We spent an interesting time discussing business networking both good and (oddly enough) mainly bad.

There are some VERY interesting similarities (and a few differences) in networking in the US and the UK.

Both Pat and Richard know there stuff – both very adept networkers and it was a pleasure to talk to them both.

Fortunately, I recorded the whole meeting and it is available as an ON DEMAND webinar. (No, not one of those where you have to stay up to listen in on some other time zone). The video is available to YOU – FREE from the networkingskills.co.uk site.

(Most people I talk to say they don’t get twitter – why would they want to talk about making tea and sunbathing and other miscellany all day? – Boring right?)

It is – unless you sell tea bags. (or whatever people are talking about).

But these guys “builders tea” – obviously monitored the conversation – went to the effort of looking me up on twitter (see the handwritten note and compare it to my twitter profile) and then even went to our website and copied our address down.

THEN, they posted us a trial size box of builders tea bags for us to try.

And people say, “I can’t get business from twitter…” (shakes head)…

Trying to explain to someone at a family barbeque yesterday what LinkedIn is, I resorted to “well, it’s kinda like facebook but for grown ups”

2 things here

Firstly, facebook isn’t’ for (just) kids. It’s a useful platform for sharing and keeping in touch and more importantly

Secondly (and more importantly), I am really not that boring that I talk about work at family gatherings and events.

I can honestly say that the LinkedIn course is the most comprehensive we have every put together.

It features 8 weekly installments (but you pay only once) covering all aspects of LinkedIn. There are interviews, self paced learning and screen cast showing you clearly how to do something.

There are full details on this link

(Oh and hurry up because at time of writing – you have a little over 4  hours to register for 10% off)

Phil takes you through the step needed to get going on LinkedIn and how he personally uses it both to generate business and to build and cement his profile and reputation as a leading business strategist and thinker.

You can find full details, along with how to save 10% just by pre registering over on our .info site.

Oh – and a screen shot is below

If you have a mailing or customer list, you can earn 40% of the sale just by sending us traffic. (We provide all the support). You can sign up (for free) here

I have calmed down a little now but I still rewrite the letter below for your information.

(My good friend, Simon Roskrow reckons that I should send it to Santander HQ along with a charge for £40).

Anyways, see what you think

Dear Jonathan (cos that’s my name)

Your recent visit to Worksop

Thank you for your recent visit to our branch at Worksop. We hope you found it a pleasurable experience. (standard corporate patter).

At the close of business, when we checked your deposit, our team discovered that the amount in the envelope was not the same as that written on it. (See I am not saying that anything wrong has been done as in “You wrote the wrong amount.” More sort of suggesting that may be the case).

I have detailed the amount contained in the envelope below.

CASH
CHEQUES

While we were sorting this out and making sure your account was credited with the correct amount, (Reassuring the reader here), we noticed that you had included cash and cheques in the same envelope.

It really helps us to help you faster if these could be separated into two envelopes next time you see us. (Who can argue with words like help & fast?)

I should also tell you that we destroyed the loose cheque you put in the envelope also.

I hope this is all satisfactory, and I look forward to doing what we can in helping your business prosper. (Again more corporate speak but intended to leave the reader feel they have something to look forward to).

Yours etc

See – who can argue with someone whose stated aim to provide help fast?

The letter doesn’t actually accuse the reader of doing anything wrong. Maybe they wrote the correct amount and dropped a tenner on the floor?

Which letter would you prefer to receive ?

“People should know this..”

But quite often, they don’t – so we have to tell them.

Like the person who was having a facebook fanpage designed and asked the designer – “Is it a good idea to have a link to my website from the fan page”

Answer “Umm yes – that’s the whole point”

But you don’t expect the people needing the training to be your bank.

Last week, I paid some money in at my local branch.

Of course, the paying in machine was a usual rubbish tip with half written slips and scraps of paper.

I was in a hurry and so I stuffed my cheques and cash into an envelope along with a blank cheque. (There was no where obvious to write my details on the envelope).

