When the Economist Intelligence Unit looked into their crystal ball with their “2020 Foresight” a few years ago, they pointed to three overall trends that would have an impact on the way people and teams are being managed today.
- Globalisation. The increased geographical spread of employees in the company increases the need to work towards the same goal.
- Atomisation. With resources and production spread across many countries, it increases the need for collaboration.
- Knowledge management. Leading people virtually across borders and time zones increases the need for a manager who can communicate effectively and is able to navigate interpersonal relationships.
And the prediction was spot on.
The more or less virtual labour market that is found today has simultaneously resulted in a need to train managers and employees at a distance. This was a need that was only strengthened in the context of the crisis that we experienced at the beginning of 2020.
Although there are benefits in meeting 1:1, there is little to argue against strengthening your skills through online training. I therefore offer a number of modules, which of course can be customized and tailor-made to your wishes and needs.
An overview of the different modules is listed below, which can also be combined in the long run. Please call or write to us for more information. Then we can find out together how I can best help you and your company with Online Training.
The modules are run as personal live online sessions – either individually or as a team.
1 session = 2 hours
Minimum per module: 2 sessions (4 hours in total)
Recommended maximum number of participants per course: 10.
Change management
There is nothing like change. Yes, but not unconditionally. As a manager, it requires thorough reflection and considered action before radical changes roll successfully through the company.
Redundancies, recruitment, relocation, or restructuring. New technology, expansions, or other ways of working. Change is a broad concept, but whatever it consists of, it can be of great significance to employees and be a source of turmoil, resistance, and conflict. Therefore, it is essential to implement the right strategy and get the right employees on the bridge when the ship changes course.
You get the tools to manage the changes in practice and not least to communicate them in a constructive way so that employees are involved, motivated and feel that the changes are a source of development rather than uncertainty.
DISC/Understanding of behaviour
You can put on a smile even if you are sad. And you can be sociable at a party, even though you would have preferred to stay at home. But it has a price. Because you use energy to take on a role and exhibit a behaviour that is far from your initial inclination.
In this online session, you will become cognisant about your behavioural preferences. Understanding of behaviour is not about categorising people and putting them in boxes. It is about understanding yourself and your preferences, and this is achieved through DiSC, which is an excellent tool for describing people’s behaviour and diversity. For instance, if you have a distinct D personality type, this is where you use least energy – this is where you are in your comfort zone.
Behavioural preference is shaped early in our childhood, so if you are to adopt a behaviour that is far from your natural ego, it costs energy to deviate from that preference over time. Become smarter about where you spend the least energy and how to use that knowledge in collaboration with other people. When does it pay to modify behaviour with the aim of helping the team or getting the best out of a negotiating situation – even if there is a price to be paid? Get insight into how you talk to the other personality types based on the way you are yourself. Because you are measured and assessed on your behaviour. What you do is what you are.
A preparation of an online profile is included in the module.
3. Communication
Communication is a broad concept, but at the same time it also covers a wide range of important disciplines that is worthwhile to master if you want to create the foundation for an efficient and successful business. Whether you are a manager, project manager or specialist, there are plenty of tools in the toolbox to improve the branch(es) of communication that you wish to strengthen.
Under the menu item communication, you will find a description of the usual sessions that I provide for communication training.
Online meetings demand just as much in communication as physical meetings, and not least when it comes to management of meetings and presentation techniques, where there is a need of having things under control.
I provide you or your team the opportunity to delve deeper into the other pillars of communication such as the immensely important aspect of preparation, how to build an argument, the art of sticking to one’s views and finding the questioning technique that, along with the ability to listen, is the fuel for dialogue on equal terms.
Based on Assertive Communication, NLP, and Transaction Analysis, we delve into the winding power play of communication, and the stages you use to communicate from time to time. With theory and practical exercises, we get to the bottom of the various forms of communication and enable you to give your message an element of assertiveness without becoming passive or aggressive in a discussion.
4. Positive conflicts
Many of us perhaps harbour a basic idea that conflicts are by definition negative. Of course, they can be that too. But not necessarily.
In fact, we want the conflicts that can ultimately help with producing results. However, such conflicts must be of the healthy kind, which can only come about when there is trust.
If we are to achieve a result in a process or a project, it is important that we do not regard conflicts as the devil’s work. It means a clash. However, we actually want it when it comes to attitudes and values – and not for it to take place on a personal level. But a basis for this is that we have established trust. Only then can we have a healthy conflict and create commitment, accountability, and results.
