622 Improv courses in Leicester

Wouldn't sales be a 'walk in the park' without challenging customers? Why is it that some customers are so difficult to please, so quick to call 'foul' at the slightest blip and so mean with their gratitude after we've bent over backwards to accommodate them? Whether we are looking at prospective or existing customers, there is a toolkit for dealing with the most challenging of them. This course will help participants: Use broad open questions to give the customer a platform for their opinions or issues Improve listening skills to really understand what's behind the customer's challenging style Probe specific phrases to show listening and earn deeper disclosure Use silence to let challenging customers 'blow off steam' Understand the negative impact of certain phrases on a challenging customer Summarise effectively and reassure the customer of our understanding of their needs Recognise the 'behaviour cycle' and avoid emotional escalation Understand 'transactional analysis' and how to bring people from 'child' to 'adult' state Create loyalty in customers who are slow to give trust 1 What makes a customer 'challenging'? Why customers challenge us - understanding their drivers 'Wearing their shoes' - seeing things from their perspective Understanding our own personality style How to flex with a style that is different from our own Ways to quickly recognise a customer's style The benefits of flexing with a challenging customer's style 2 Practical exercise - forum theatre Participants take it in turns to deal with the trainer (who plays the role of the challenging customer) Observers stop the action when they hear or see something they deem wrong The participant in the seat gets a chance to use a suggested alternative line The participant who makes the suggestion has the chance to occupy the seat and deliver it themselves Frequent feedback from the trainer as to how the participant's words are making him feel Opportunities to rewind the action if an ill-advised line is suggested and delivered Flipchart for capturing what worked, what didn't work and why Mehrabian principle - the importance of body language and tone over words used 3 Questioning and listening skills How to use open questions to get the customer talking What questions to avoid and why The use of pauses and silence to reduce tension and build trust What listening is and what it isn't Question funnelling - how to earn deeper disclosure through probing The power of summary 4 Transactional analysis explained What is transactional analysis (TA)? Exploring the TA states and why people behave in that way under pressure How to bring challenging customers to 'adult' state to reduce tension How 'parent' or 'child' behaviours can be inadvertently triggered Understanding the 'behavioural cycle' and how to break it Mini-role play 'vignettes' to demonstrate real time impact of ill-chosen words 5 How to build trust with challenging customers Techniques for placating current challenging customers Methods that the participants have already used effectively - understanding why those methods worked and how other participants can model them Participants' experiences of trust having been lost - understanding why those experiences had that negative outcome How to 'go the extra mile' with challenging customers 6 Bringing a 'real' challenging customer to life Participants give the trainer a brief profile of a specific challenging customer of theirs 5-10 minute roleplay in which the trainer brings that individual to life Observing participants - without interrupting - make notes on what is and isn't working Trainer stops the action half-way through to give feedback on how he is feeling Participant goes back into the roleplay having recalibrated their approach based on feedback Observers give feedback on what did and didn't work Trainer comes out of character to explain the impact of the participant's words and behaviours 7 Wrap-up Key learnings from each participant Individual action planning - steps that can and will be implemented in the workplace

What do engineers and project managers need to know of finance? 'Nothing - leave it to the accountants!' No, no, no! Engineers must be conversant with the terminology and statements that accountants use. Technical expertise in projects, service delivery, production or other areas can only really be harnessed if the managers understand the accounting and reporting that drives businesses. This course gives the necessary understanding to project, production and technical managers. It develops their skills in understanding financial and management accounting. Accountants may not always like it but a major part of their work is to be the 'servants of business' and to gather, compile and present your figures. So you must understand the figures - they belong to you, your processes or projects. There are many reasons for maintaining accurate accounts. This course focuses on the strategic issues (those over-used words) - what figures reveal about the drivers of business and what they reveal about the day-to-day issues that accountants bother you with. The course will enhance your understanding of finance and of the accounting issues which affect your projects, production and technical areas of business. This course will help you: Understand the business world in figures - make sense of what the accountants are telling you Appreciate what drives business - and how this affects your role in your part of the business Relate your activities to the success of the business - through figures Gain the skills to advance in management - financial awareness is a 'must have' if you are to progress in your career 1 What do accountants do? The finance function, types of accountant, financial v management accounting and the treasury function Understanding the role of the finance function and how the information you provide may be used 2 The basic financial statements Balance sheets and income statements (P&L accounts) What they are, what they contain and above all what they can reveal - how to read them The accounting process - from transactions to financial statements What underpins the statements - accounting systems and internal controls 3 Why be in business - from a financial perspective The driving forces behind financial information Performance measures - profitability, asset utilisation, sales and throughput, managing capital expenditure 4 Accounting rules - accounting standards Accounting concepts and the accounting rules: accruals, 'going concern' - substance over form and other 'desirable qualities' Accruals - why the timing of a transaction is so important to the finance function Depreciation and amortisation - the concepts and practice Accounting standards - the role of International Financial Reporting Standards 5 Cash The importance of cash flow - working capital management Cash flow statements - monitoring overall cash flows Raising cash - levels of borrowing, gearing Spending cash - an outline of capital expenditure appraisal 6 Budgeting Why budget? - good and bad practice Determining why budgets play a key role and should not be simply an annual ritual Justifying your budgets - the link between the strategic plan and day-to-day budgeting - alignment of company culture Budgets as motivators - the importance of the right culture Techniques to improve budgeting - whether day-to-day or capital budgeting 7 Costing The type and detail of costing very much depends on your business - eg, manufacturing piston rings is quite different from the construction of a power plant Issues with overhead allocation Accounting for R&D 8 Reading financial statements Annual financial statements - why they are produced, what's in them and what you should look for Learning what a set of accounts reveals about a company's current situation, profitability and future prospects 9 Performance measurement - analytical reviews and ratio analysis ROI/ROCE Profitability, margins and cost control Sales - asset turnover Efficiency (asset / stock turnover, debtor / creditor days) 'City' measures Investment (interest / dividend cover, earnings per share, dividend yield)

