contingencies are accounted for and all subtleties considered. You'll learn how to uncover the various assumptions, both conscious and unconscious, that are typically made about problems. After identifying these assumptions, you'll be able to tell the productive ones from the nonproductive. You'll more...

The Foundations of Creativity and Innovation What is creativity, and how does it affect the brain? Why is it that people often have many of their best ideas once they leave work, when performing the most mundane tasks? Is this a coincidence, or is there a particular reason for it? As more and more organizations encourage employees to propose creative and innovative ideas in the workplace, it's imperative that you understand the foundations of creativity and innovation, how creative thought happens, and what is needed to stimulate it further. This course begins with definitions and an exploration of the science of creativity, including biological and psychological perspectives. You will then examine specific models that are used to explain creativity and innovation. Of course, creativity is not a "dry" subject. The human mind must be more...

Business Professionalism Simulation Everyday business activities require a determined effort to fulfill. Schedules must be kept; deadlines must be met. To ensure productivity remains on target, business professionals must possess refined skills in setting priorities, managing daily tasks, and maintaining personal accountability. The Business Professionalism Simulation is designed to enable participants to develop the skills necessary for increasing personal accountability and business professionalism. Over the course of the simulation, participants will practice personal development skills, encompassing the objectives of taking initiative, collaborating on goals, aligning priorities and goals, demonstrating a positive attitude, reacting positively to criticism and feedback, and being assertive. The Business Professionalism more...

Successful Lifelong Learning Today's successful individual understands that the business world is constantly changing the way people work and the way work is accomplished. How often have you heard these terms: lifelong learning, self-directed learning, continuous learning, and knowledge worker? If you wonder what these terms really mean, why they are important, and how you rate as a worker and learner for the 21st century, then this course is for you. Find out how lifelong learning strategies can enable you to develop your work skills and to manage your professional development. Don't wait until your supervisor initiates what you need to learn. It's time to take ownership of your learning needs based on your expectations and your own terms. In this course, you will identify your learning needs and learn how to more...

Developing a Positive Attitude Oftentimes your success or failure depends not only on the situation you are in, but how you react to that situation. Your reaction to the situations you encounter is significantly influenced by your attitude. Having a positive attitude involves looking for the best in a situation, being realistic about possibilities and consequences, and having the courage to believe that you can succeed. It isn't always easy to be positive. You may feel that the odds are stacked against you, or you may find it hard to cope with the difficult and challenging situations that you find yourself in. Taking action to develop a positive attitude involves examining how you perceive your situation, and how you deal with your perception of the situation. This course will show you that it is possible to change your more...

Goals and Goal Setting Most achievements, great or small, begin with an important first step: setting a goal. A clearly defined, attainable goal embodies a vision of what is possible. It's a guide star for those who navigate a course through obstacles to a desired accomplishment. However, the process of setting appropriate goals is often oversimplified or overlooked entirely. A well-constructed goal is challenging, yet achievable. It takes into account the abilities and resources available and requires the goal seeker to make the best use of both. In this course, you'll examine the types of goals you can use to advance your career and personal life, learn to construct goals that are both challenging and achievable, discover how to embed the seeds of success within your goals, and explore ways to align your goals more...

Self-empowerment Managing from Within Have you ever thought that you could be the best boss you've ever had? By developing attitudes and skills that empower you, you can manage from within and become your own best boss. Self-empowerment is the process of taking responsibility for your attitudes, behaviors, and actions at work to maximize your effectiveness. As an empowered employee, you will be driven by ownership, initiative, and performance. This course focuses on attitudes and behaviors that promote self-empowerment. It provides strategies for empowering yourself through self-coaching, approaches for developing an entrepreneurial mind-set, and an opportunity to apply a model for self-empowerment to enhance your performance. Applying these approaches will help you become a self-empowered contributor in your organization. more...

Personal Accountability Working for Your Inner Boss Most employees in business organizations must answer to someone else. From the top of the organization chart to the bottom, nearly every manager and employee must look to a supervisor, a director, or even a customer to establish priorities, assign tasks, set deadlines, and evaluate results. Whoever gives this direction is called the boss. On one level, the boss decides how employees will perform their jobs. How well an employee meets requirements set by the boss determines whether that employee succeeds or fails, receives rewards or penalties, and earns praise or criticism. On another level however, the judgment of an external boss isn't enough to make a job personally fulfilling and rewarding. That's something all employees of an organization decide for themselves. Everyone who works must more...

Critical Thinking Strategies Simulation You have recently been hired as the general manager at Retail Management Software (RMS). The company began as a small start-up company five years ago, developing software that helps retailers create, manage, and fulfill consumer demand. The founders and owners, Fred Chambers and Larry Busby, and their small team worked hard and developed great products. Recently, RMS' business has increased a great deal, largely due to the success of its flagship software product. As a result, the company has had to hire a large number of new employees. Fred and Larry were successful managing RMS as a small company. However, neither has experience managing a larger entity, which is why they have hired you as general manager. Your primary responsibility, at least initially, will be to ease the company's more...

Organizational Scope of Critical Thinking In any complex environment systems are necessary, but they must serve an organization rather than become its masters. This is how Ralph S. Larsen, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, describes both the need for systems and their inherent risk. Organizational systems, with complex and intricately interrelated components, demand the application of critical thinking to avoid this risk and to use the systems most effectively. In this course, learners will understand the role that critical thinking can play across an organization. supervisors, managers, directors, executives, team leaders, project leaders, and coaches more...

