As Christmas approaches we get time to reflect upon what we have learned from 2009; here are a few things that come to my mind.
It has undoubtedly been a tough year with a global financial meltdown and H1N1 amongst the challenges we have all faced – so what have we learned? Continue Reading »
It is more than a year ago that I walked through the door of the Self Leadership International office for the first time. I was a young graduate of psychology, coming all the way from Romania to learn about training and leadership development in Singapore; with very little idea of what my internship will bring about.
Now, one year later, I can whole heartedly say that it was the greatest learning experience of my life.
I have posted previously about public and professional speaking and this week I was training a group of young professionals in the art of presentation skills.
During the 2-days training, using video feedback, the participants were transformed from nervous to confident and from unstructured to persuasive presenters. Continue Reading »
The ability to speak effectively to small or large audiences is a vital competency for manager and leaders and yet this competency is often lacking.
As a Certified Professional Speaker myself, I have spoken to thousands of people over the years and experienced the first hand what to do and what not to do with an audience. As an executive coach I have trained and coached hundred’s of managers who were previously tongue tied to connect with the audience and deliver their message effectively; so allow me to share with you a secret of public and professional speaking:
The biggest mistake that novice speaker make is to imagine their perspective audience as critical or hostile. Creating this mental picture of a group united in their disapproval of you will create a state of anxiety in even the strongest of heart.
Accomplished speakers realise that an audience, small or large, is made up of individuals just like you. Each individual has needs and wants and can change their state from boredom to curiosity. If you connect to their needs and wants and create a sense of curiosity they will be on the edge of thier seats.
So the first key to successful public or professional speaking is to break down your audience into a group of individuals and preferably know what it is they want before you deliver your topic.
Most of the work in speaking is not the speech itself but the research and preparation before the speech. Only speak “off the cuff” if you know your topic backwards and know exactly who you are talking to.
As you present make eye contact, smile and imagine you are having a conversation with a group of friends or colleagues. Will it still be nerve wracking? Perhaps but the only way to get better at it is to practice at every opportunity. Remember, as we move up through an organisation, we are paid less for what we do an more for what we influence others to do. Speaking in public is a core competency for influence.
If you are interested in professional speaking training or coaching please contact us.
Neuro Linguistic Programming – NLPNLP is a model of how humans think, feel, behave and communicate. When NLP was developed in the 1970’s by Bandler and Grinder it was a radical departure from the field of psychology, which at the time was focused more on human dysfunction than peak performance.
Today, with the acceptance of positive psychology, NLP appears less radical can be viewed as an excellent framework for learning to communicate effectively, to model people and systems and to design strategies for peak performance. Learning NLP can improve the performance of athletes, sales people, business people, coaches, trainers, teachers, therapists and parents.
I use NLP and NeuroSemantics in my consulting, training and coaching and I enjoy sharing the technology through public programs that I hold in Singapore and other parts of SE Asia. You can get a list of the upcoming programs by clicking here. I highly recommend NLP Communication and Coaching Essentials which is the first 3-day of a NLP Practitioner program and covers how to communicate and coach effectively plus we are conducting a full NLP Master Practitioner training in October.
If you like watching videos on YouTube then you can watch part of my presentation to the Singapore NLP Association, Click here. A full DVD of the presentation is available for purchase from our office.
In a previous blog on professional development, I shared that I had submitted my paperwork for the designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP); well I am proud to announce that my application was successful.
The Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, conferred by the National Speakers Association (USA and Australia) and the International Federation for Professional Speakers, is the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skills. There are less than 600 CSP’s in the world and only 3 currently in Singapore.
If you are a meeting planner or planning a meeting, hiring a professional speaker who has achieved CSP means that you have insured that your event will be a success because the speaker has demonstrated competency in:
In addition the speaker has received excellent ratings from past clients on performance evaluations.
If you are a speaker or want to become a professional speaker I highly recommend that you join an IFFPS association, I am a member of the Asian Professional Speakers Singapore and you can read my blog post on presentation skills.
See you on the platform, Andrew Bryant CSP an expert who speaks on Self Leadership, Coaching and People Development.
Just a quick note to let any of our readers know that I will be in Thailand twice this month, conducting leadership training.
If anyone is interested in meeting me to discuss your leadership or executive coaching requirements feel free to contact me via the Self Leadership website contact page www.selfleadership.com.
Look forward to hearing from you – Andrew Bryant
In this 4 minute video clip I explain the self leadership distinction between Responsibility FOR your thoughts, feelings, speech and behaviour and Responsibility TO our relationships and contracts.
Monday May 25, 2009: Executive Coach and Meta Coach, Andrew Bryant will present ‘Masterful Coaching’ at the Singapore International Coach Federation (ICF) chapter meeting.
Together with Executive Coach, Dennis Heath, he will facilitate a debrief a video of masterful coaching by Meta Coach Michelle Duval.
If you are in Singapore and want to see how masterful coaches, build rapport, ask questions, probe for meaning, and co-create new behaviours and reinforce resourceful thoughts and actions, then come along. Details here.
Every executive knows that they must have a vision and mission statement but in times of crisis these important documents can be forgotten.
It is a bit like if you were in a boat and have set your course, but the boat springs a leak and you spend your whole time bailing water and have no time to steer.
William Bridges created a model of change and transition that is highly relevant in today’s financial readjustment. Continue Reading »