In fact, an analysis of the reasons for the success or failure of restructuring projects shows that technical assistance inside the banks, through tailored advice for individual banks, integrated multi-dimensional interventions that deal with the full range of development needs of a single bank and intensive hands-on consulting in specific fields like, for instance, human resources and Management Of Change, has become a priority for future improvements.

So, local consultancy capabilities must be built.

A keen interest has been expressed in this business advisory services or bank advisory units (such as E.B.A.S.), which becomes considered to be one of the most useful means for the C.I.S.’ banks improvement.

Despite of that, many banks still do not want advices, suggesting them what they need to do. They would prefer instructions to recommendations. Our conclusion would be that consultants fot C.I.S. banks should no more be in charge of producing reports!

It would be much more convenient to use on-the-ground consultancy, with focused assignments, that can provide short term solution and help solving specific day-to-day problems.

Thus the roles of the bank “support units” (and their local agencies) should be cautiously defined. For instance, they could provide also long term assistance, but that requires a precise definition of their commercial relationship and contracts.

Despite of that, self-sustaining Bank Support Units based on Banks’ Associations have not always received the support of local banks. Banks’ Associations can only be appropriate counterparts for Bank Advisory Services, if they have reached a degree of maturity that allows effective co-operation among their members in order to reach common goals.

It is also possible to:

link training and consulting services (training should necessarily be accompanied by intensive hands-on consulting): bank training centers and advisory services could collaborate in order to develop tailor-made programmes with combination of courses with in-house training and consultancy and implementation phases during which trainees are coached on-the-job by their trainers to facilitate implementation in their respective banks, develop in-house consulting teams.

In all cases, the conditions for the effectiveness of these advisory resources must also be set up. For instance, there is a need for funding, as local banks cannot afford to pay for western consultants and consultants can only work successfully if they receive support from the recipient banks’ top management.

This is why Ebtra has elaborated a “Management Of Change” module called « Creating and developing a support unit or a technical assistance center » to bring all the basic knowledge’s needed to set up such a structure. It is divided in two parts, the main elements of which are:

Strategic management in a service sector advice center:

Market research, identifying potential clients, analysing the needs of the banks for restructuring advice and understanding their requirements

Setting up and up-dating a network of relationships within the banks to be able to identify their present and future needs – know your market.

Analysing the banks’ opportunities and strategies, looking for existing and future weaknesses.

Assessing the market size for each service.

Assessing the actual business opportunities

Designing the right products for the technical assistance center to provide.

Identifying the competition to provide such services locally.

Calculating prices (considering the conditions for a consulting firm to survive) and considering budgets for such services.

Determining how to become a partner of multinational projects.

Defining the Technical Assistance Center’s aims and limits.

Internal analysis of the consulting firm’s strengths and weaknesses

Review of available resources within their environment, compared with its staffing requirements.

Would it be useful and possible to set-up a permanent team of consultants? What are the opportunities to find (and, possibly, select and recruit), in the C.I.S., a core team of adequate consultants, in all the key areas?

What are the conditions needed to build up the required capabilities, within the staff employed now or available (improved through a strong “internal training” programme)?

What are the remaining needs for future foreign/external technical assistance?

Determining the target markets and products

Providing programs designed to respond to the needs of the local banks (how to offer the right products).

Discuss the priorities, and the means) to carry out specific services.

Define the appropriate range of services – advisory, consultancy, audit, research, monitoring, coaching, etc.

Devising and formulating a strategy for future development and preparing and establishing a three year business plan (timing, actions, resources) including:

- analysis of the possible timing of development – including a description of an action plan and timetable,

- evaluation of the cost of development (structure and investment) and setting-up of the operating budgets, for each period.

Conceiving the optimal organisation of the Technical Assistance Unit, adapted to respond to the local needs: listing roles and responsibilities, designing its internal organisation and structure (defining and describing duties and developing job descriptions, procedures and controls), determining resource requirements,

Commercial management of a service unit:

Hiring commercial staff and establishing a network to market and sell their services. Establishing commercial aids, such as brochures to highlight service specifications.