Critical Thinking Skills for Managing Rational decision making is linear and is what you do when you put your facts in order. Intuition is looking at those facts and trying to see a pattern-and the patterns aren't always evident because the patterns aren't always linear. The two together are an extremely powerful combination. Joel Kurtzman, President, Kurtzman Associates and former editor, Harvard Business Review. The Critical Thinking Skills for Managing course charts the concepts and skills that can transform competent leaders into discerning situation analysts, focused problem solvers, and powerful decision makers. The course offers analysis methodology that will sharpen managerial ability through all the stages of the critical thinking process; situation assessment, problem solving, and decision making. Leaders will learn more...

Strategies for Facilitating Critical Thinking Workplaces are not typically associated with reflection or critical self-reflection, ideas that are often considered 'soft' to the bottom-line, results-oriented world of business.... Yet, paradoxically, reflection is becoming more part of the lifeblood of organizations in today's economic environment. Victoria Marsick's words illustrate why businesses can no longer thrive on the unexamined repetition of established formulas. Today, people at all levels of the organization are asked to think in new ways about themselves, their work, and their organizations. In this course, managers can learn a variety of strategies to encourage the development of critical thinking skills within their organizations, for both individuals and teams, and to ensure that critical thinking is deployed effectively. more...

Developing Fundamental Critical Thinking Skills You may not need an MBA to succeed in the corporate arena, but regardless of position or industry, you do need to be able to analyze, reason, and communicate effectively. These and other critical thinking skills are increasingly consequential as organizational planning and decision making become more distributed and reliant on written and verbal communication factors. Developing Fundamental Critical Thinking Skills coaches you through the acquisition of an array of critical skills that can help you improve your information processing and delivery agility. You also will learn how to maximize your inferential and evaluative competence to achieve better planning and decision-making efficiencies. Improving your critical thinking skills will increase your performance value to any organization. more...

The Role of Critical Thinking in Organizations In the organizational arena, applied critical thinking skills provide an essential foundation for all effective planning, problem-solving, and decision-making activities. Employees who can analyze and reason consistently and proficiently furnish a cost-efficient resource that results in a distinctive competitive advantage. Workers who are skeptical of quick fixes and operational dogma pay attention and generate productive ideas. They are intellectually competent to chart new directions. This course introduces the basic concepts, features, and skills associated with critical thinking and explains the roles and propagation of critical thinking in the workplace. supervisors, managers, directors, executives, team leaders, project leaders, and coaches more...

Ratios Averages and Graphs Whether tracking profitability or portraying the rate of inventory consumption, knowledge of ratios and averages is indispensable in the business world. Using real-world scenarios, this course explains the concepts of ratio, proportion, and how to compare different kinds of numbers; and discusses simple, weighted, and moving averages. Anyone who needs to apply basic math skills to business more...

Decimals and Percents A basic understanding of decimals and percentages is key to any businessperson, whether tallying costs for warehouse supplies or estimating resource allocation. This course instructs the learner in the following: how to use decimals, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; how to solve problems involving percentages to determine portions, a rate, a whole unit, and increases and decreases--and how to apply these operations in business settings. Anyone who needs to apply basic math skills to business more...

Whole Numbers Fractions and Equations What are whole numbers and how are they estimated? How are fractions used in mathematical operations? How do you find the unknown variable to solve an equation? The answers to questions like these are covered in this course on the building blocks of business math. Learners will review crucial terms, basic mathematical concepts, and how to apply concepts to the business environment. Anyone who needs to apply basic math skills to business more...

Telephone Skills for Business Professionals Simulation You're the special events coordinator at Eagle Hotel & Resort. Your job involves booking and coordinating events at the hotel such as weddings, banquets, family reunions, product launches, awards ceremonies, and business conferences. In order to do your job well, communicating effectively with customers over the telephone is a must. Naturally, you must use professional telephone manners at all times and make appropriate use of telephone technology. Building trust over the telephone and tailoring your telephone responses to your customers' communication styles are also keys to your success. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series "Telephone Skills for Business Professionals" and contains links to the following courses: COMM0411 and COMM0412. This simulation will benefit anyone who more...

Making Telephone Calls Count Whether you handle one call a day, or dozens, you have the power to make every call count. Is the service you deliver to your customers over the telephone merely satisfactory, or is it superior? When challenges present themselves, how well do you handle yourself? What do your actions say about your company? You may think telephone interactions are all simple and straightforward. The customer talks. You listen. But how well do you listen on the telephone? Are you missing key opportunities to address the caller's needs? Does the caller feel like she has really been "heard" and understood? By fine-tuning your listening skills, you'll be able to deliver truly superior customer service. Different customers have different communication styles. By tuning into each customer's communication style more...

Effective Telephone Techniques This course provides the learner with critical information about making a good impression when communicating over the telephone. It emphasizes the importance of good telephone etiquette, offers tips for building trust over the telephone, and discusses important non-verbal actions that are present in most telephone interactions. Additionally, it helps the learner make the most out of technology when using voicemail, speakerphones, cellular phones, and conference calls. This course will benefit business professionals who wish to communicate more effectively over the telephone. more...

The Process of Interpersonal Communications It is almost impossible to be productive in today's business environment without being an effective communicator. This is particularly true if achievement of your goals depends on your ability to influence others. You need to be able to communicate your ideas, instructions, thoughts, and feelings accurately. This is not as easy as it may seem, and ineffective communication is often at the core of a high proportion of the errors, misunderstandings, and conflicts that occur in the workplace. This course is designed to give you an understanding of the prime causes of poor communication, and, more importantly, the skills required to minimize their impact. Those within the organization whose roles require them to achieve results by being able to influence other people such as colleagues, senior more...

