Motivating People to Think and Act Differently

a program for

McAlinden programs build the communication skills leaders at DHL need — practical skills that can be applied every day to build relationships and get things done.

This program will strengthen your ability to prepare and deliver effective communications for a broad range of situations, from town halls, to team and customer meetings, to the unanticipated discussions you have every day.

We will help you:

Create clear, concise, and compelling communications
Use presence and tailored messages to engage and influence listeners
Respond to questions with convincing and confident answers
Motivate people to think and act differently

The program is in two parts — Part 1 and Part 2 are each two and a half days. You will build your skills in highly interactive and practice-intensive sessions.

Small working groups will ensure you have a very personalized experience. You will practice with two colleagues from DHL and an experienced coach from McAlinden
We don’t think there is one right way for everyone to communicate to all listeners. Instead, we will help you strengthen your skills while remaining true to your own personality
You will have several one-to-one coaching sessions, during which you will watch recordings of your practice, so you get a clear picture of your strengths and areas for work, as well as concrete suggestions for how to improve.

The rest of this page explains how to prepare for Part 1 and provides an overview of those sessions.

Choose material

You will practice your own real communication situations. Pick three meetings or presentations that will happen after Part 1 and bring any slides or notes you may have.

All three should be important to you because you will improve the content as well as your skills.

Do not script yourself or over-prepare. You can bring work-in-progress. You will use your laptop to prepare content during the program and adjust it based on feedback.

The first situation you practice should be a presentation or meeting.

Ideally it should get across a point of view or a recommendation, rather than simply inform.
You will present up to ten-minutes of content. If the actual material is longer, you can condense it before the program or during the preparation period.
You have the option to use four or five slides. You can bring draft slides / work-in-progress.
You will be asked to try different approaches to the messages and structure of the content.

At first, you will not practice taking questions or challenges, even if the real meeting will be interactive. Later in the program, you will practice responding to questions / challenges about your presentation.

The second situation you practice can be almost any kind of verbal communication, but popular choices are interactive meetings and difficult one-to-one discussions.

You will need 3-10 minutes of content. If you want to practice more interaction, you will not get through as much content.
You have the option to use a few slides.

You can use the second situation to practice responding to challenges, interruptions, and difficult personalities, if any of those dynamics might be part of your real meeting, or you want to build those skills.

The third situation should be a meeting with a group or individual who sees the world differently:

A meeting where you are likely to face skepticism, active resistance, or passive resistance
A meeting where the other participants do not understand the issue being discussed, they have decided there are different reasons for a problem or solutions to it, or there is not consensus about the importance, urgency or risks involved

Tell us who you are and what your goals are

If you would like to use a self-evaluation to think about your skills before answering these questions, click here. Many people also seek input from a few colleagues whose opinions they value.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Role

What would you like to improve about the way you prepare for meetings and presentations?

What would you like to improve about the way you conduct meetings and presentations?

Which types of interactions are most difficult for you?

What three skill areas would you like to improve during the program?

Tell us about the material you are bringing to practice — what are the topics and why are they important for you to practice?

Basic requirements above and session descriptions below

Part 1

Session 1

Opening

Discuss the challenging communication situations and relationships you face and link the agenda to them.

Set goals

You set personal goals within our framework of intellectual, emotional, and physical communication skills.

Increase presence

You practice telling a brief story — expanding your use of eye contact, voice and body language — to increase your presence, confidence and impact. We make a video of you.

One-to-one coaching

You review the video of your story privately with a coach.

Create compelling messages

You use our preparation tools to work on the first meeting or presentation you plan to practice. You analyze your listeners and then create an outline with a compelling opening, clear messages and an action-oriented close.

Session 2

Discuss visuals

Discuss how visuals support messages, where they get in the way, and how to use them well.

Engaging presentations

You present a ten-minute version of the material you prepared in Session 1. You practice and receive feedback on your ability to be persuasive and engaging. We make a video of you.

One-to-one coaching

You review the video of your presentation privately with a coach.

Session 3

Executive summaries

You practice delivering your material from Session 2 as a two-to-three-minute executive summary, without visuals, to strengthen your ability to be concise and get across a memorable message.

Answer questions

You practice answering questions and responding to challenges on your executive summary — with credibility, confidence and empathy. We make a video of you.

One-to-one coaching

You review the video of your executive summary and responses privately with a coach.

Session 4

Lead meetings

You role-play a second situation — usually a meeting or one-to-one that will happen soon. You build your skills further, adapt them to a different environment and walk away with specific ideas that will contribute to the success of that situation. We make a video of you.

One-to-one coaching

You review the video of your meeting privately with a coach.

Session 5

Handle resistance and gain commitment to action

We provide ideas for engaging people and motivating them to think and act differently. You prepare and role-play a third situation — a meeting where you expect people to resist because they do not understand the issue being discussed, they have decided there are different reasons for a problem or solutions to it, or there is not consensus about the importance, urgency or risks involved. We make a video of you.

One-to-one coaching

You review the video of your meeting privately with a coach.

Part 2

After several months of workplace application, Part 2 will reinforce the skills you gain in Part 1 and add new skills to further enhance your working relationships.

Questions?

Email us goals@mcalinden.com or call us +1 212 986 4950

About us

Visit our main website McAlinden Associates