I offer a range of informal facilitated workshops.
These are safe spaces where people meet to learn new skills, explore new ideas, to raise questions and sometimes find answers!
Together we share in the joys of learning more, simply becoming more. If you’re feeling more brave you might even try out some of your new skills before you leave!
Some of my most popular workshops include:
- Imposter Syndrome: Sources and Solutions
- Presenting Yourself Confidently
- An Introvert’s Guide to Influence and Impact
- Well Balanced Working
Please read on to find out more about each of these possibilities.
Imposter Syndrome: Sources and Solutions
Are you as good as they think you are?
This secret fear that we’re not really good enough is surprisingly widespread.
In the face of tangible evidence of their success, many women, some men, people who are genuinely capable, are often racked by self doubt and the fear of being found out.
This feeling has been termed “The Imposter Syndrome”.
You might recognise this syndrome when you realise you’re thinking or feeling:
- that you don’t put yourself forward because you fear you’ll fail
- you don’t contribute in meetings because you don’t want to look a fool
- you’ve done pretty well so far but it was really lucky
- other people doing similar jobs seem to be more “grown up” than you feel
- your definition of “good enough” for yourself is really “achieving perfection without breaking sweat”!
If not addressed the Imposter Syndrome can cause individuals to experience significant stress, anxiety and fear. It can drive them to burn out or inhibit them from achieving their full potential, prevent them from making valuable contributions to projects or meetings and deprive an organisation from seeing the very best that their staff can give.
But the Secret is now out. The Imposter Syndrome can be sorted!!
During this workshop “Imposters” will:
- come to understand how this is affecting their life
- examine the “rule book” they are living by and choose – if they want – to re write the rules
- examine the role of unconscious bias around gender, race and class can have on feelings of fraudulence
- benefit from understanding how men and women put different values on the art of “winging it”
- see how their interpretation of past success has been making things more difficult
- notice that being incompetent and feeling incompetent are two totally different things
- explore the advantages and disadvantages of different coping mechanisms
- learn practical strategies to set free their Imposter and be themselves!
There can be great benefit in recognising you are not alone and learning new strategies for success in a safe and supportive environment.
Presenting Yourself Confidently
Surveys regularly reveal that public speaking is the most feared business activity and is dreaded even more than death! In your career it is highly likely that you will be required to present your work to colleagues, in meetings or in seminars.
This workshop will outline the principles of confident speaking – for meetings, seminars or interviews. We will explore what confidence means, where it comes from and how to let it grow. We begin by exploring the basic components of communication including listening skills and the power of body language. We will cover planning for your meeting, structuring the content and preparing to deal with questions.
Participants may be invited to deliver a short presentation and to receive coaching and feedback within the supportive workshop environment.
As a result of this workshop you will:
- Explore the sources and structure of confidence
- Understand contributions of words, voice and body language
- Know four essential questions to answer when planning for a meeting
- Have structures to plan the content of a presentation
- Be clear about strategies to hold the attention of your audience
- Be prepared for dealing with questions
- Have strategies to deal with “presentation stress”
This workshop can be delivered to meet specific needs for example, it can be important to understand how these skills apply to business networking opportunities, job interviews or business presentations.
An Introvert’s Guide to Influence and Impact
Various surveys show that between 30% and 50% of people identify with many of the characteristics which are called “introverted”. Often an introverted type may be seen as shy, hesitant, ineffective and socially awkward. In contrast, many aspects of work place and social cultures seem to value exactly the opposite traits, that of the confident, outspoken and decisive colleague or manager.
This workshop is for anyone who identifies with the introverted characteristics and wants to learn how to communicate with a confidence and impact that is based on their strengths.
During the session we will explore the origins of the introvert-extrovert dimension in order to understand the potential strengths they provide, the misunderstandings that arise and potential conflicts that can be avoided.
We will explore ways to communicate with impact and to influence others from a base of introverted strengths whether in meetings or in conversations.
In this workshop you will:
- gain insight into the nature of introversion
- better understand the strengths of the introverted type
- learn strategies to communicate more effectively
- have resources to support and sustain yourself in a busy workplace.
Well Balanced Working
Many of us live in a constant state of not having enough, not enough time, not enough energy.
There are so many more things to be done at work and at home, yet we only have 24 hours in each day.
The demands on our time and resources at work require that we make decisions about prioritisation, what will be done and what will wait – at the same time as new requests are appearing on our list of things to be done. We spend our time, trying to be efficient as we struggle to fit more and more into the same time slots… Often we find that we’re skipping break-times, eating our lunch at our desk and answering emails long after we should be at home doing something else instead.
When we do get home we probably start by feeling guilty, thinking about what we have left undone at work or apprehensive about what will face us when we return to work tomorrow. Maybe we don’t even have the energy to enjoy our time off any more.
Sometimes our stress-levels increase, we find we’re short-tempered and snappy, are we skipping meals or comfort eating? We’re probably losing sleep, feeling exhausted and unhappy with the way things have turned out. Maybe we’ve even given up the expectation that “… things will get better next week/next month/once this deadline has passed”.
If life seems to be turning into an uphill battle, a rush, a race, full of barely satisfactory compromises then the workshop “Well-Balanced Working” could be for you.
This session is designed to create space to look at our skills in time management, stress-management and resilience.
We will:
- examine different tools and techniques for being more efficient, to help us prioritise more effectively and to create a balance or flow between activities at work and at home
- learn how to make more positive choices about prioritisation and a balance of different activities at work and at home
- examine our sources of stress and how to manage them more effectively
- learn tools and strategies to build resilience and restore our energy
- create a personal action plan to allow a more balanced work-life flow.
