The Sound of Your Voice
Coaching - Case Studies / Scenarios
Coaching
polishes your presentations, improves your networking, and brings
out the best in your communication impact. Our case studies and
scenarios will give you a glimpse of how various modules
are incorporated into coaching sessions.
Presentations
Instructional
Legalities
Accent Improvement
Social Skills
Conversation and Networking
Presentations
- #1
The
new president of a professional woman's organization was preparing
for her inaugural meeting where she was to thank the outgoing board
for their service and introduce the new officers. A simple reading
of names and achievements was the obvious, the traditional, and
the boring choice made by most preceding leaders. To make her singular
and memorable, I looked for a novel approach that would be a total
surprise for the group and a real stretch for my client. We chose
to develop a game of "Jeopardy".
She
constructed a board with cards on the front. I taped the musical
theme for the show and we played the whole event as a "Jeopardy"
game. She would read one of the reversed cards, saying, "for
$200, who led the group in our fundraising campaign, got promoted
to partner and had a baby in the same year?" The group would
shout out the name and that would be the introduction for that person.
It was great fun for everyone, and boy!, did she look like a pro!
Presentations
- #2
Shellie
had been a Master of Ceremonies for a corporate event in Silicon
Valley. She suffered and stumbled tremendously throughout the evening.
"Never again!" she vowed. But, the following year she
was called upon to resume the MC position once more. She tried to
get out of it, but couldn't find anyone to take it over. It was
show time for Shellie. We started by determining the following:
- What was
in this for Shellie? How this could be the greatest opportunity
she'd ever had.
- What was
the goal of the conference? This guided us in preparing her remarks
for maximum clarity and focus.
These
changes combined with presentation practice resulted in Shellie
being prepared and energized for the evening.
Her
feedback after the event: "Dr. Fleming! I was a star!!"
 Top
Instructional
Craig
is the research assistant for a large civic organization. He frequently
has to give talks along side his fluent, charming boss. He was concerned
about what other people thought about him, imagining himself an
object of their criticism. With a few sessions, Craig realized that
he had a great deal to offer people and began to see ways to help
them.
He
learned how valuable his contributions were. At the next engagement
Craig took command of the stage. He projected his voice, speaking
with confidence and an obvious desire to reach out to the audience.
Great praise followed, not only from his boss, but his boss's boss!
How sweet it is! His life was changed in a very fundamental way
as a result of this experience.
Top
Legalities
Mike
was a CFO for an electronics firm being sued for several million
dollars. His deposition was a disaster of rolling eyes, jerky movements,
long silences and blurted, half-formed answers. The opposition counsel
couldn't wait to get him on the stand.
But
when it did get to that point in time, his own attorney couldn't
believe his transformation to a fluent, polished and calm witness.
Mike had learned how take control of his communication style, how
to prepare for eventualities, including attack, and how to
make statements in a firm, declarative structure that demonstrated
his mastery of the material.
Top
Accent
Improvement
Helen
was born in China and was currently employed in a large corporation
downtown. She wanted to improve her English in order to advance
within the company. During her interview, I heard her make several
grammatical errors, for example, she said: "My husband is gets
home at 5 o'clock."
Me:
"Did your English language teacher spend much time on grammar?"
She
ducked her head in embarrassment and said,"Oh Dr. Fleming!
I never had a teacher! I taught myself with a book and a dictionary."
(How would you like to learn Chinese with a book and a dictionary?)
Top
Social
Skills
Mark
was constantly under fire at work due to the numerous complaints
filed by his co-workers about the manner in which he spoke to them.
At the same time, he was a very valuable employee of his company.
I
taped the initial evaluation session, where I interviewed him about
his work situation, co-workers, superiors and clients. His tone indicated
a lot of scorn for most people that he connected with. Later, I
played the tape and together we made plus, minus, and OK judgments
of his attitudes towards people. He realized that he was putting
out a whole lot of minuses on his community.
I
showed Mark that he lived in an "Oughta-be" world all
by himself. When you are the self-appointed expert on how other
people should behave, they are likely to feel this as painful criticism.
They will not like it and they will not like you.
We
worked toward developing an eye for the world of "is"
- how things really are in the world - and learning how to best
negotiate in that common world. Being aware of this will result
in greater success in relating to his co-workers He learned that
people do not like to be "should" on.
Top
Conversation
and Networking
Bill
was in a panic. He was worried about his upcoming sales trip because
he would be meeting some of his most important clients for the first
time. He wanted to be sure that he would make a good impression.
The words 'arrogant' and 'unpleasant voice' were in his personal
self-image. More than that, he possessed a video tape of his trial
performance in a sales training program. Like most raw videos done
by amateurs, it was devastating. Moreover, it had become his only
feedback and record of his own impact. He was afraid of being annoying
and weird. This, coupled with his negative self-impression and the
videotape, is it any wonder that Bill dreaded the trip?
This
was a 'one-shot coaching' arrangement and I had two hours to make
a turnaround.
- I taught
Bill a simple program of nonverbal cues that made people feel
comfortable and liked. (Material from Workshop
#13).
- I showed
him how to envision his positive characteristics as being the
only things that mattered.
- I videotaped
Bill as we chatted comfortably with a small "camcorder"
right beside my desk so that he would be able to see how he really
looked in casual, seated conversation when he was his most "ordinary
self". (He was so surprised to see how nice he looked.)
The
phone call I got from him after his trip was ecstatic: "I had
immediate impact. I got them to do things they wouldn't do before."
Someone commented after his presentation, "I'd like to bottle
up your charm and sell it!" He had learned to value himself
and to see how really nice he was on the 'camcorder'. He concluded,
"I just have to be me!"
Contact
us
today to discuss how our workshops, coaching and training products
can improve your Personal Professionalism and Communication
Impact.
Top
|