Cross-cultural Communications Simulation You're the newly hired general manager of the Springfield Strikers, a women's professional soccer team. The team had a mediocre record over the past season and did not draw as many fans as the more successful teams in the league. Now it's the off-season, and your job is to make changes to improve the team's on-field performance without going over budget. First, you'll meet with Maria Adalberto, the coach of the Springfield Strikers who is from Spain, to discuss the status of the team and her performance in the past season. Later in the simulation, you will try to sign foreign free agents to play for the Strikers. These conversations will put your cross-cultural communication and negotiation skills to the test. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series "International Communications" more...

International Communications Simulation In this simulation, you will be employed as a Divisional Merchandise Manager (DMM) of home audio and video electronics for Everson and Macombre, the parent company of two thriving retail chains one a department store, the other a members-only warehouse for bulk goods and specialty products. In your role as DMM, you will oversee the activities of a sizable buying staff and manage purchasing relations with manufacturers and suppliers worldwide. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series "International Communications" and contains links to the following courses: COMM0021 and COMM0022. Managers, supervisors, and anyone who communicates globally in their organization. more...

Improving Your Cross-cultural Communications Picture the scene. You've been asked to contact some new clients based over 3,000 miles away. You've never spoken with them before and you're not sure what response you'll get. This is a familiar situation that is played out daily in many organizations around the world. How many times have you found yourself in this situation? Thankfully, there are things you can do to improve your cross-cultural communications and ensure that your clients or coworkers across the world become your greatest allies. In this course, you'll find out how to build rapport, appeal to receivers' motivations, and consider the importance of rank and respect in global communication. Cross-cultural communication is often boosted by global e-communication including electronic mail, videoconferencing, and Internet more...

The Art of Global Communication Considering that communication is something you do every day, how many people actually stop to consider what is happening before they speak? Can you just talk without thinking too much about the target audience, the message to be communicated, and a host of other information? Communication is too important to be left to chance. The subtleties of language, expressions, and gestures all enrich the content of what you are saying. Of course, when you're communicating on a global scale, you need to be sure that what you're saying--and the way you say it--will not cause offense to your cross-cultural audience. In this course, you'll find out more about the cross-cultural communication process, and consider body language, gestures, and active listening. You will also examine different methods of more...

The Impact of Culture on Communication Everything you say is influenced by culture. You operate with a set of invisible beliefs, values, and assumptions that become apparent to other people in the way you behave. Culture is important to the way you communicate, even though it is often hidden. Understanding more about culture can be a real bonus when working as part of any global organization. Showing your customers and coworkers in different countries that you are in tune with them, and that you appreciate and value the differences between you, can help get your working relationships off to a flying start. In this course, you'll examine what culture means and what it doesn't, and look at some of the barriers relating to culture. You'll also consider different cultural theories including Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Model and more...

Preparing an Effective Internal Business Case Simulation For the purposes of this simulation, you are a senior product line manager of women's apparel for Zenith Athletics a national manufacturer of athletic gear and clothing. When an ambitious subordinate proposes a major market-research project geared toward the creation of a new line of mom-and-tot exercise apparel, you offer your assistance in the preparation of a business case. Tasks focus on the key foundational elements of business-case creation, and you must guide your subordinate, providing her with accurate information on which she will base her work. Further, you will undertake portions of the proposal and test your ability to draft an executive summary. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series "Writing an Effective Business Case" and contains links to the following course: more...

Presenting Your Case Have you ever attended a presentation that failed because the presenter was ill prepared or ineffective in his approach? A successful presenter must possess the proper skills to plan and deliver an effective business case presentation and employ strategies to establish and maintain the audience's attention. This course examines the careful planning and delivery of a business case presentation. It focuses on the use of visual aids and handouts in a presentation, the structure and development of a presentation in light of audience needs, and the elements involved in successfully delivering the presentation to that audience. Managers and experienced business professionals more...

Writing a Business Case Which would you rather do: prepare a business case for your latest project or go to the dentist? Given the choice, many of us would tend to choose the latter.Whether you want to invest in product development or reinvent your business processes with new marketing channels, it is now more important than ever to have a business case that is carefully planned, written, and presented, especially when you consider that corporate investments are being subjected to increased scrutiny. Writing a good business case will help you justify resource allocation to key decision makers and secure funding for your project. Otherwise, you may be eaten alive by the competition In this course, you will learn how to plan, write, and present a business case to persuade key decision makers in your organization more...

Preparing a Business Case Why put time and effort into preparing, writing, and presenting a business case for new projects? Why not just talk to the manager and get his approval for the project? The answers to these questions lie in the fact that organizational budgets for new projects are typically very tight and, as such, your project will be competing against other projects for funding. Without a written business case, your chances of persuading decision makers within your organization to implement your new project idea, instead of a competing project, stand little chance. This course prepares learners interested in the development of effective business cases. You will learn what a business case is and when one is used, what research you need to do before you start to write a business case, and what information more...

Getting Results without Authority Simulation You have been hired within the last year as a design engineer at Autorad, a company that manufactures automotive components. Historically, the company specialized in custom-designed components for limited production runs. In recent years, the company has moved into more mainstream applications and must adapt to a mass-production mind-set. Your team has been working on a new steering wheel design for months, which you discover has been sent back by manufacturing for its third round of changes. Manufacturing claims the previous design version could not be produced cost-effectively. You have had past experience in production, as well as with "design for manufacturability" (DFM) programs, which incorporated manufacturing feedback early in the design process. You realize that such a program more...

Getting Results from the Boss What does the word "boss" mean to you? Does it stand for Big Old Stubborn Sourpuss? Or does "boss" conjure an image of a level-headed, flexible, and thoughtful co-worker? Whatever the case, as an employee working in a subordinate role, it's up to you to learn how to get the results you desire. That means knowing how to do everything from building a relationship with your boss to dealing effectively with him when he only wants to disagree. In this course, you'll learn how to get results from your boss in a number of situations despite your lack of authority. Any staff or team member who doesn't have any direct or formal authority seeking to achieve results through the use of written and oral communication skills more...