Establishing relationships with potential customers

How can one identify potential clients, and key business influencers (who may not be obvious) and establish relationships with them, so as to widen a professional relationship network, at all levels in the industry (general management, human resources management, operational management at head office and branch levels, as well as any unofficial hierarchies)?

How to use contacts through the telephone?

How to prepare visits, negotiate, write a commercial proposal, and sign commercial contracts?

How to prepare a customer file, and manage follow-up of customers?

Methodologies and service materials

Evaluating the impact of all the preparation stages:

Designing approaches and methodologies for each type of service.

Developing a documentation center.

Determining methods and designing working programmes.

Preparing aids and having them printed and edited.

Designing the action plan of a specific project:

Writing terms of reference.

Formulating a reply to a tender bid, and choosing the best supplier of a specific programme.

Working with (local) sub-contractors.

Organising the work of a group of consultants

Allocating, defining and describing duties.

Defining the limits of delegation, and individual objectives.

Setting up complementary teams for various projects.

Organising premises.

Relationships and coordination of activities and units (departments, offices, etc).

Setting up and managing a team of consultants: the management of the consultants (meeting commitments, providing aids, etc.), has a crucial influence on performance. The main tasks that are to be taken charge of:

Hiring adequate staff.

Determining appropriate salaries.

Putting a team together and motivating it – adopting the right “leadership styles” within the hierarchy, particularly between junior and senior specialists.

Organising and running staff meetings.

Training one’s own staff (either consultants, or administrative), and organising internal on-the-job trainings.

Managing Human Resources: optimizing work and holiday planning, dealing with grievances or, even, conflicts.

Conducting personal achievement follow-up (monthly reports): organising performance appraisal interviews, dealing with poor performance, and constructing development programmes to improve individual performance.

Managing improvements in performance and the efficiency of a support unit.

Administrative management of a service unit

Setting up premises.

Ascertaining that equipment is available and in good working order.

Buying and installing computer systems to manage commercial, planning and accounting activities.

Organising the reception of the clients and the smooth running of contact.

The financial management of a technical assistance center

Calculating actual incomes and costs, and comparing them to norms.

Balancing accounts.

Refunding of expenses.

Building up and controlling budgets.

• Pay-off

Victor Vroom (1964) found in simple terms that:

people will accept change if they believe that it will pay off for them

people will resist change if they believe that it will not pay off for them.

• Participation

Many early behavioural scientists found that people will generally:

accept change if they participate in the process of change and can influence the change

resist change if they are not given adequate opportunity to participate.

• Information

Bill Reddin, another behavioural scientist contends that resistance to change is reduced through intensive, timely and transparent communication.

• Planning and Preparation

From warfare (a violent form of change management) we know that in army language “proper planning and preparation prevents poor results”.

To ensure successful change, the trainer/consultant has to remember the four elements in the model.

The more you ensure

proper pay-off

positive participation

transparent timeous information

proper planning and preparation

the greater the chance that your change effort will be successful.

Learning from many models of practical change management and from practical cases of successful change at supervisory level, the following four-staged approach to manage change was developed the change.

Four Stage approach to manage change:

The following subjects will be discussed: Planning a presentation

Structuring a formal presentation

Delivery of the presentation

Preparing transparencies and technical facilities

Using the voice and eyes effectively

Other suggestions to make a good presentation

Many presentations fail to communicate with the audience because they are ill prepared, garbled, unstructured and use poor graphics; perhaps the presenter simply reads a complex script, mumbles, shifts around or lacks confidence. There is nothing worse for a speaker than hearing a gradually rising hubbub of noise from the audience which may well be a prelude to people actually leaving.

It is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules which will guarantee a relaxed and clear presentation which will hold the audience. Some speakers make effective use of humour but if you are not a natural humorist, nothing is worse than failed jokes or anecdotes which fall flat. Others use no visual aids or notes at all, simply relying on their deep knowledge of their subject and their personality; some use visual aids as prompts but stick strictly to their pre- planned order while others switch around diving off into areas which they suddenly find they wish to develop, others read a script – some well, some badly. Visual aids can be of many types, 35 mm slides, overhead transparencies, films and videos, computer generated slides, live action demonstrations and so on.