High quality specifications are of paramount importance in achieving the right technical performance and value for money. This long-established training programme has been developed to help those involved in producing specifications to create high quality documents in an organised and effective way. It provides a sound foundation for those new to the topic whilst at the same time offering new insights to those with more experience. The programme emphasises the need for a clear definition of requirements combined with the ability to communicate those requirements effectively to third parties. A structured method of preparing specifications is provided, and a range of practical techniques is presented, to enable participants to put the principles into practice. The commercial and contractual role of specifications is also addressed. The objectives of the workshop are to: Provide a clear understanding of the role and purpose of specifications Present a framework for organising and producing specifications Define the key steps involved in creating effective specifications Demonstrate methods for assisting in defining requirements Provide tools and techniques for scoping and structuring specifications Show the role of specifications in managing variations and changes to scope Present methods to assist the writing and editing of specifications Review how specifications should be issued and controlled DAY ONE 1 Introduction Review of course objectives Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 Creating effective specifications The role of specifications in communicating requirements The costs, benefits and qualities of effective specifications Understanding the differences between verbal and written communication The five key steps of 'POWER' writing: prepare-organise-write-edit-release Exercise: qualities of an effective specification 3 Step 1: Preparing to write - defining readership and purpose; the specification and the contract Designing the specifications required; applying BS 7373 Defining the purpose, readership and title of each document Effective procedures for writing, issuing and controlling specifications The roles and responsibilities of the key players Understanding contracts; the contractual role of the specification Integrating and balancing the technical and commercial requirements Writing specifications to achieve the appropriate contract risk strategy Deciding how to specify: when to use functional and technical specifications The role of specifications in managing variations and changes to scope 4 Case study 1 Teams review a typical project scenario and identify the implications for the specification Feedback and discussion 5 Step 2: Organising the specification content Defining the need and establishing user requirements Deciding what issues the specification should cover Scoping techniques: scope maps, check lists, structured brainstorming Clarifying priorities: separating needs and desires Dealing with requirements that are difficult to quantify Useful techniques: cost benefit analysis, QFD, Pareto analysis 6 Case study 2 Teams apply the scoping techniques to develop the outline contents for a specification Feedback and discussion DAY TWO 7 Step 2: Organising the specification content (cont) Deciding what goes where; typical contents and layout for a specification The three main segments: introductory, key and supporting Creating and using model forms: the sections and sub-sections Detailed contents of each sub-section Tools and techniques for outlining and structuring specifications 8 Case study 3 Teams develop the detailed specification contents using a model form Feedback and discussion 9 Step 3: Writing the specification The challenges of written communication Identifying and understanding the readers needs Choosing and using the right words; dealing with jargon Problem words; will, shall, must, etc; building a glossary Using sentence structure and punctuation to best effect Understanding the impact of style, format and appearance Avoiding common causes of ambiguity Being concise and ensuring clarity Choosing and using graphics to best effect Exercises and examples 10 Step 4: Editing the specification Why editing is difficult; how to develop a personal editing strategy Key areas to review: structure, content, accuracy, clarity, style and grammar Editing tools and techniques 11 Step 5: Releasing and controlling the specification Key requirements for document issue and control Final formatting and publication issues; document approval Requirements management: managing revisions and changes 12 Course review and action planning What actions should be implemented to improve specifications? Conclusion