Getting Results through Communication When you want something done, you have to either do it yourself or see to it that someone else does it. As adept as you may be at multi-tasking, there will be times when you'll need a colleague's help or buy-in to perform a task. But how can you effectively achieve results without any formal authority within the organization? Communication is the answer. Through the effective use of the various forms of communication, you'll be able to extend your influence at work even without any recognized authority. This course is designed to help you become a more effective communicator so that you can become more productive and use written and spoken communication to achieve results. Any staff or team member who doesn't have any direct or formal authority seeking to achieve results through the use of more...

Gaining Allies Creating Change If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Is this an effective strategy for gaining allies to create change? How about, "If you do it my way, you'll feel better about yourself"? Finding and winning partners for the purpose of creating change is not easy in the intensely competitive and harried environment of the corporate world. It's especially difficult when you lack authority. The people whose help you need most may have no desire to help you, or if they do, they may lack the time. In either case, winning allies, partnering successfully, and creating change require unique strategies when you are not the one who is in control. Anyone without the direct authority to achieve the results she desires more...

Leadership Without Authority Lily Tomlin said, "I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody." Tomlin could have been speaking on behalf of many employees in the corporate world who, despite having little authority, take it upon themselves to become leaders nonetheless. Becoming a leader, and getting results, without authority is especially important in today's corporate culture, where middle management and the concept of seniority are being replaced by a flat organization structure and intense competition. Such an environment makes the need for leadership skills especially crucial. In this course, you'll learn how to circumvent your lack of authority to get results through effective leadership. Anyone without the direct authority to achieve the results he desires. more...

Teamwork and Results Without Authority When it comes to being a member of a team, what role do you think you should play? Legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant said, " In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first--ahead of personal glory." Yet, according to general George S. Patton Jr., "If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking." When it comes to getting results without authority on your team, it's necessary to do both. In this course, you'll learn how to achieve results by playing the game, and you'll learn how to assert yourself. Staff members, team members, supervisors, and managers looking to get results through others, even when they lack direct authority more...

Building Relationships to Get Results You are not the boss. You've been called "peer," "esteemed colleague," "invaluable staff member," and "friend," but no one's even come close to calling you "boss." When you stop to think about it, you realize you have no real authority whatsoever. In fact, you have much more power than you think, even if you are on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder. As Jack London said, "Life is not always a matter of being dealt a winning hand, but sometimes, of playing a poor hand well." In the corporate world, when it comes to getting results when you have no authority, it is imperative that you play your best hand. In this course, you'll learn how. Staff members, team members, supervisors, and managers looking to get results through others, even when they lack direct authority more...

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace Simulation Does intelligence alone determine success? Or do self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, zeal, self-motivation, empathy, and social deftness factor heavily into the equation? While not as readily quantified as IQ, these qualities, collectively termed "emotional intelligence," often determine whether or not people excel in life, relationships, and the workplace. In this simulation, you'll test your emotional IQ to see how it affects various aspects of professional life. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft Series "Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace" and has links to the following courses: COMM0141, COMM0142, COMM0143 and COMM0144. Any individual seeking to test and improve their emotional intelligence more...

The Emotionally Intelligent Leader Putting emotional intelligence to work is an emerging trend in corporate leadership. Developing the best talents in executives, managers, and others throughout the organization has become vital to corporate success. As a leader, you cannot rely upon your intellectual knowledge. You must have the interpersonal competence that comes with emotional intelligence. This course will guide you in developing your emotional intelligence as a leader and then direct you in developing it in others. Managers, supervisors, or anyone in leadership positions more...

Increasing Your Emotional Intelligence In today's workplace, you need to have both the intellectual skills to do the job and the emotional intelligence to interact effectively with co-workers. The successful leaders and managers around you outshine others because of their stellar people skills. Most people believe that emotions are automatic responses that they have no control over. Few realize that their emotions are determined by what they think, and that concrete techniques exist for gaining control of their feelings. This course will provide you with the skills to increase your emotional intelligence so that you can become an effective contributor in the work force. Anyone who works or deals with people more...

Teamwork and Emotional Intelligence Elizabeth and Cassandra started with the same company at the same time in similar positions. Both were bright women. Both were at the top of the class at prestigious universities. Both had exceptional technical skills. Yet, after six months in the organization, Elizabeth seemed to be making a bigger impact and enjoying more success. She was friendly with members of her own department and knew many other people throughout the organization. People often came to her for advice, and she had no trouble recruiting assistance when she needed it. Cassandra, who had kept her nose to the computer and kept pretty much to herself, was struggling to understand Elizabeth's popularity. When she questioned her team leader, his response was, "You need to be more social." Stunned, Cassandra returned to her more...

Emotional Intelligence at Work What makes someone a top performer in the world of work? If you think high IQ, advanced degrees, analytical skills, and technical expertise are the answer, it's time to think again. Experts now agree that Emotional Intelligence often determines who will climb the corporate ladder and who will be passed over. Exciting new research shows that, unlike IQ, Emotional Intelligence can be developed and increased during any point in your career. This course identifies some of the common misconceptions about intelligence at work and defines three key areas of focus: self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation. Supervisors, Managers, Team Leaders more...

What Is Emotional Intelligence Does IQ determine your destiny? For years, that was an overriding belief. However, new behavioral research shows that IQ provides, at best, a narrow view of human intelligence. Factors such as self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, zeal, self-motivation, empathy, and social deftness contribute greatly to an individual's success. These qualities, termed "emotional intelligence," often determine if people excel in life, relationships, and the workplace. In this course, you'll learn more about these specific characteristics and how they influence every area of your life. Managers, supervisors, team leaders more...