In the end, there is no substitute for experience and gradually finding your own best way. But there are guidelines which can help you to prepare so that common pitfalls can be avoided.

a. Planning a presentation. In planning a presentation, the following typical questions (and answers) provide guidelines: prepare? little more and you will probably be making changes until the

last minute. Don’t worry. This is usual. However, make sure you are 90 per cent there at least a day beforehand.

How long will the presentation be? Until you become an expert, avoid anything more than 20

minutes. But once you have determined the length, overruns should be avoided. They will disrupt the time-table and show a lack of courtesy to other speakers and the audience. Most speakers prepare too much material. When you are on your feet and the adrenaline flows you tend to be expansive. Keep an eye on your watch. Pace the presentation so that you do not have to rush through your final points.

Should I allow time for questions? Absolutely yes. So take this into account when planning the

presentation. However, until you are experienced try to avoid interruptions as this may throw your train of thought. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I’ll be coming to that point shortly, so do you mind if I respond then?’ Also, interruptions can cause havoc with your timing.

How do I structure the We will spend more time on this in the next paragraph but, thepresentation? more an audience is involved the more they remember.

However, the more complex the structure the longer it takes to

prepare.

What facilities will I have Always make sure that the organisers have the facilitiesavailable? available that you want to use e.g. overhead projector, screen,

slide projector, white board, marker pens etc. Make sure the room is laid out the way you want it. Be there in advance of your presentation and make sure everything is OK. Ask yourself, can the people at the back see the screen? 99% of the time you have to make changes.

b. Structuring a formal presentation

The old saying holds good:

Tell them what you will be saying, say it, then tell them what you have said.

But don’t overdo it! Tell them what you will be saying should take no more than a minute. Some speakers spend so long on this stage that they start to run out of time even before they have got to the main section of the presentation!

Also, remember that until you are really experienced it is dangerous to dive off in different directions – you will lose yourself and the audience. So:

Stick to a limited number of ideas and points that are relevant to the theme

Follow a straight line with as few branches as possible

Have a beginning, a middle and an end.

With these rules in mind a possible flow for a presentation which is intended to demonstrate the results of a change is as follows in the slide.

Remember, if it has been a team effort, it will be best to share the various stages of the presentation but this then needs careful attention to the timing in order to stay within the time limit.

c. Delivery of the presentation

In order to make the presentation efficient, the presentation should be well structured:

In delivering a presentation there are a number of things to avoid:

Too rapid a delivery.

Mumbling and stumbling, too loud, too quiet, monotone

Reading from a text with eyes down.

Delivery faults – ‘Ums’, ‘Ers’, etc.

Repeated phrases: ‘You know’, ‘Kind of thing’, “Sort of,’ ‘You know what I mean.’ etc.

When delivering a presentation pay attention to:

Personal habits: Hoisting trousers, fiddling with jewellery or coins in pocket, scratching your head, finger pointing at the audience, swaying to and fro, and so on.

Turning your back on the audience to read slides

Looking away from the audience, raising “your eyes to the skies”.

Slides which contain too much information, lettering too small, are poorly laid out.

Live demonstrations which are too complex and/or stand the risk of failure.

Slides in the wrong order.

Never put yourself down e.g. “I’m not very good at this, I’m rather nervous” etc. It will convey itself to the audience and will make you feel worse.

d. Preparing transparencies and technical facilities

Always run through your slides beforehand to make sure they are all the right way round. It helps to mark slides with a spot to ensure easy alignment.

Check the alignment of the projector and screen to make sure the projected slides properly fit the screen.

Make sure you have a clearly visible clock or, if not, take your watch off and place it where you can clearly see it (if you keep looking at your watch on your wrist the audience can become irritated).

Have your text typed in a large type font with short sentences so that you can frequently look up at your audience. Keep a finger alongside the part of the script you have reached to ensure you know where to restart.

Rehearse beforehand, including a run through of your text, visual aids, etc. Get a colleague who is sufficiently knowledgeable and frank to suggest improvements.