Fast forward a couple of days and I received a letter address as you can see.

Now, we operate a ruthless regime with junk mail and the letter was almost in the shredder when the santander logo caught my eye.

So I opened the letter.

Talk about a ticking off…

Firstly, the letter was incorrectly addressed. (And not actually addressed to a person at all even though there are 2 named on the account).

Now it’s a school of thought in customer service that says that to make people do what you want, you have to make it easy for them.

Pay, turn up on time, buy whatever, make it easy for them and they are more likely to do it.

So what I call INCENDIARY words tend to stop people doing what you want because it raises their hackles. They become incensed and lose focus on the task in hand (like buying or paying) and focus instead on the letter and it’s author. It makes the whole thing more personal.

Let’s look at 2 incendiary phrases.

Your envelope ACTUALLY contained

ACTUALLY is a what I call “feet stood at ten past twelve type phrase.”

Think about it. (Oh and drop one shoulder and put your head on one side also).

Do you feel smarmy? Because you sure as heck look it….

“What I ACTUALLY said was…”

You MUST …

Huh ? MUST ?

I MUST wear a seatbelt. I MUST pay my mortgage every month. I MUST pay my council tax.

I MUST pay cheques and cash into separate envelopes???

Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it does it?

YOU MUST leads to the obvious reply “or else what?“

Now – what am I trying to tell you? (and this blog post has been very therapeutic for me by the way)

1. Writing to people when you could ring up is not to be recommended. A quick friendly phone call could have cleared all this up.

2. More people than I thought seem to need lessons in writing customer focused letters.

3. Words like MUST and ACTUALLY are finger wagging words.

4. Banks trying to outsource their admin to the customer (come on… why else is it that I MUST put my deposits into two separate envelopes other than to make it easy for their back office processes ) need to be more persuasive and less confrontational.

In a day or so, I will write what I would have written instead of this tosh.

Facilitated workshops are a very powerful way of empowering a group of people to make decisions and produce work. This article outlines an approach to successful workshops.

What is a Facilitated Workshop?

The word “workshop” is sometimes used to describe a training event or simply a place where people work together. In this article the term “facilitated workshop” is used to describe a special kind of meeting, led by a facilitator who helps the group achieve its objective. The facilitator is independent, non-judgemental of content, and empowers the group. The ideal group size is between 5 and 12 people, although larger numbers are possible.

What are Workshops used for?

Workshops can be used for many purposes. Examples include creating a vision, agreeing a strategy, defining a product or service, reviewing short documents, developing a plan, stakeholder analysis, risk and issue identification, problem solving, team formation, setting priorities, process re-engineering, data modelling, product selection, organisational restructuring, and team coaching. Almost any group activity can be the subject of a facilitated workshop.

Key roles

For a workshop to be successful people need to take on the following roles:
Sponsor – Accountable to the organisation for the success of the workshop. The sponsor sets the objectives, ensures management commitment, and holds the budget.
Facilitator – Responsible for designing and running the workshop, to meet the Sponsor’s objectives.
Scribe – Supports the Facilitator in documenting the workshop. Sometimes the Facilitator takes on this role.
Participants – Attend every workshop session. They represent the various perspectives, areas of the organisation, and vested interests.
Stakeholders – Others with an interest in the workshop deliverables.

The Five Step Process

The facilitator works through each of the following five steps. The time and effort spent on each will depend on the overall timescale, availability of people, and the agreed budget.

Definition – The facilitator clarifies the workshop objectives with the sponsor and identifies the participants and other stakeholders.
Research – The facilitator consults with as many of the participants and stakeholders as possible in order to gain an insight into their thinking, highlight issues, and identify additional participants. The facilitator also obtains relevant source documents.
Preparation – The facilitator designs the workshop process, creates any materials, and prepares a briefing pack. These are agreed with the Sponsor before distribution to the participants. The venue, and supporting services such as catering, are booked.
The Workshop – The workshop, which can last anything from an hour to a few days, is the main event. This is described in more detail below.