Our telephone training takes place in your normal working situation, using the actual telephones and software, and the programming software clients that trainees will use when fully trained. Our trainers will travel anywhere in the world to train you face to face, or if you prefer, we can offer our whole training catalogue remotely using Teams or Zoom. On-site and live remote telecoms training sessions have a general reputation as most effective for trainees to continue to efficiently carry out their telecoms usage, programming and own in-house training of future new employees. On-site training involves employees training at their place of work while they are doing their actual job, or in pre-organised classroom training sessions, based around hands-on interaction, trainer Q&A and all carried out using your own site telephone system. Our telephone trainers also offer consultations on your new or current telephone systems: looking into how you currently use your system, making suggestions on how programming could be tweaked and changed to improve your current usage, how to improve on call handling methods, and informing you of additional products which may be available on your system that you may not be aware of. This could help improve the level of communication across your company and interactions with your customers. We believe telephone handset and voicemail training sessions are essential to the smooth and efficient running of your company, making sure your staff are aware of all the features and benefits that the telephone handsets can offer, and ensuring calls are dealt with quickly and effectively. System administration training is available to teach new administrators how to manage and control a variety of system features. This type of training is especially important when new administrators have little or no previous telecom knowledge or experience, but it is equally important at all levels to ensure the new system is utilised to its maximum capability. Administration days or Call Centre Software training days take one full day to complete. Full Day Example: 9:30 - 16:00 Day Structure  09:30 - 10:45 Handset & VM session for up to 8 people 10:45 - 12:00 Handset & VM session for up to 8 people 12:00 - 12:45 Lunch  12:45 - 14:00 Handset & VM session for up to 8 people 14:00 - 15:15 Handset & VM session for up to 8 people 15:15 - 16:30 Handset & VM session for up to 8 people Half Day Example: 9:30 - 13:00 Switchboard training takes half a day (3-4 hours for up to 3 people). If you want to train more than 3 people, you may need to extend the day to a full day, to ensure everyone gets to have hands-on training on the switchboard. Super Users and Train the Trainer Sessions Super User sessions can also be organised to show advanced system features in order to provide an ongoing training service to their colleagues, once the trainers have left the site.

English Language courses at Bath Academy are suitable for every type of student. Join classes every Monday.

The Supply Chain Academy can assist you in focusing on the issues and challenges most critical to your team’s success – improving rapport, relationships and productivity, enabling teams to achieve their collective goals, confronting problems, inspiring success and unlocking potential when your team needs it most. We use the Insights Discovery® Personality profiling model, which adds a simple visual methodology that supports effective communication. The Supply Chain Academy can assist you in focusing on the issues and challenges most critical to your team’s success - improving rapport, relationships and productivity, enabling teams to achieve their collective goals, confronting problems, inspiring success and unlocking potential when your team needs it most. Our Team Effectiveness programme is ideal if you want to: monitor your team’s strengths and challenges create space for open and honest dialogue within the team overcome an obstacle that’s holding the team back develop action plans for continuous improvement Insights Discovery - How it Works: Through Insights Discovery® and our own, in-house Insights Discovery® licenced practitioner, we use the Insights Discovery model to understand an individual’s unique preferences. Our Insights Discovery-based people development programmes are simple and deeply insightful. They provide immediate impact and enable positive, lasting change. Insights Discovery® is: Simple: easy to understand so everyone can apply what they learn. Universal: it speaks to everyone at all levels. Deeply Insightful: take you places you never expected. Positive: the supportive language is so engaging it empowers people to change. Fun! The memorable colour energy system that really sticks Using Insights Discovery® as part of a wider programme: Insights Discovery® is at the heart of everything that we do. This simple framework of four colour energies can be used to develop highly-tailored solutions to meet your unique business needs. Example solutions: Increasing communication and collaboration: learn how your team, department or organisation can work together more effectively in a series of Insights Discovery® Workshops. Improving personal effectiveness: as part of a programme of coaching, Insights Discovery can be used to identify areas of strength and help create a development plan tailored to each individual. Developing leaders and sales people: use an understanding of preferences to assess individual and collective strengths and enhance crucial business skills. Explore the concept of change and gain an understanding of the process Understand how different personality types respond to change Engage the wider organisation by building relationships with staff Motivate teams through change