If you have to give your slides to someone else to change make sure you run through them with the person.

Remember, if you are to prepare a presentation which shows ‘before’and ‘after’situations, take photographs “before’ or keep physical examples – otherwise there may be no “before’ to show! That makes the presentation difficult.

When preparing a presentation be aware of the available facilities. Particularly if you are off-site, ensure that the venue has everything you require.

It is always safer to rather work on the basis that things will NOT be all right:

If you are on-site, make sure the rooms and equipment are booked. Get into them beforehand and make sure the room is set up how you want it

If you are giving a demonstration in the workplace, ensure you set up and check all the facilities you require. Do everything you can to avoid interruptions. Make sure the audience is not too large for the space you have available.

Wherever you give a presentation, make sure that all the mechanicals and electricals are working. If you are to use a microphone test it out beforehand, make sure the sound level is adjusted to suit you. Run through the slides.

If you are reading a script and using slides in a darkened room make sure you can see the writing in your script. If you have the option, set out the room in the way that suits you. If you want to encourage a free ranging discussion, try a U shape; If people are to take notes, try a class room style and so on.

Work on the room lighting so that it is properly balanced between dark and light.

Ensure the screen is sufficiently large and well positioned so that all the audience, wherever they sit, can see it clearly.

Lay out the room so that everyone has a clear view.

e. Using the voice and eyes effectively

Using voice effectively refers to how enthusiastically you speak (emotional range), how loudly you speak (volume), how quickly you speak (rate), and how you pronounce what you say (inflection). Using your voice effectively is critically important to the effectiveness of how well you deliver training in group settings. This section covers these and other important aspects of voice and provides some tips for using your voice effectively to enhance your presentation and thereby foster participant learning. Using your voice also includes the studied use of silence and pauses.

• Conveying enthusiasm

You have undoubtedly heard the saying that “enthusiasm is contagious.” That adage clearly applies to your training delivery. If you speak in a monotone and appear unenthusiastic about the material you are delivering, the effect on learners is detrimental. Learners may visibly begin to drift off, or they will struggle to keep their eyes open.

• Volume

One of your goals is to ensure that all participants in your training session can hear you. Your voice should thus be neither too loud nor too soft. When your voice is too soft, learners miss key points – or eventually give up – because listening is just too difficult. Likewise, when your voice is too loud, it can intimidate learners and cause discomfort. Of course, your challenge in speaking at just the right volume is compounded when the size of the group is large or the physical distance between you and your participants increases. Throughout your delivery you can change how loudly you speak to achieve specific purposes. For example, lowering the volume of voice can capture participants’ interest and cause them to concentrate on what you are saying. Likewise, you can raise your voice to emphasize important points or seize sudden attention.

• Rate of speech and tempo

Rate refers to the speed at which you speak. When the rate of your speech is too rapid, several problems can arise. If you speak too fast, learners find that distracting and difficult to follow. Important points are missed because learners, while attempting to comprehend earlier parts of the message, miss subsequent parts. Just as rapid speech can be problematic, you will also have problems if you speak too slowly. Learners find a slow rate of speech tedious to follow and tune the speaker out – or become distracted by something else.

Tempo involves the rhythm of speech. Tempo should be even and as with rate of speech, not be distracting due to uneven or erratic rhythm. Try to find a tempo that is appropriate to the learners. Self- awareness of rate and tempo may be difficult, so you might want to ask a colleague or the learners themselves how you are doing, and make adjustments as indicated.

• Minimizing distracting vocalizations and verbal expressions

Vocalizations are utterances that are distracting if they are used too frequently. Common distracting vocalizations include the use of “ah” when speaking. (Note that such distracting vocalizations vary by language, and “ah” is one “filler” used in English.) This utterance often appears as a “filler” and is used between sentences or when people gather their thoughts. It can become habitual and even unconscious.

• Using microphones

Microphones are appropriate to use when there is a greater than normal physical distance

separating you from your participants, such as in large rooms or in large groups. Today’smicrophones can be quite sophisticated.