E-mail as a Marketing Tool How can you find new customers? How can you build stronger relationships with new and existing customers? How can you boost sales of your company's products and services? This course will provide you with useful strategies to help you incorporate electronic mail into your marketing approach. Learn how to communicate effectively with your customers through e-mail. You and your company will benefit from better customer relations and increased sales. This course is specifically targeted at individuals who use e-mail for their personal correspondence or while doing their jobs; managers and business leaders who want to maximize business opportunities and strengthen their organization as a whole. more...

E-mail and Organizational Communication E-mail is much more than sending information back and forth. This communication tool can change your entire organization. E-mail can affect how you communicate, where you work, what you do and even when you do it. This course will help you harness the power of e-mail and show you ways to optimize your e-mail use for maximum productivity and success. The target is individuals who use e-mail for their personal correspondence or while doing their jobs; managers and business leaders who want to maximize business opportunities and strengthen their organization as a whole. more...

Optimizing Email at Work In today's business world, e-mail is used to do everything from processing orders to supplying information. Because of the limitations of telephone communication when people who are very busy or sometimes in different time zones work together, e-mail use is on the rise in U.S. E-mail offers a plenitude of new opportunities for business, but understanding how to properly use it is essential in order to take advantage of these opportunities. This course will tell you what makes e-mail unique and provide you with the skills to write, send, and receive business e-mail effectively. You will learn how to best use the features that are commonly included in e-mail programs in a way that improves your communicative ability and efficiency at work. Business professionals who want to brush up on more...

Essentials of Electronic Communication Everyone seems to be using e-mail lately--family members keeping in touch, university students submitting assignments, companies offering products for sale, and office workers carrying out their daily business tasks. Most e-mail users can improve their e-mail skills by learning more about the basic features and potentials of e-mail. Any business person will benefit from developing an understanding of e-mail essentials. Individuals who use e-mail for their personal correspondence or while doing their jobs; managers and business leaders who want to maximize business opportunities and strengthen their organization as a whole. more...

Effective Use of Feedback for Teams Simulation Effective feedback is an essential element of successful teamwork. Periodic reviews and discussions of how the team is performing, how individuals are contributing to the team's performance, and how the team is being managed, are all vital to ensuring that the team continues to perform at peak level. As a team leader, your ability to give and receive feedback will seriously impact the effectiveness and success of your team. Without a clear understanding of team dynamics and how to communicate feedback effectively to inspire and motivate, your efforts to manage your team could flounder. The Effective Use of Feedback for Teams Simulation will provide you with the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to effectively communicate feedback to your coworkers and direct reports and overcome more...

Effective Feedback for Employees and Colleagues Simulation Feedback is an essential element of successful businesses. Managers, employees, customers, and suppliers alike all benefit from the exchange of meaningful, germane feedback. But feedback is a double-edged sword. Given thoughtlessly, without proper preparation and consideration, it is likely to be ignored by the recipient or worse yet, give offense. On the other hand, when given properly, feedback is a powerful tool for improving performance and increasing productivity. In order to achieve such positive results and avoid negative reactions, individuals must be aware of how others receive and employ feedback and learn the process of providing effective critiques. The Effective Use of Feedback for Employees and Colleagues Simulation will provide participants with the opportunity to develop more...

Giving Feedback A Manager s Guide The performance of your business depends upon the performance of every member of your staff. Thus a key skill for all who manage staff is the ability to provide candid, constructive feedback about performance. The purpose of this course is to enable you to enhance your skills in giving feedback. The course starts by exploring the nature of feedback, and it then develops a practical approach to the feedback process, detailing five logical steps. However, in some situations it is not always sensible to use a standard approach and so the course concludes by considering how to cope with challenging situations, such as giving feedback to the staff member who is angry or upset. Managers at any level in the organization, who have a responsibility for the performance of staff, as individuals or more...

Team Feedback A guide Teamwork is playing an increasingly significant role in the majority of today's top companies. This is based on the assumption that working in teams leads to better business performance. In that case, you must ensure that team performance is managed effectively--feedback being of crucial importance. Feedback about how the team is performing, how individuals are contributing to the team's performance, and how the team is being managed, are all vital. Managing team performance is complex, because effective teams depend on synergy between individual and team factors. In this course, you will learn what makes teams successful, and how effective feedback at team level contributes to this success. You will work through a process for giving feedback in a team situation, and explore methods for more...

Giving Feedback to Colleagues Everyone needs good quality feedback in order to improve performance at work. In this course, you will discover how to provide effective feedback to colleagues at the same level as yourself, and to those above you, in the hierarchy of the organization. You will also learn how to deal effectively with challenging situations. In addition to considering the effectiveness of feedback, you will learn a logical process for giving feedback. Anyone within an organization in a position to provide feedback to others, whether at the same level or higher in the organizational structure more...

Coping with Criticism and Feedback We all need feedback so that we can learn and improve. What we often get is criticism, or feedback given to us in such a way that we feel defensive or angry. When your emotions get involved, it is difficult to be objective and to use the feedback effectively. This course links the concept of emotional intelligence, and EQ, to the practice of receiving feedback. By doing this, it provides you with a powerful approach that enables you to deal effectively with criticism and feedback. You will learn how to seek feedback from those best able to help you, and how to deal with feedback, regardless of how it is given. Finally, you will learn how to make positive use of the feedback you receive. Anyone who is interested in improving their performance at work and desires to make effective use of the more...

