Fast Track Your Development with Our Updated Professional Skills Courses

Normal Workplace

Lots of things are happening quickly. The workplace you are working in has probably changed from a year or two ago. The ways in which we interact with one another have changed too.

Professional skills training has always been extremely valuable to have but now, even more so, it has become essential.

This article will answer the following questions:

• Why are professional skills so valuable?
• What are we doing to help?
• What will you do to take full advantage of what’s available?

Let’s break down these questions and see what our new and updated courses have to offer.

Why Are Professional Skills Training Classes So Valuable?

The largest skill gap we are noticing at the moment is in soft skills, as opposed to hard skills. Hard skills tend to include the technical-type skills involving computers or Microsoft Office. These are still vitally important, but in comparison the soft skills are currently often lagging behind.

Soft skills – or professional skills – are more about team building, time management, managing difficult situations, and so forth. Communication, leadership, facilitation skills; these are especially important now that we’re dealing with virtual working and meetings.

Have you ever experienced an email or text message being misinterpreted and causing a problem? If you had conveyed the message face-to-face, then the problem could have been avoided because you’re able to respond immediately to how your words are being received and interpreted. That is the issue many workers and teams are having in our new virtual workplace. Professional skills training can help you overcome these challenges and avoid confusion or hurt feelings.

Professional skills enable you to close the gaps in communication and feedback as you work virtually or in flexible working arrangements. They can bring your team together in a bond that can enable them to successfully work through their challenges as a cohesive unit.

What Are We Doing to Help?

We have detected an increasing need for professional skills training and have responded to meet your needs! Some of our courses have been updated and relaunched, while new ones have been added to reflect today’s evolving business environment. Additionally, we will continue to examine and update our courses in the future to be sure that they align with what our participants need.

Our classes are now even more interactive, focusing on experiential learning. They are even more immersive, providing a fully engaging learning process whereby participants ‘learn by doing’ and by reflecting on the experience. The participants will get to work through hands-on, real-world examples in all our newly updated courses.

Additionally, we’ve added new professional skills classes to help you achieve success while working remotely. A particularly useful skill is that of communicating virtually, and we have a new course focused on that.

Let’s look briefly at some of the great new or updated courses we have to offer.

You can get to our professional skills courses here.

Bravo! Customer Service Done Well

This course has been relaunched with an updated name and with new content. 

This customer service training focuses on:

• Keeping ahead of ever-changing customer service expectations.
• Looking beyond the words to manage the emotions in the interactions; making your customers feel truly understood and welcome.
• Understanding the customer’s journey.
• Learning about the five Cs and applying these invaluable techniques to deal with those difficult interactions.
• This training is essential for customer service representatives, service-focused professionals, and managers leading service teams.

Conflict Be Gone! Navigating Difficult Conversations

This course, too, has been relaunched with an updated name and with new content. It’s now an experiential session, so come prepared to practice and to participate in navigating difficult conversations.

Following this training, you’ll be more prepared to:

• Manage difficult interactions and aim for mutual respect.
• Learn the skills needed to correctly work through those difficult conversations we all must face from time to time.
• Adopt a win-win intention and see it through.

Lights, Camera, Action – Mastering the Art of Virtual Facilitation

This course focuses on virtual facilitation as a vital skill in adapting to our new ways of meeting together.

Taught by our expert instructor, you’ll learn how to:

• Build trust during virtual meetings, workshops, or webinars.
• It’s the new leadership ideal; how to facilitate—rather than control—team interactions and decision-making.
• Use our three-step virtual facilitation model to learn, engage, and practice.
• Use the tools that are available to bring out the best in a virtual facilitator.

Understanding and Developing Effective Communication Strategy Skills

Our communication training has been revised with a new name and updated content. Through hands-on practice you’ll cover:

• Understanding the impact your communication skills have on other people.
• Enhancing your ability to handle difficult situations.
• Learning how to challenge your self-talk.
• Finding out more about what your body language and facial expressions say about you.

View the full outline or register here.

Take the Stress Out with Great Time Management

An interactive course that’s been updated with a new name and content. You’ll be expected to have in mind your time management concerns and challenges to work through in this session.

Led by an expert instructor, you’ll gain the knowledge to:

• Increase your effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.
• Understand how being busy isn’t the same as being effective.
• Alleviate the stress and finally achieve that work-life balance you’ve been striving for.

Explore the full course outline or sign up here.

Business Writing That Works

Same name as before, but with updated content. Pick up the tools to become a better writer. Poor writing costs time, money, and frustration. Good writing takes work but with this class, and with practice, you can feel much more confident about your writing.

By the end of this training you’ll be able to:

• Learn the real value of good communication.
• Learn the importance of proofreading; it’s time well spent.
• Understand the dos and don’ts of writing email.
• Explore the four Cs of writing: clear, concise, complete, and correct.

Browse the course outline or sign up here. Change the way you work and save time on your daily tasks by taking our professional skills training. With hands-on activities and real time coaching with our senior trainers, you’ll be equipped to handle any challenges you face in your role or as a team.

Create An Action Plan for Your Professional Development

The first hurdle you face is to recognize the need for professional skills training. Many workers and managers are going through the motions without realizing that there’s a gap in their skill set. They’re often bringing unnecessary stress upon themselves and those around them without knowing it. We’re in a different work environment and need different methods to face the challenges. It’s not enough to just add an emoji and hope for the best.

Look through our list of professional skills courses with a view to considering how you or your staff could potentially benefit from them.

Free Resources

To further help you, we’ve launched a podcast where you can get a feel for our communication style and watch our senior professional skills trainer in action. Listen to the podcast here, hosted by Joel Silverstone.

We also recommend registering for our upcoming free professional skills webinars here. Also, listen to our past webinar, “Tough Conversations Don’t Get Easier. But YOU Can Get Better!” here.

Contact us today and ask about our professional skills training courses. We cover all types of professional skills sessions, including leadership, writing, communication, team building, time management, and much more.

Our Flexible Booking Arrangements

You can take advantage of our flexibility by booking your training when it’s convenient for you. Whatever your preferences or needs, contact us to talk over your options and make the desired arrangements.

Currently, all our sessions are held virtually to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. When local public health recommendations allow, all our private software and professional skills training will be available to you on-premises or virtually with a live instructor at no additional cost. If you would like to learn more about our virtual live instructor-led training or would like a short demo of our virtual training platform, please reach out to us.

Are you ready to book your professional skills training? Do you have any questions?

Browse our professional skills training classes here. To register for any of our public professional skills training, you can add each class to your cart and check out in minutes.

We would love to help you or your team to reach your goals. For any questions, or to request a quote for your team, please contact us here.