Thursday, February 26, 2015

Is Your Writing Holding You Back?



A guest post from Continuing Studies facilitator, Fiona Prince.

Do you get cold sweats before you hit the send key for a company-wide email?

Do you struggle to find the right words to express your ideas in business reports?

Do you make it to the first round of job competitions, but fail to pass the written components?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone.

Fiona Prince
We have entered an era where writing skills in the workplace determine who advances, who stays put and who gets let go when it’s time to cut costs. If you are unable to communicate effectively via email; if you don’t know how to put your thoughts into a logical sequence for a business-case; or, if you haven’t the faintest idea how to put your recommendations into a briefing-note, you may find yourself stuck in a dead-end job with little hope for advancement.

You might think that writing has always been important in the workplace, but before the mid-1990s most communications occurred face-to-face and by phone. We had trained secretaries and stenographers who took notes at meetings, and communications professionals who turned rough drafts into polished documents. Although these positions still exist in some organizations, most companies require employees to write clear and concise emails, coherent reports and engaging presentations.

Most organizations now require their employees to write in different styles for different audiences, too. For example, email exchanges between friendly coworkers may be informal and include incomplete sentences, abbreviations and emoticons; emails sent to management and customers will most likely be formal and include status reports, recommendations and requests for decisions. To confuse matters further, as people work together and build working-relationships, the tone and language in their emails may shift from informal to formal and back, depending on the subject and whether they are writing the email on a desktop, tablet or smartphone: the smaller the device, the shorter the message.

So what can you do to succeed with your writing? Join me in March on campus for How to Improve Your Writing: Impact, Grammar and Editing to help you write clear, concise messages in plain language for any format (email and print), and in May for How to Improve Your Writing: Impact, Grammar and Editing - ONLINE  and Word Power: How to Improve Your Vocabulary and Ability toExpress Yourself, a one-day on-campus workshop to teach you how to increase your vocabulary, choose the right words and express yourself clearly. 

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Fiona Prince is an enthusiastic communications professional, facilitator and instructor who blends writing techniques with interpersonal communications theories and real-world stories to bring you a positive and memorable learning experience. A recent participant wrote, “When I get the calendar each year, I look to see what Fiona is teaching. I know I will learn something valuable that I can use right away to improve my work-life.”

Find out more at cstudies.royalroads.ca.


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Act of Serving

A guest post from our facilitator, Maria Deotto.

What is your ministry?

I recently ran across this question and found it not only provocative but when I stopped to think about it, very thought provoking.

For many of us, “ministry” is something associated with religious service and when looking up the word, most of the definitions I found had to do with “profession, duties and services of a minister”, “the Christian clergy” or “a governmental department presided over by a minister”.  But one of the definitions I found was simply “the act of serving”.  It is with this definition that I began thinking, what is my area of service?

As a professional executive coach, the idea of service as a profession is closely aligned with the nature in which I work every day.  It is that idea of serving others that drew me to coaching in the first place.

Maria Deotto
To say that I have always been interested in coaching, personal development and mentorship, is an understatement.  In fact, 20 years ago as I was growing more and more successful in my career as a marketer, I was exposed to a new and emerging category in executive development called “professional coaching”.  I researched this new category and learned quite a bit about how this new field could support and grow leaders and that, in this changing world, executives (and non-executives for that matter) were seeking more balanced, holistic and fulfilling business lives.  The area was very appealing to me, yet I did not feel that I had the business experience to provide corporate leaders with the essential “on the job” value that would help me show empathy and understanding for what they encounter on a daily basis.
My career blossomed and success brought with it a number of outstanding opportunities to work with major North American blue chip clients and our agency grew to be the number one content development agency in Canada.  As a SVP and Managing Director of this marketing agency, I saw our agency’s growth as part of an emerging market in Canada and the US that launched an industry that married marketing with content, and that today has applications beyond the printed word and into the digital arena.  However, something always seemed to be missing for me.  What I did know was that I thoroughly enjoyed the human interaction and development of those that I managed and found true fulfillment in working with those that needed mentorship, direction and support in becoming the best that they could be.
At that point in my career, I felt that I had the professional experience in the corporate world to understand how business needs are directly impacted by the strengths and weaknesses of their leaders.   Launching a successful Coaching practice involved a great deal of thought and focus, not only would I need to hone my coaching skills but I would need to define my target market, develop my business vision and mission, understand my unique selling proposition and ultimately understand and define my Ministry” – that thing in which I will stand firm on how and why I serve those that are looking for support and development.
This is the basis of the course that we have developed for all Executive and Business Coaches. 
Many coaches focus the majority of their non-coaching hours on refining their coaching competencies and developing their coaching presence, in order to deliver high quality coaching experiences for their clients.  But, what about building their coaching businesses? Building a successful coaching practice must be grounded in a strong, well-articulated corporate brand identity and a defined marketing strategy, in order to position the business, to attract, retain and nurture a desired client base.

In these highly interactive sessions, you will get feedback from your peers and expert advice and will walk away from the sessions with:
  • Brand bible – articulated, clear brand identity
  • Strategic Marketing Plan
    • Defined target audience
    • Communications Plan
    • Content Plan
  • Sales Tools
    • Targeted Clients
    • Tracking progress
    • Goal Setting documents
    • Sales Strategy
What is my ministry?  Serving innovative leaders to enrich organizational cultures!!

How about you?

Join Maria Deotto and Jennifer Crocker for their upcoming course, Marketing Your Coaching Practice for Success-ONLINE, March 2-29.

Visit us at cstudies.royalroads.ca.