An Essential Guide to Giving Feedback The performance of any business depends upon the performance of everyone within the organization. To ensure that all staff are meeting their potential it is essential that there is a culture which enables feedback to be given and received. This course enables you to become familiar with the key aspects of giving candid, constructive feedback about performance. The purpose of this course is to enable you to enhance your skills in giving feedback. The course starts by exploring the nature of feedback, and it then develops a practical approach to the feedback process. Giving feedback is not always straightforward however, and so the final part of this course looks at barriers to giving feedback and strategies for dealing with situations where your feedback is challenged. Individuals aiming to more...

Effective Listening Skills Simulation Although relatively straightforward in theory, the process that transforms effective listening into successful communication requires great skill, awareness and practice. In the course of this simulation, you will attend a day-long seminar, studying the topic of Effective Listening Skills through various exercises, lectures, quizzes and small-group activities. The day's events will be guided by an instructor, and your fellow conference attendees will be business professionals from various fields and experience levels. Though geared toward bettering communication and listening in a business setting, the seminar environment is casual, offering a safe and stress-free forum for self-evaluation and interaction. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft Series "Effective Listening Skills" and more...

Enhancing Your Listening Skills Have you ever been taken by surprise by an unexpected deadline? Have you ever left a meeting unsure about what was decided? Have you ever asked a supervisor for advice, only to later forget what your supervisor told you? You can avoid problems like these by using effective listening skills. Effective listening helps you to know what's going on in your organization, get cooperation from your co-workers, solve problems, and be successful in your work. However, most people don't listen very well. This course will help you to improve your ability to listen to others. You will learn the skills you need to understand what people say, read their unconscious nonverbal messages, and get others to want to listen to you. You also learn how to apply these skills in a variety of business situations more...

Listening for Higher Purposes Do you sometimes have difficulty using your listening skills to effectively evaluate arguments or appreciate complex ideas and emotions? This course teaches you how to listen more effectively for critical and empathic purposes to maximize your understanding. Persons at all levels of an organization. It is particularly useful to those who need strong listening skills, such as managers and team members, to be effective in the workplace. more...

Listening for Comprehension Do you need to better understand the basic meaning of a conversation or presentation? If you need to be able to identify what is said to you in a more effective manner, then this course is for you. This course teaches you how to comprehend verbal and visual messages to maximize your understanding of others. Because this course teaches listening skills, certain sections of this course deviate from standard SkillSoft courses by presenting audio and audio cues without accompanying text. You will require audio to take these sections of the course. A person at all levels of an organization. It is particularly useful to those who need strong listening skills, such as managers and team members, to be effective in the workplace. more...

The Basics of Listening Do you sometimes feel like you are not getting the whole message when someone talks to you? If you have problems receiving information that is verbally communicated, this is the course for you. This course will familiarize you with the communication and listening processes, and how listening functions within communication. You will discover the factors and variables that influence communication and listening and learn strategies to overcome weak listening skills. You will then apply these skills to business-based examples. Knowing the basic communication and listening processes will make you aware of where communication can be adversely affected. A person at all levels of an organization. This course is particularly useful to those who need strong listening skills, such as managers and more...

Effective Business Meetings Simulation As the lead project coordinator for Pantheon Electronics, a national reseller of home and office electronics, you will oversee the daily activities of a project management group. Functioning as both a meeting coordinator and a conference chair person, you will test your skills in a broad range of situations, running the gamut from materials procurement to conflict mediation. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series Effective Business Meetings and includes links to the following courses: COMM0331, COMM0332 and COMM0333. Business professionals who want to develop effective facilitation skills, members of boards or committees, meeting participants, executive assistants, and individuals who want to prepare themselves for a business environment. more...

Participating Effectively in Business Meetings A meeting is a gathering of people to present or exchange information, plan joint activities, make decisions, or carry out actions already agreed upon. Almost every group activity or project requires a meeting, or meetings, of some sort. Knowing how to hold efficient and effective meetings can help make projects successful. In a good meeting, participants' ideas are heard, decisions are made through group discussion and with reasonable speed, and activities are focused on desired results. Good meetings help generate enthusiasm for a project, build skills for future projects, and provide participants with techniques that may benefit them in their future careers. As a chairperson, a secretary, or a group member, it is crucial to your meeting's success to know what your role is during a more...

Leading Effective Business Meetings Since there are more than 11 million meetings held every day in the United States, there is a good chance that your life is full of meetings. There is a general agreement among business professionals that most meetings are not well run. They often waste your time, drain your energy, seem to have no purpose, and bear few positive results. Are you tired of attending meetings like this? Are you tired of your meetings ending up like this? This course will teach you how to make your meetings more successful by providing the tools and information that are necessary to lead an effective meeting. Business professionals who want to develop effective facilitation skills, members of boards or committees, meeting participants, executive assistants, and individuals who want to prepare themselves for a more...

Planning Effective Business Meetings If you are in a business that has meetings, you know how much time is spent in them. A recent survey of 2000 business leaders indicated that managers spend over fifty percent of their time in meetings. That same study indicated that managers felt that about one third of those meetings were unproductive. This course will present you with information that will help you improve the quality of your meetings. It will help you develop strategies necessary for preparing effective business meetings, by carefully considering the importance of all the components of the meeting, including people, place, purpose, time, agenda, and atmosphere. Business professionals who want to develop effective facilitation skills, members of boards or committees, meeting participants, executive assistants, and more...

Delivering Successful Presentations Simulation After years of research and development, the Top-Shelf Cola Company is finally ready to release its latest beverage, Passion, to consumers. Passion is a caffeine-free, all-natural soda that's made from real passion fruits. The company has spent ten million dollars to perfect the product's taste and to create a brand for the drink. You are a brand manager at Top-Shelf and responsible for the Passion brand along with your coworker, Hannah. The drink will be hitting the streets soon, and the marketing campaign for Passion has already begun. Top-Shelf has been aligned with several restaurant chains to exclusively sell its other soft drinks. Now, Top-Shelf management wants Passion to also be on the menus at these chains. In this simulation, you must prepare and deliver a presentation to some of more...