The conflict ladder is a good tool for trying to understand the nature of the conflict and what to do to prevent it from escalating. And it works at all levels, whether it is an international conflict or a disagreement between two employees within a company.
5. Negotiation technique
Internally and externally. Great and small.
There are constant negotiations in a company. Examples of this can be a purchasing manager talking to a supplier about a large order, a discussion between two managers about the allocation of resources in the departments, or a chat between two colleagues at the coffee machine concerning the entertainment for Christmas lunch.
Regardless of the type of negotiation in question, it is comparable to conflict. If the negotiations end up in a deadlock, some sort of conflict arises. Thus, it is vital to understand the structure of negotiation and the problems that arise when people are not aware of the rules of the game.
We’ve all probably at some point tried to haggle over price and have been told that “there is no room for negotiation – the price is firm.” You end up looking silly even before the negotiation got started. Then how do you open so that you end up with a negotiation?
We delve into the different types of negotiating personalities that are important to know before you sit down at the negotiating table. For example, some types will place great emphasis on numbers and percentages – and will attempt at “winning” the negotiation. But that tactic also means that the future relationship will be challenged. Therefore, it is about creating a situation where both parties give a handshake with the feeling of success and the desire to work together going forward.
Through exercises and case training, we will make you cognisant of your negotiating style and you will become aware of how to use it and avoid the pitfalls. For example, if you are pressured in the negotiating situation, there may be a risk that you may back down on the overall success criteria because you may wish to maintain a good relationship with the other party. In the long run, this can end in a stalled cooperation. Thus, a good negotiation technique is about knowing yourself and keeping focus on both the relationship and the outcome.
6. Sales training
In a sales situation, people rarely say “yes, give me 10 of them” without asking a single question. Objections are very often a part of negotiating and are usually based on something the customer does not understand, is unsure of or has bad experiences with.
When the truth has to come out, it is a discipline that many salespeople are poor at dealing with. In this course you will learn how to deal with such a situation and be able to soften the customer’s objections – and create a good sale where the customer recommends you, your company, your product and will conduct business with you again.
A sale is a process and based on the FINE model, among other things, you get specific tools to prepare a good sale and get equipped for the task of conducting a successful sale.
In this course as a participant, you will have composed a sales profile.
7. High performance team
The ability to collaborate is one of the most important keys to success for a business. And the collaboration is therefore the be-all and end-all in teams that work together to achieve a well-defined goal. But if the dynamics and especially the communication within a team does not function, it will be immensely difficult to reach the finish line.
This course is aimed at both the manager who would like to optimise their team, and the team that is either experiencing challenges or would like to become better at communicating as well as working more effectively together.
Based on Lencioni’s theories on “dysfunctional teams”, we delve into the characteristics and challenges that are found in your team – and find the tools to create better collaboration and achieve a team with cohesiveness. The profile material “The Five Behaviours of the Cohesive Team”, which is a powerful tool for team insight, can be used here.
It is also possible to create team profiles in DiSC and prepare comparison reports on the team. In this way, each member gets knowledge about how he or she can best talk to their co-workers in the team. This creates the opportunity for the team to reach the finish line with their arms raised in success.
8. The manager as coach
Take responsibility!
You probably know what it is like, when an employee or a co-worker asks for the fourth time during the course of a day whether they should press the green or red button (in a figurative sense).
This problem is noticeable in many companies. With the right coach tool, you can motivate your employees to take responsibility and at the same time increase the sense of well-being and job satisfaction of the individuals.
Coaching is one of the most solution-oriented, proven, and effective tools for discourse in order to create clarity, self-insight, progress, and results.
I teach you how to listen and give you the tools to ask questions that make your employees reflect and take a stance on their personal and professional development. Successful employee coaching creates more efficiency and thereby giving you more time to manage.
9. Mental stamina
We need to be robust and persevere. We need to be able to cope with the battering and we need to be able to clench our teeth when it hurts. At the same time, we should be happy to show up at work.
Mental stamina can be an advantage in many situations, but we also should not become so resistant that going to work becomes a type of hardship. We need to find a way to an enjoyable work environment.
A happy employee does not come about on its own but is absolutely essential for a good and productive workplace. It places responsibility on the manager, who must help the employees on their way with consciously committed management.
