Personal Effectiveness Training Course - Two Day

Introductions

We need to answer this question:How do you get the best from yourself and others?

You need to get the best performance from other people. But the only way to do that is to first, get the best performance from yourself.

How can you get the best performance from yourself? Develop the key skills of personal effectiveness.

The six key skills of personal effectiveness

1. Setting realistic goals
2. To clearly and accurately communicate your message
3. To be able to write good plans
4. To handle conflict assertively but fairly and calmly
5. To self-inspire and develop self confidence
6. To inspire confidence and motivation in others around you.

The first principle of personal effectiveness: Goal Setting

Decide your "direction of travel". You must know what it is that you want. Set your goals.
Decide how you wish to be perceived by others at work, and then resolve to act accordingly.
Set your short term goals, which will get you moving in the right direction, today

Second principle of personal effectiveness: Clear communication

There is a need for accurate language

You need to know:

• How to think, speak and write more clearly
• How to explain exactly what it is that you mean
• How you can get the true meaning from those people who are having trouble explaining their ideas to you
• How to distinguish between "proper critical thinking" and "improper complaining"
• How to avoid rookie mistakes such as the misuse use of humour
• Have a sense of humour, but don't act the clown

Practical exercises for the delegates to learn skills

Conflict Management Training

Upset and conflict is bound to happen, because people don't share the same ideas. Conflict is inevitable. And conflict can be beneficial. But conflict can be destructive if it is mismanaged. Conflict can be constructive ONLY IF it is well managed.

How can you well manage conflict situations?

Proper conflict management requires that you:

• Let them save face. Don't make your criticism sound like an insult
• Use factual language, not emotive language. Make your criticism sound like help
• Give them the way out: Ask them to change their behaviour. Suggest the solution
• Be clear about what you want. Be clear about the solution that would best resolve the problem
• Separate reasons from excuses. Reasons are good. Excuses are no good
• Know when to give ground, and to stand firm
• Give ground to people who give your good reasons
• Stand firm to those people who give you only excuses
• Use your body language correctly
• Use your voice tone to be assertive, but not aggressive
• Practice exercises and notes

Practical exercises for the delegates to learn skills

Time management and Personal Management

Time management is the art of doing, at any given moment, the most valuable thing. Ask yourself this question: "What is the best (most valuable) use of my time, right now?"

Use the concepts of: "Urgency: Deadline pressure" and "Importance: value" are key indicators. Distinguish between being "busy", and being "productive".

Recognise that your dreaded enemy is: the BUSY but NON productive day

Having too many busy but non productive days means that you are working hard, but not making much progress

Ask yourself: Who wastes my time? Who and what causes me to be busy; but not productive

The three time wasters

1. Other people that you work with
2. Yourself on a bad day - Your bad habits and errors
3. Poor systems

How to delegate your lower value tasks

Delegation is good for

1. Training and developing others
2. Sharing the load
3. Getting the job done

How to prioritise

Prioritisation is the art of doing things in the right order, put things in order of value.

How to make accurate decisions

Don't dither- Decide!

How to improve your management of emails.

Prioritise and organise your emails - we will analyse how you can best manage the situation.

How to handle interruptions

Interruptions break your concentration and steal your time.
Apply the Pareto principle: The 80/20 rule to interruptions. 80% of the value of the interruption will be in 20% what they actually say.

Problem solving

Mental mapping of your problems so as to find their causes and solutions - it is important to think on paper.

You are profoundly affected by how you feel:
If you feel strong, then you work well. If you feel weak, then you don't work well

Question: How can you make yourself feel strong, even when the situation is bad?
You need to create your own Self-confidence, self-motivation and personal initiative
You need to know how to create and sustain a positive mental attitude

How your attitude is self-fulfilling

Your attitude is the sum total of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs about any issue.
Your attitudes are important because they affect how you act, in any situation.
You need to create and sustain a "Positive mental attitude".
Question: What exactly constitutes a "positive attitude" and how do you get one?

Manage your thoughts and you will manage your feelings

Manage your thoughts and you will manage your language. When the demands are high:

Manage your own conversation

Don't allow yourself to say anything! Edit out some of the complaining and fear, from your own speech patterns

Manage their negative conversation

Don't listen to anything. Stand guard at the doors of your mind!

How to sustain your energy

Energy and vitality are a part of your routine

Operate according to the EDISON success formula

The Edison formula is a five word formula for success:

1. Purpose: Name the goal
2. Plan: Formulate a detailed plan of action
3. Action: Implement the plan
4. Feedback: Find out what is working and what is not working
5. Change: Change whatever is not working. Improve the plan and repeat

What happens if you reverse this formula? You get failure

Failure is the opposite formula:

1. No purpose - drifter - no goals
2. No plan- wing it - no idea
3. No action- lazy - no progress
4. Argue with the feedback - no learning
5. Refuse to change- stubbornness - no evolution

Notice any elements of the failure formula in yourself and others.

Take action against the failure formula.

The Six Success Formula Questions

Every day ask yourself the following six questions, and come up with six plausible answers.

1. What are your major definite goals for this coming week (month, year)?
2. Where are your 'detailed, written plans of action' that describe exactly how you intend to achieve your goals?
3. What have you been doing lately, in terms of achieving your 'major definite goals' and acting on your 'plans of action'?
4. What have been the recent feedback results: What has been going well for you lately?
5. What has not been going so well for you?
6. In respect of what has not been going well, tell me, what specifically do we need to adapt, improve or change, in order to get things back on track? Please give me the details.

In order to condition your own mind, and the minds of every member of the team to act in harmony with the requirements of the success formula, every day, use these six questions to trigger success formula thoughts, feelings, actions and results.

Practical exercises for the delegates to learn skills

Summary

Final action planning