Personal Development Training Course - Two Day

Definition: What is Personal Development?

Personal development is the systematic improvement of professional skills, in order to get the best performance from yourself and others.

Self-development

We recognise that “other people” and “the system” will affect your results, but the fact is that YOU are the most influential person in your life, because, wherever you go, YOU are always there.

If you want a better future, then the best way to achieve that is to develop yourself, in terms of improved knowledge, skills, abilities and mind-set.

How can you get the best performance from yourself and others?

Your performance is made up of six major skills:

• Goal focus
• Communication
• Planning / time management
• Conflict management
• Personal management: self-confidence and control
• The ability to inspire others

Goals are the starting point of all achievement

How to develop goal focus

Goals are the starting point of all achievement.
You are defined by your goals.
The difference between a wish and a goal.
Goal setting by means of 8 Part Smart.

Impression Management

Every day you leave an impression in the minds of others. People judge you based on everything you say and do. Decide what impression you wish to leave and then act accordingly.

Practical exercise in impression management: personal branding.

Developing your Personal Communication Skills

Communication is the accurate transfer of information and ideas. Vague or ambiguous communication will cause errors and frustration. Therefore, it is important to master the art of accurate language.

How to Define the Key Terms of Your Message

Practical exercises to improve the accuracy and precision of your language.

It is important to master the art of accurate language

Affirmative vs Negative Language

Affirmative language tells people what is, negative language tells people what is not.

Many people spend too much time talking about what they don’t like, can’t or won’t do.

Instead of that, train yourself to talk about what you like, what you can do and what you will do.

Distinguish the Critic from the Cynic

The ability to distinguish between two similar, but different things, is a major skill to master.

Critics and cynics are very similar, but you must be able to distinguish between the critical thinker, from the cynic.

We will show you how to differentiate between a critical thinker and a cynic.

Negative vs Positive Instructions

Don’t panic - Suggests panic.

Don’t worry - suggests worry.

It is important to avoid giving negative instructions, instead always frame your instructions in the positive sense.

Practical exercises in reframing negative sentences in the positive sense.

Don’t panic, stay calm.

Develop your ability to handle conflict and difficult people

Conflict is inevitable. It is inevitable because not everyone shares your views. Everyone has their own opinions about what is good, right, fair and funny. Consequently, people disagree.

You must know how to deal with conflict situations and difficult conversations effectively.

How to manage negative emotions

Conflicts often degenerate into negative emotions. We need to prevent the negative emotions from taking over. We need to know how to take the heat out of the situation.

When in conflict, do not use opinionated, highly charged, emotional, subjective language. Instead, use only objective, rational, factual, non-emotional language.

We will explain the difference between objective and subject language.

How to use Objective Language in a Conflict Situation

We will practice changing everyday language into objective language and how to use it in real-life conflict situations.

When in conflict:
Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Prepare your Words in Advance

When in conflict, it is important to decide exactly what you will say, before you say it. Don’t just blurt-out something, because the more you say, the more likely you will say something wrong.

Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Distinguish Reasons from Excuses

There is no such thing as a reasonable excuse. It is either a reason, or an excuse.

We will differentiate between what you should take as a reason, for not doing something and what you should dismiss as an excuse.

When to compromise and when not to

Know when to find a middle ground compromise.
Know when to hold the line and stand firm.
We will practice with five real-life scenarios.

Always finish on a positive note

It is important to remember the power of praise.
Appreciation is free to give and costly not to.
Never underestimate the power of “A few kind words”.
Always take the time to say, “Thank you, I appreciate it”.

Time management and Positive mental attitude

Time Management and Personal Effectiveness

Time management is the art of doing the right things in the right order.
You are a limited resource; facing an unlimited demand. Therefore, you need to make good decisions about how you will prioritise your use of your time and effort.

Operate according to your plan, not your mood

Success comes by doing the most VALUABLE things first.
Not the easiest things first.

Don’t automatically do the easiest things, first.

Instead do the most VALUABLE thing first, even if it is not easy, and even if you are not in the mood.