Presentation Resources Available to You This course is about making effective use of resources that can take the pressure off you--visual aids, questions, and making a team presentation. Visual aids are overused, and presenters are overdependent on them. You need to know what visuals are available to you, and be able to determine which one suits a particular need. You need to know what makes a successful visual. Finally, you need to be able to use PowerPoint and other software packages appropriately, with a clear idea of what they can do. Some presenters are afraid of questions from the audience because they seem to represent a loss of control. This course shows you that questions are positive opportunities to be grasped eagerly: they are a way of deepening your communication with the audience. But there are techniques to more...

Delivering Your Message So, the presentation is prepared and practiced. Great. But this means nothing to the audience. When you stand there in front of them, all that matters to them is what you look like and what you say. This course is about delivering your message, and the techniques you need to do this. First of all, you have to make a positive first impression on your audience members by how and where you stand, by your appearance, and how you look at them. Then, you must lead your audience through your message, referencing what is important through the language you use, and the physical techniques you employ. Finally, the course shows what is needed to make a presentation really memorable, the 'wow' factor that outstanding presenters have, and how to achieve it. Anyone in an organization who needs the more...

Presenting to Succeed There are a number of basic types of presentations, but all presentations have four things in common: a presenter, an audience, a venue, and a message. This course concentrates on showing how each of these vital elements has to be taken into account when preparing a presentation. Presenting is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced, starting with how you prepare, and you will be shown a simple but powerful method for selecting the right content, and then structuring it. Controlling nerves is an important part of preparing, and this course helps you to remove anxieties in the presentation environment by making sure that the venue is set up correctly, and ensuring that you rehearse appropriately. Anyone in an organization who needs the skills to inform, persuade and convince more...

Managing Conflict in the Workplace Simulation Conflict is inevitable in the workplace. Everybody has their own ideas about how things should run. Eventually, these ideas will collide. When they do, you don't need to be unprepared to manage the fallout. Above and beyond all the skills you can possibly learn for managing conflict, effective communication skills will prove to be the most beneficial. Without open lines of honest communication in the workplace, unspoken and harbored conflicts will boil and fester until productivity grinds to a halt. Knowing how and when to address issues of conflict will help you to cut away destructive behaviors, encourage healthy arguments, and create an environment full of vigor and embracing of change. The Managing Conflict in the Workplace Simulation will help you to practice all this and more. The more...

Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace Simulation What are your thoughts on conflict in the workplace? Do you dread it? Quietly try to avoid it? Or do you rush headlong to meet it with enthusiasm, certain it will bring renewed vigor and badly-needed change to your organization? No matter your answer, the Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace Simulation will provide you with the opportunity to practice skills for coping with conflict and putting it to work for good. Conflict is inevitable in the workplace. Everybody has their own ideas about how things should run. Eventually, these ideas will collide. When they do, you don't need to be unprepared. Above and beyond all the skills you can possibly learn for coping with conflict, effective communication skills will prove to be the most beneficial. Without open lines of honest communication more...

Assertiveness from the Inside Out Do you sometimes wonder if there's a way to alter your professional style--to change yourself from the inside out? Do you want to develop your professional assertive style? Do you want to learn about strategies that can help you interact assertively with others in the workplace? Are you placed in situations where assertive negotiations are needed? Now is a good time to enhance your professional assertiveness skills if you answered "yes" to any of these questions. This course will guide you as you move into a more decisive, more effective professional style. You'll learn about methods that can help you build and strengthen your assertive style and strategies to prepare you to act more assertively. You'll also learn how to implement your new, assertive style as you negotiate with other more...

Professional Assertiveness Do you feel that co-workers see you as too passive or aggressive in your professional career? Do you wonder if there is a more appropriate professional style? Do you want to know how to develop your professional style? Do you feel you could develop your assertive communication techniques? Do you feel that you may not listen to your co-workers? Or do you feel that you need to develop your constructive feedback techniques? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it's a good time to learn to be an assertive business professional. This course will guide you as you move into a proactive, responsible, professional style. You'll learn methods to help you identify an appropriate assertive style and strategies to prepare you use that style. You'll also learn how to implement the assertive more...

Managing Anger in the Workplace Simulation Like most people, you have probably become angry at work. A disagreement with a coworker or manager could make you lose your temper and voice your anger, but is this really a good idea? What will your coworkers or manager think of your outburst? While confronting anger in the workplace is inevitable, it's important to minimize your angry thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and channel your energy into more constructive activities. Your role: As a Product Manager for the high-tech company SafeCom, deadlines on your current campaign are fast approaching. A rocky relationship with your coworker with whom you share responsibility for the campaign and an overworked boss with little time to mediate are both potential catalysts for an increase in your levels of anger and stress. Through it all, you more...

Remote Manager Practices - Motivating Employees In this course, you will learn the importance of setting effective goals for telecommuting employees. Additionally, you will learn how to use motivational techniques to keep telecommuting employees engaged, interested, and productive. The target audience for this course is new and experienced managers that are managing a telecommuting employee for the first time. more...

Performance Appraisal Simulation Consider your last performance appraisal. Was it a positive experience? Did it give you a clear idea of which areas you performed well in and which areas required more attention? And what about afterward? Did your manager continue to provide you with feedback all throughout the year? Or are you still waiting until your next evaluation to see how you've performed? Contrary to the experience of many employees, performance appraisals require more than a once-a-year feedback session to be effective--they require ongoing dialogue. Unfortunately, most managers view appraisals as an unwelcome intrusion to their already busy schedules. As such, they rush to get through the whole experience, neglecting the benefits of an otherwise very valuable tool. The Performance Appraisal Simulation is designed more...