• Using eye contact effectively

Make direct eye contact with each learner in the audience

Avoid making eye contact with only some learners and not others

Try to make eye contact on a regular basis throughout the presentation

Be aware of the duration of the eye contact you make

f. Other suggestions to make a good presentation

• Using nonverbals effectively

Gestures and movement

Silence

Distance

• Stories and anecdotes

A story is a real or fictitious tale told to convey meaning.

An anecdote is similar to a story but is generally shorter and more direct.

• Stories and anecdotes can communicate important information about the corporate culture, the taken-for-granted assumptions about the “right” and “wrong” ways to “do things around here.”

• Analogies

An analogy is a comparison between two things that are otherwise dissimilar.

Analogies are useful in training because they simplify complex concepts or ideas.

When you use analogies, make sure that they are clear.

Tell learners that you are using an analogy and then isolate key elements of two unlike items for comparison.

You should also consider aspects of the analogy that do not hold true or ways in which the analogy could produce conflicting information or confusion.

• Humor

Humor helps to create a relaxed, informal, and energized learning climate.

Two types of humor that can be used are:

planned humor and

spontaneous humor.

As with storytelling, using humor is an art.

Avoid inappropriate humor that is uncomplimentary to specific people or groups, and avoid so-called practical jokes that may hurt someone.

Yesterday’s performance and today’s plan

Particular problems that have arisen, their solution or planned action to resolve

Achievements of team members

Updating of the team’s performance against targets

Information the supervisor has gleaned from other sources including company news that may be of interest

Introducing new team members, farewell to those who are moving on

Advising the team on visitors to the section

• Social events, birthdays, weddings, births, etc.

Although the meetings are short in duration (a few minutes), when planned and prepared properly (in this they are no different from formal structured meetings) it can cover many things. Remember, five minutes a day is 25 minutes a week – nearly two hours a month! – Or 5 minutes a day for 5 persons are 125 minutes a week…

Preparation

Preparation is very important. In particular, attention should be paid to:

Gathering the facts

Listing items in priority order

Keeping to the agenda and timing

Providing time for comments and discussion.

Only where absolutely necessary, should the supervisor read out the information. Normally it is better to speak from bullet point notes.

It is important for the supervisor (and other management members) to frequently visit the workplace for face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball communications. Be genuinely involved in the process and not just ask superficial questions or make comments which are not relevant. Communicate with the people about matters which affect them, in a way that is right for them. It must also be a genuine two-way process with quick feedback, where required. In this regard Jack Welch, CEO General Electric, says: “Its not a speech or a videotape. Its not a plant newspaper. Real communication is an attitude, an environment. Its the most interactive of all processes. It requires countless hours of eyeball to eyeball back and forth. It involves more listening than talking. It is a constant, interactive process.”

Of all the tasks facing an instructor or consultant (facilitator) the most difficult is getting the best out of people, ensuring that they pull together and that contributions are effective. Participants behaviour can vary for many reasons. We can all, in turn, be argumentative, obstructive, constructive, helpful, tolerant, impatient etc. We may be distracted by personality clashes or hidden agendas. The permutations are endless. It is the role of the facilitator to keep all participants working together to the best of their ability, irrespective of their feelings regarding the agenda item or each others. To this end, the facilitator must:

Facilitate the discussion.

Deal with problem participants.

These points are now discussed individually:

How to run a meeting efficiently/

Listening

The facilitator needs to listen carefully in order to:

Evaluate all contributions

Be aware of bad feelings and ‘hidden agendas’

Push at the right time to summarise and move on

Know when to continue discussing a point to a conclusion

Clarify points when the discussion is getting side-tracked.

Some problems due to a failure to listen. Read the following carefully:

“I just can’t understand my son (wife/husband/daughter). He/she just never listens to me’.

‘You don’t understand him because he won’t listen to you? Surely, to understand another person

you need to listen to him.’

“Oh, but I do understand him. I know what his problem is. I went through the same thing myself. I guess what I don’t understand is why he won’t listen to me’.