We may not remain happy around the clock, but it is worth striving to achieve this feeling on occasions. Do you set the bar unrealistically high? Are you capable of saying no? What can you as a manager or an employee do to promote the feeling of the enjoyment of work that is so fundamentally important for both the individual and the company?
This is what we find out in this course, where you as a manager or an employee get the tools to understand and strike the right balance between mental stamina and enjoyment of work.
The course caters to both individuals and groups.
10. Personal efficiency
We are bombarded daily with information that needs digesting and evaluation. But let’s face it. Many of us are miserable at planning and prioritising.
Our working memory can only contain a limited amount of information, so why check your email every time a new one pops in? And who has not thought to themselves: “I can easily get that done tomorrow” – and have been horribly wrong?
Time optimism and the inability to prioritise trip us up and makes it difficult to make time for what is exciting. In this course you will learn to take the bull by its horns and to become realistic with regard to what you can achieve – and create time for things that you are passionate for.
One of the tools is called structure, and it doesn’t have to be dull. Learn to prioritise your tasks so that you can get to do the three-star tasks and thus increasing the chance of leaving work for home with a smile.
Personal efficiency is not about squeezing more out of ourselves. It’s about creating a clearer and motivating working day.
11. Day-to-day management
Management is an on-going discipline where there is a constant demand to develop in pace with the times. And this applies whether you are an old veteran within the profession or simply wet behind the ears as a manager.
Many years of experience in a managerial position can be a useful ballast when things come to a head and tough decisions need to be made. However, the routine can also be the source of challenges as the organisation moves in new directions or is invaded by younger generations. As an experienced manager, it is therefore important to set aside the conventional way of thinking and the notion that “its-all-going-relatively-well” on the shelf.
Based on your leadership identity, we find out how to develop your skills and, not least, how to break the framework and equip you to use innovative leadership and creative thinking as a management tool.
You will encounter many dilemmas and challenges as a new leader. Now you must not only assume responsibility for your own job, but you have to also be ready to take on the responsibility of the work your employees are doing. If you have been a co-worker with the employees you now have to manage, or if you start as a manager in a new company, the acceptance of your authority and your decisions by the employees is required. And if you have left a role of a specialist, you need to get accustomed to getting your hands out of daily operations and focus on managing and motivating others instead.
I have taken the journey from being an ordinary co-worker to a manager myself and felt the challenges first-hand. Today I equip new managers with the basic qualities needed for managing, giving them a picture of what type of manager they are, and provide them with the compass needed to navigate new and untested terrain.
In this course you will have prepared a management analysis and receive a 1:1 feedback.
12. Distance management
A branch in Jutland, two employees in Lithuania and a head office in Copenhagen. Many managers today find themselves far from their employees, and this often entails managerial challenges. Certainly, these challenges did not get smaller in 2020, since the corona crisis has placed high demands on ever more managers and employees. However, pandemic or not, distance management has come to stay.
It can be difficult to maintain relationships, set goals, and communicate effectively to employees when time zones and virtual meeting rooms set boundaries for proximity and daily contact. However, the physical distance does not need to be negative. With the right tools, you can as a manager eliminate the sense of “us and them” that distance can bring about – and instead create the necessary confidence and common understanding that forms the framework of a healthy business across bridges and boundaries.
13. Network competencies
Not everyone thinks it is fun to attend a conference or a reception and be forced into having to socialise. Many find it difficult to find something to talk about and quickly resign to the nearest corner, where they stand and merely look at their mobile phones and their wristwatches.
But why waste a golden opportunity of expanding your network when you can improve your networking skills with some relatively simple tools.
Like so many things, it’s all about preparation. Be sure to prepare a pitch or a few questions so you always have something to fall back on. Finding a version of yourself is easier if you have prepared yourself.
Many people underestimate receptions and conferences as an opportunity for networking. Learn to see it as an opportunity for attracting employees, making good publicity for the company, or investing in relationships that can in the long term be turned into business.
14. Project management
Being a project manager is not always easy. There can be many challenges when you step into the role as an unofficial leader – with no stars on your shoulder – and having to try to lead people over whom you have no actual leadership.
One of the typical challenges is that the project manager has difficulty motivating and engaging the various employees, who often come from many different departments.
In this course you will learn how you, as a project manager, delegate and differentiate between the various employees, how you make decisions and conduct the impact analysis that allow the project to be a success.