Procrastination is the art of putting off what you know you should do, because you are not in the mood. Procrastination is the enemy of personal achievement.

The Correct Way to Prioritise

Effective people judge tasks by two criteria, by value and by time.

When deciding how to spend your time ask two questions:

1. What is the value of the task?
2. What is the deadline pressure for this task?

We will show you how to prioritise your tasks into four categories.

Distinguish between 'busy-work' and 'productive-work'

Busy-work is work that keeps you occupied, but is relatively non-productive. Productive-work is high value, but not YET deadline driven.

How to deal with time-wasters

There are three categories of time wasters:

1. Your own bad habits
2. Other people’s bad habits
3. Inefficient systems

We will discuss strategies to deal with all three types.

How to handle interruptions and low value distractions

We live in an age of distractions.
Everyone wants a piece of your brain.
Learn to concentrate your mind onto a point, without allowing it to be distracted by trivia.

Delegation is the art of entrusting a task to another

Proper Delegation

Delegation is the art of entrusting a task to another.
You cannot do it all. You don’t have the time nor energy. Therefore, you must gain the willing cooperation of others. You need others to do things for you. You need to be able to effectively delegate certain tasks to others.
We will help you to delegate the right task, to the right person.

How can you improve email management?

Top tips on how to manage both incoming and outgoing messages - we will look at how you can manage your messages.

How to Prioritise and create a “track to run on”

Without a track to run on, you will run off course.
We will show you how to write your daily priority planner.

The 80/20 principle and its application to personal effectiveness

The 80 20 Pareto principle tells us that majority of the value, is to be found in a small minority of the content. You need to find the 20% of the task content, that will account for 80% or more of its value.
We will help you to do that and become more efficient.

Gain the maximum value, in the minimum time

You are a limited resource, facing an unlimited demand. Therefore, you need to find the maximum value, in the minimum time, without causing offence to anyone.

Personal Effectiveness and Emotional Intelligence

Your emotions and how to handle them.
Other people’s emotions and how to handle them.
We start with managing our own emotions, since you cannot hope to manage other people, if you cannot first manage yourself.

Your emotions are caused by your state of mind

Your emotions (feelings) are a reflection of your thoughts and beliefs.

Simply put:

• Positive thoughts create positive emotions
• Negative thoughts create negative emotions

Therefore, emotional intelligence is based upon your ability to manage your thoughts.

We show you how to create a positive mind-state and how to maintain it, especially during tough times.

Create a positive mind-state and maintain it, especially during tough times

Create and sustain a Positive Mental Attitude

Attitudes are habitual thought processes, which can be changed. With effort, negative thought habits can be transformed into something more positive.

How attitude affects your communication

Whatever you think about, is what you will talk about. Therefore, negative attitudes create negative speech, which negatively affects other people. Positive attitudes create positive speech, which positively affects other people. Therefore, conversation control is our primary means of affecting our own emotions and those of other people.

Conversation Control

There is a relationship between the words you use, and how you feel. Therefore, controlling your conversation is the best way to manage emotions.

We will learn how the needless repetition of negative thoughts, can be replaced with something more optimistic and productive.

The Five Part Success Formula

Success is simple, but not easy.
Success comes from the consistent application of just five words:
Purpose. Plan. Action. Feedback. Change.

How to Transform Failure into Feedback

You can become almost unstoppable, when you learn how to transform failure into “learning experiences”.

Transform “criticism” into “valuable information”.

We will show you how to profit from setbacks, difficulties and defeats.

Make Your Life Better from the Inside Out

Your Life chances can be positively affected by your mind set.

You are not what you THINK you are, but what you think, YOU ARE.

It is not WHAT happens that makes the biggest difference, but rather, it’s what you DO about it.

How to “Stack the Odds” in your Favour

To a certain degree, your life is affected by chance. But you can stack the odds in your favour by doing and saying the right things, whilst avoiding “self-sabotage” and “rookie mistakes”.

Personal Development Plan

Draw up your personal development plan, by listing all the things you will do differently as a result of learning the material we have covered on this course.