Five levels of listening:

Ignoring the person – not really listening at all

Pretending to listen – interposing “Yes’, ‘OK’, “Right’ but not paying real attention Selective listening – hearing only those points we want to hear Attentive listening – paying attention and focusing on the words that are being said Empathic listening – listening with intent to understand

Empathic listening

Empathic listening means listening with intent to understand – getting into people’s world, their frame of reference. Empathic listening means listening not just with your ears but with your eyes, looking at people’s body language and listening with your senses, seeking a feeling for what they are meaning. You listen to understand.

When people understand that you are seeking to understand, your communication can move to a new level.

When you first understand people you also can be understood.

Autobiographical responses

The father quoted earlier was listening autobiographically i.e. was assuming that his experience was exactly the same as his sons. This is common to all parents – and supervisors. Because we listen autobiographically we tend to respond in one of four ways:

We evaluate -we either agree or disagree

We probe -we ask questions for our own frame of reference

We advise -we give counsel based on our own experience

We interpret -we try to figure people out, to explain their motives, their behaviour,

based on our own motives and behaviour

These responses come naturally to us but probing in particular is one of the main reasons parents do not get close to their children. Constantly evaluating, probing etc. from our point of view only serves to irritate people.

So, listen to understand what the other person really means not just what he is saying. When you understand you stand a much better chance of being understood.

b. Questioning

A facilitator should use questions to control and structure a meeting, open up discussion or close it down. Probing questions such as those which begin with who, what, where, when, why, which and how can help open a discussion and expand it. Closed questions, i.e. those which require only a yes or no answer, close down a discussion and can be used to bring a talkative attendee to a halt.

c. Encouraging

It is part of a facilitator’s role to encourage participants to give of their best. You must encourage quieter members to contribute. You can also encourage others by simply shutting up the members who talk the most.

d. Harmonising

Within any meeting, constructive debate can be healthy in that it sparks new ideas and solutions. But personal antagonisms and destructive conflict is unhealthy. It is the role of the facilitator to discourage the former and put a stop to the latter, not always by shutting it up but by channelling it constructively. Everyone must feel that they have had a fair hearing. It is important to use questioning techniques to get members to stick to the facts of the discussion.

e. Building and integrating

A major role of a facilitator is to help participants build on each others ideas and integrate them into a final solution. You can achieve this by clarifying and summarising what each person has said to ensure the others have a clear understanding.

f. Dealing with problem participants

In any group there are bound to be some you perceive as being more of a problem than others.

The silent type says very little, may be quiet, nervous or shy or does not want to express disagreement. It is important to distinguish between the person who only speaks when he or she has something effective to say and the person who is always this way. Handle this latter person with care. Try to draw out opinions or ideas, ask them questions without putting them on the spot or pressurising them.

The rambling type says things like, “I remember when’, or “That reminds me of. This type can take the meeting off at a tangent. They often turn up late and can distract the meeting with their asides and gossip. Keep them to the point and do not allow them to ramble on.

The blocker is always full of reasons why something won’t work, always knocks down good suggestions and demoralise others. They tend to have closed minds and seldom listen. It is not easy to deal with this type; you can seek others opinions first but in the end you may simply have to say something like, “You’ve been totally negative throughout the meeting. We value constructive debate but if all you are going to do is criticise, it’s better that you say nothing!’

The aggressive type knows the right answer from the very beginning, expresses his/her opinion aggressively and can’t understand why you are spending so much time on discussion. Of course, he or she may be right, but it is important that meetings achieve an understanding and it may take others longer to get the right answer. In this case have a word with the person. However, as is more likely to be the case, such a person is not always right, ensure that others have their say first, bringing in a variety of views and this may cause a change of mind.

The sarcastic type usually has a number of one liners which, when occasionally used, can be amusing and lighten up the meeting but, if constantly interjected, can disrupt it. Question them in depth, ask for their views and get them to stick to the facts. Perhaps, speak with them outside the meeting.

For years, The Industrial Society advocated the use of Briefing Groups – gatherings of people about once a month with normal work stopped for half an hour or so, during which the supervisor or manager gave out information which had been collected during the previous four weeks. It was regarded as essential that everyone received exactly the same messages at exactly the same time otherwise confusion would reign.