Documentation – The Scribe issues a copy of the typed or photographed flipcharts “as is”. It is vital this is done very quickly (typically within 24 hours) while the workshop conversations are still fresh in the minds of the participants. This allows the participants to feedback comments or points of clarification. More formal reports can be produced later, taking into account comments received from the participants.

The Workshop Event

During the workshop the facilitator guides the participants through the agenda (the workshop process) using techniques that help, and sometimes challenge, the participants. Key aspects include:

Resources – Room layout, furniture, facilities, materials, break out rooms, catering.
Context – Introductions, objectives, deliverables, ground rules, timings, processes.
Tools & Techniques – Open discussion, brainstorming, role play, simulation, voting, questioning, energisers, reflection, differing viewpoints, picture drawing, story boarding.
Visibility – As far as possible all flipcharts and other documents are kept visible on the walls during each session. This includes objectives, action lists, and open issues.
Conclusion – Summarise, review against objectives, agree actions, and seek feedback.

Handling Conflict
Good decisions come from encouraging creative tension. Allowing participants to express different views often leads to conflict. It is essential that the disagreement is kept at the “content” level and does not escalate into personal attack. A skilled facilitator uses various techniques to harness the differing views to help the group move towards a consensus view. Humour can often diffuse a tense situation. Occasionally, where the group reaches an impasse, the facilitator may invite the sponsor to make a decision. Conflict resolution can be central when facilitating a team coaching workshop.

Workshop Venue
If possible, the workshop should be held at a venue away from the participants’ normal place of work. This avoids interruptions and distractions, and gives the event a greater sense of occasion.

Successful Facilitated Workshops

This article only gives a flavour of the essential ingredients for a successful workshop. Probably the most important ingredient is a trained and experienced facilitator. At the end of a successful workshop the participants often say “We did it ourselves”. A good facilitator leaves no fingerprints.

about the author
Rhys Jones is an accomplished workshop facilitator. He has facilitated workshops at Clerical Medical Investment Group, Fujitsu, and for a number of Fujitsu’s clients. He has also facilitated visioning and strategic planning sessions for a comprehensive school.

Rhys now trades as Team Factor, specialising in using facilitated workshops as a way to build new teams and support teams that are under-performing.

more info

Contact rhys@teamfactor.org.uk

www.teamfactor.org.uk

http://twitter.com/teamfactor

Your address
Date
Phone
Mobile

Correspondents Address

Character Reference – Fred Chump

Dear Sir/Madam

I have known Fred Chump for a many years. He first arrived at S&S as a trainee and has since become Head of section. He is a respected and loyal member of the team and handles the staff that work with him using a firm but fair hand.

He has a pleasant sense of humour and can always find a way to make people smile even during the hardest of tasks.

He has never missed a day of work except through illness, and we will all be sorry to see him leave our factory.

I wish him well in the future and I know he will be an asset to your company.

Yours faithfully

Your name

Your character reference should be FACT based.

You should not include anything on the reference that you wouldn’t let the subject see.

Including something like “Fred is lazy and good for nothing” is probably not a wise think to do…

It would be better to include Fred’s sickness record – hopefully this isn’t the subject of too much debate and the prospective new employer can make up their own mind.

See – how easy it is to stick to the facts and take a structured approach to writing a reference.

Working out how to phrase an invitation letter can be tricky.

You want to be polite, but at the same time, make sure that people do what you want – book in advance, turn up at the right time, wearing the right clothes etc

Here is a sample to copy and paste

Dear Mr. Hereboy

We would like to formally invite you to our open evening on the 6th November 1988 at 6.30 pm

The evening will include a short trip around the new facilities of the McKC health and fitness studio followed by an evening of entertainment provided by “Les futbols” – A french trick football team.

The evening will conclude with general networking.

There will be a vegetarian barbeque cooked by our celebrity chef Mr. Olivio Bertolli, a selection of puddings and an open bar.

Please feel free to bring along a guest although it would be helpful if you could ring or email details through to our helpdesk.

Dress is casual

Yours truly,