Our ‘Professional Behaviour – A workplace Priority’ training programme provides delegates with a set of tools and increased knowledge to deal with the issues of bullying and harassment appropriately as they arise. These issues are far from easy and for many managers, the reality of dealing with complaints of this nature is both time consuming and stressful Currently it is estimated that bullying and harassment costs the UK economy £18 billion a year in lost productivity, staff retention and legal costs. Our bespoke and specialized services, developed to meet your organizational requirements in these challenging areas, can reduce stress levels, develop increased awareness, and better understanding. In addition to this face to face training, NGT will assess your organisation’s current position and where you would like it to be as its future unfolds; we will help your organization to identify improvements and assess the benefits to you of making them; we will work with you to implement the agreed solutions, at a time and in a way that fits with your operational needs; we will help you track the benefits both long term and short term via regular monitoring, evaluation, and continued discussion. Our facilitator is highly experienced in delivering this training to all levels of staff and NGT welcomes your enquiry to take this matter forward. How is this course delivered and how long is it? This is a face to face course only and lasts a full day Is the course accredited? Yes, it is a CPD accredited course Who is it for? Although it will benefit managers of all grades it is equally important that all staff are made aware of these issues How much does it cost? Course fees are fixed at a fair daily rate, details of which are available upon enquiry. Travel costs are extra. How large are the groups? We can only effectively deliver this course to groups of 15 people or less. Will you be able to deliver the course at my workplace? Based in the Midlands, we are well suited to travelling to all corners of the UK, enabling us to deliver this programme to you at your location.

Develop your consultative selling skills through 6 practical modules: Define your target market Approaches that sell The Sales Interview Discovering prime buying motives How to close sales Overcoming stalls and objections In addition, learn to develop effective work habits, daily / weekly / monthl

We use the Insights Discovery® Personality profiling model, which adds a simple visual methodology that supports effective communication. Explore the concept of change and gain an understanding of the process Understand how different personality types respond to change Engage the wider organisation by building relationships with staff Motivate teams through change Insights Discovery - How it Works: Through Insights Discovery® and our own, in-house Insights Discovery® licenced practitioner, we use the Insights Discovery model to understand an individual’s unique preferences. Our Insights Discovery-based people development programmes are simple and deeply insightful. They provide immediate impact and enable positive, lasting change. Insights Discovery® is: Simple: easy to understand so everyone can apply what they learn. Universal: it speaks to everyone at all levels. Deeply Insightful: take you places you never expected. Positive: the supportive language is so engaging it empowers people to change. Fun! The memorable colour energy system that really sticks Using Insights Discovery® as part of a wider programme: Insights Discovery® is at the heart of everything that we do. This simple framework of four colour energies can be used to develop highly-tailored solutions to meet your unique business needs. Example solutions: Increasing communication and collaboration: learn how your team, department or organisation can work together more effectively in a series of Insights Discovery® Workshops. Improving personal effectiveness: as part of a programme of coaching, Insights Discovery can be used to identify areas of strength and help create a development plan tailored to each individual. Developing leaders and sales people: use an understanding of preferences to assess individual and collective strengths and enhance crucial business skills. Explore the concept of change and gain an understanding of the process Understand how different personality types respond to change Engage the wider organisation by building relationships with staff Motivate teams through change

The model adds an easily understandable engaging communication tool that delegates begin to use immediately and effectively when they leave the training room. The model adds an easily understandable engaging communication tool that delegates begin to use immediately and effectively when they leave the training room. Insights Discovery - How it Works: Through Insights Discovery® and our own, in-house Insights Discovery® licenced practitioner, we use the Insights Discovery model to understand an individual’s unique preferences. Our Insights Discovery-based people development programmes are simple and deeply insightful. They provide immediate impact and enable positive, lasting change. Insights Discovery® is: Simple: easy to understand so everyone can apply what they learn. Universal: it speaks to everyone at all levels. Deeply Insightful: take you places you never expected. Positive: the supportive language is so engaging it empowers people to change. Fun! The memorable colour energy system that really sticks Using Insights Discovery® as part of a wider programme: Insights Discovery® is at the heart of everything that we do. This simple framework of four colour energies can be used to develop highly-tailored solutions to meet your unique business needs. Example solutions: Increasing communication and collaboration: learn how your team, department or organisation can work together more effectively in a series of Insights Discovery® Workshops. Improving personal effectiveness: as part of a programme of coaching, Insights Discovery can be used to identify areas of strength and help create a development plan tailored to each individual. Developing leaders and sales people: use an understanding of preferences to assess individual and collective strengths and enhance crucial business skills. Explore the concept of change and gain an understanding of the process Understand how different personality types respond to change Engage the wider organisation by building relationships with staff Motivate teams through change