The problems with the above mentioned system are:

Often the person responsible for collecting the information had little real contact with the operational levels and did not know what operational staff were really interested in.

If anything was of real interest the grapevine got there first.

The information was rarely written in a language which was effective at the operational level.

The deliverers did not ‘own’ the messages. They were usually passing on someone else’s words.

The new way of communicating with a group

We learned differently when we discovered that throughout a company people meet together in small groups for a few minutes every day.

We found that:

The meeting is led by the immediate supervisor or manager and is primarily for information sharing not decision making.

The supervisor generates or adapts all the information and presents it in a way which is appropriate for the group.

90 per cent of the discussion is about matters which directly affect the group. Only rarely are there great messages from on high.

It doesn’t matter if people in different groups get slightly different versions of a story. Any significant difference can be quickly corrected. If there are no business matters to discuss the group can talk about anything it likes. The important thing is that the group is talking together.

The meetings are genuine two way communication sessions and often specific subjects are led by someone other than the supervisor.

Apart from meetings, there is also a lot of management by walking around, management is visible in the workplace where they communicate with people, face-to-face.

Improving your presentation skills (2.2)

Change management (2.3)

2.1 Communication skills

Effective communication does not require great eloquence, although sometimes that is helpful (but it can also be a turn-off).

The most important points about effective communication are to:

Be genuinely interested in communicating with people.

Be a good listener, show an interest in what others have to say to you, not always jumping in with your point of view (more on listening later).

Assemble your facts and information carefully so that you have the full story but accept that this is not always possible. You have to strike a balance on your timing so that you do not talk so soon that people feel you do not know what you are talking about and not so late that they have heard about it already.

Talk with people not at them. Use language they understand. The really effective communicator is good with people at all levels and is never thought to be “pulling rank”. Phrases such as, “We did a brilliant job yesterday” or “We really screwed up on that one” are clear, to the point and are understood by all.

Recognise that you communicate all the time. The supervisor who says a cheerful and genuine “Good morning” is communicating positively. The one who ignores most of the people most of the time is perceived as only going through the motions when he or she does attempt to communicate more formally.

Showing people you are genuinely interested in their job is good communication; showing respect for what they do is fundamental; management by walking around with a purpose is critical. It means understanding and caring about peoples’ jobs, their problems and potential solutions.

Always tell the truth. Be open and honest. If you are not, you will be found out and will be thought to be dishonest and devious. You will not be trusted even when you are telling the truth and it is much easier for you to remember a truth than a lie!

Begin communicating in the good times. If you wait for the bad times people will think that you only talk with them when there is bad news and they will not trust you. Hopefully, you will build up credibility during the good times that will see you through the bad.

Important Concepts which are covered are the following:

• The old way of communicating with a group

The new way of communicating with a group

The typical agenda

Preparation

Walking around with a purpose.

Trainer skills:

Technical skills

Interpersonal skills (2.0)

Training skills (3.0)

Consultant skills:

- Technical skills

- Interpersonal skills (2.0) Consulting skills (4.0)

The first skill – the technical skills – for both consultant and trainer are same. Without having some technical skills (in the area, where you are giving training or consultancy) you can’t train or consult a company or an individual in a proper way.

The second skills related to Interpersonal area are very important again due to the fact consultants and trainers work and communicate with people.

And third, we speak about professional training and consultancy skills needed in order to act as a SME managing trainer or consultant.

In the following we will discuss the Interpersonal Skills and the Training/Consultancy Skills.

Starting from the basics, Dr. Deming stressed the four steps or phases for every improvement or learning process.

The PDCA cycle also called Deming cycle shows clearly that during each learning experience, the participants pass or at least should pass through 4 steps in order to discover something.

People react to the world as they see it. Knowledge alone will not change behaviour. Therefore learning ought to consist of both theory and experience.

People are brought up to rely on Deductive Learning (going from a general rule to specific). But they also should learn using Inductive Learning (from specific to a general rule).

Preferably theory should come after experience. Whatever the topic in focus is – look at the total situation.