Reviewing Performance Appraisal interviews are the culmination of the ongoing performance appraisal process. The first part of this process begins with modeling an effective performance discussion. Then, when a manager actually knows what he is aiming for, he can use this knowledge to plan and conduct a really worthwhile, efficient performance meeting. Appraisal meetings aren't always easy encounters, even when they are planned. Sometimes, a manager will have to tell an employee that his performance isn't good enough--despite all earlier efforts. This course gives sound practical advice about how to handle the appraisal of someone who is a consistently poor performer. Appraisees aren't always passive recipients of their manager's assessments, so this course prepares managers for the more difficult reactions more...

Continuous Performance Assessment This course shows you how to make performance appraisal a continuous process. The first stage of continuous performance assessment is planning. Appraisal must be linked to performance goals that matter, and these goals need to encompass both the organization and the individual before a performance plan can be agreed on by appraiser and appraisee. Even with conventional roles and relationships this is a challenge, but for many organizations, the role of the employee is more flexible, and reporting arrangements are more remote. The 21st century manager has to plan to appraise employees he may rarely see. The second stage is changing the annual performance meeting into ongoing communication about performance between the manager and employee. The manager must review and monitor performance, more...

Leadership in Management Simulation Specializing in the film and television industries, Limelight Connections is a web-based, career-search company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. As part of the marketing team, you have been with Limelight for just under two years. Your dedication, industry knowledge and hard work have paid off, recently earning you a promotion to manager of the department. But with the new title comes new challenges--some from sources you may never have expected. But challenges like these are all part of moving into management and assuming the mantle of leadership. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft series "Moving into a Management Role" and contains links to the following courses: MGMT0002, MGMT0003, and MGMT0004. Anyone who is about to be promoted or has recently been promoted to his or more...

Moving into Management Simulation You work for The Electric Car Company. Recently your boss, Sonya Black, promoted you to Marketing Manager. Your main focus is now on managing the activities of others. You'll initially find that some of your coworkers' expectations of you have changed. Some of your former colleagues will have trouble accepting your promotion, and you will need to respond appropriately to their negative reactions. This will involve confronting and overcoming their concerns and behaviors. You will also need to resolve conflict between team members. As a new manager, you will need to resist the temptation to continue doing your old job. When Sonya assigns your team to handle the launch of your company's newest electric car, you will need to effectively delegate the tasks involved, resisting the urge to do more...

A New Manager s Role in the Company s Future Perhaps one of the most exciting and challenging changes that comes with moving into a management role is the need to take a more strategic view of the work you are doing. You need to develop a greater awareness of how your own work, and the work of those in your department, fits with the strategic vision of the company. You will also need to have a greater understanding of the impact that the output of your department can have on other parts of the organization. Complacency is the enemy of continuing business success and, as a manager, it is vital that you always look for ways in which to "do things better." This may include enhancing the quality of the product you produce or the service you provide, or looking at ways in which to improve processes. It could also be about improving more...

Lead and Communicate Effectively as a New Manager Employees want decisive leadership from their managers. Organizations, too, need their managers to be clear about their objectives, and how their teams can achieve them. As a new manager, it is important that you understand that leadership is about giving direction, but it is also crucial that you realize that it also involves trusting and empowering your staff. You will undoubtedly have been very good at your last job, but now you will need to resist the temptation to continue doing it. For some time to come, it may be true that you could do it quicker or better, but an important part of your new role is delegating tasks to others. You will not have time to do everything yourself, and your staff members will need to know that you trust them enough, and are sufficiently interested in their more...

A New Manager s Responsibilities and Fears Promotion to management is obviously welcome and something to celebrate, but when the initial excitement is over, you may begin to wonder about your new responsibilities. Your main focus is now on managing the activities of others and ensuring that the company's resources are used effectively. Apprehensions about whether you are able to do the job are natural--it merely indicates a healthy respect for the role. Taking some time to consider how you can best direct your current abilities toward the new task will be time well spent. It is inevitable that your co-workers' expectations of you will change. It may be hard for some of your former colleagues to accept your promotion. Your new fellow managers, who were once senior to you, may also take some time to adjust. Again, thinking through more...

Becoming a Manager What does becoming a manager involve? What skills are needed to be a good one, and what will others expect of you? These are all natural questions for anyone who is about to become a manager, or who has recently been promoted. Moving into a first management role represents possibly one of the biggest changes in your working life. The transition from player to manager is an exciting, but challenging, one. It takes most people out of an area in which they have been comfortable and successful for some time into more unfamiliar territory. Moving from being one of the team to leading it can be daunting. Anyone who is about to be promoted, or who has just been promoted to a first management or supervisory role more...

Mentoring Essentials Simulation You are a Team Leader for the Wireless Technology Group, a research department within The Research Company that focuses on collecting and analyzing data on wireless technologies. You are heading up a new research project that deals with forecasting advertising revenue for wireless communication tools over the next five years. While managing this project, you have also been assigned Tilly Newman, a new hire in your department, to be your protege. Your responsibilities within this simulation are to inform Tilly of company policies, prepare an Action Plan for her professional development, and guide Tilly through personal and professional problems. During this first month, you will practice: supportive listening, giving effective feedback, guiding by asking questions, advocating for your more...

e-Mentoring Rapid changes in the way organizations look and do business have generated a new business tool: e-Mentoring. Here's an opportunity to examine the challenges and advantages of e-Mentoring and explore how to adapt communication skills to electronic media. Learn how to grow and manage e-M