Farewell, me hearties! It’s time for me and my boys to head into sandy horizons and rocky soul-places!

I leave you all in the shade of the Avo tree to do great things until I return. I send you strong energy and happy light from the plains of the Namib, and wish you all strength and heart.

I will come back, strong and ready to go the distance as we take our very special company into a new phase!

Love you all!

The Brand of One: Sell yourself well - you are your own product

We are facing a business world that has changed fundamentally. In a world where everything is different, the only thing we can rely on is unpredictability, and so a new working order is emerging.

It is the individual that is fleet-of-foot and alert to the changes signaled in their environment that will be the survivor of this age. And it is now that the true ‘brand of one’ emerges: people who are on a journey of constant evolution and self-discovery know that to survive and meet the demands this new world throws at us, our ability to market ourselves effectively has never been more key.

It is because people are realising that they are responsible for their own present and future that building a personal brand that manages both customer expectations and personal integrity has become a very necessary element in modern business practice.

Selling yourself well is no longer something that happens by mistake and it is too important to leave to chance, so this talk will teach people how to read their markets, themselves and then build a strong personal brand that blends their market’s expectations with the uniqueness of who they are.

Mind the Gap: Communicating across the generations

Intergenerational conflict is not only something that happens between parents and their errant offspring. Research shows that a lot of uncomfortable personal relations happen in the workplace as a product of conflicting value systems of different generations. In order to understand staff and customers, it is important to get an insight into their value systems.
We have known for many decades that our value systems are largely in place by the age of 10. Startling, more recent research is pointing to the fact that world events and moods that happen during the formative years of any generation’s life have a profound impact on the outlook and value system of that generation as a whole.

This talk looks at the fundamental shift in paradigm companies are experiencing as they start coming to grips with this concept including:

• Tailor-make their marketing strategies by speaking a values-based language that the different targeted segments understand
• Change their staff-retention strategies to meet the differing needs of the different generations that work for them
• Change their client retention programmes to target the right strategy at the right customer group
• Manage customer care programmes by solving issues in ways that suit the client generational value profile.

We have all been raised in a culture that has its own ways of thinking and seeing the world. That way of seeing the world and interpreting things in a certain way is often so strong, that when faced with people who do things in another way, their behaviour feels wrong. It is almost impossible to understand them: their way is often seen as ‘wrong’ because it is different from the way we do things.

We all need to realise that every culture has a richness in history and tradition, and is as valid as our own, even though we can’t understand the behaviour properly because it feels odd.

Awareness of the different ways in which the diverse range of people in our world operate within their cultures enables people to interpret behaviour as it was intended, even though it may feel foreign or even rude when they see it through their own cultural filter.

Introduction

Once individuals begin to understand the differences in respect to language between people of different cultural backgrounds, they will start to be able to interpret and respond to the different needs of callers. Even good manners and basic human decency have different behavioural interpretations depending on what culture you’re viewing them from. They will develop awareness around how to become the cultural chameleon, reading the signals of their colleagues and clients and responding so that the recipient feels comfortable.
Part of becoming the Global Professional is about raising your awareness of the different ways in which diverse peoples of our world operate within their cultures, so that you will be able to interpret behaviour as it was intended, even though it may feel foreign, or even rude, to you when you see it through your own cultural filter.
A common example may help you understand: in South Africa there are some people who will show respect by dropping their eyes and reducing eye contact. For other South Africans, reducing eye contact is seen as a sign of being devious, dishonest, or showing a sense of shame. Without any form of cultural fluency, a person trying to demonstrate his respect for another by dropping his eyes could be interpreted by the other as appearing to be dishonest he will not trust him. Communication between these two will be severely hampered, as they don’t understand one another’s intentions.

Benefits

Cultural Fluency helps delegates understand the basic assumptions that are experienced in cultures across the world, and are evident in the diversity of South Africans. It communicates a message of gaining insight and understanding to help everyone reach a more effective level of communication. The material is communicated in a light-hearted, engaging and non-threatening manner that builds understanding without confronting people with painful lessons from the past.

Logistics

The talk is 1/2 a day long, but can be adapted to fit programmes with different timing requirements.
Training interventions for this session are created depending on the specific requirements of each client.

We’ve all had to sit through the ‘death-by-PowerPoint’ experience before! But have you ever asked yourself whether you are inflicting that pain on other people with your own PowerPoint creations?

Sometimes, rather than being an effective aid that compliments a great presentation, visuals are becoming distracting and irritating. They’re too full, too small, too corny, too old, too boring or just too over the top. This programme aims to help presenters develop skills to prepare slide presentations that enable a clearly defined structure and content, are visually congruent with their message and audience friendly. Emphasis is particularly made on how to decode complicated data in a way that speaks to ‘less graph-literate’ audiences.

Introduction

We’ve all had to sit through the ‘death-by-PowerPoint’ experience before!
You’ve seen them all, graphics and tables that are badly constructed, cartoons that move, zoom or explode, ‘ping’ sounds and other strange noises, all of which are completely unrelated to the presentation. Data that is presented instead of results, results presented which cannot be read and often the messages communicated in graphs and tables are obscure, unclear, or too complicated to be understood in the presentation space.
A Presenter’s PowerPoint aims to help presenters develop skills to prepare slide presentations that enable a clearly defined structure and content, are visually congruent with their message and are audience friendly. It focuses on those aspects of PowerPoint, which are most regularly used to create impactful visual aids that compliment a presenter’s message.

Benefits

The ability to present effectively is becoming a minimum expectation for performance, a critical skill in a highly competitive and dynamic business environment and an invaluable tool for improving your position on the totem pole. PowerPoint is the primary tool used, which can either enable or cripple your presentation.
A Presenter’s PowerPoint is designed, firstly, for people who regularly create and deliver presentations using PowerPoint and secondly, for PA’s, secretaries or the PowerPoint expert in the team, individuals who build PowerPoint presentations for someone else.

• Learn to structure and communicate in a simple, interesting and effective manner.
• Understand those aspects of PowerPoint that are most effective when creating a presentation.
• Understand layout principles for visually powerful messages.
• Maximise benefits of using this powerful medium

Logistics

Presenters PowerPoint workshop is a half day/5 hour workshop. Delegates must have a working knowledge of PowerPoint to qualify to attend.

The concept of negotiation is relatively easy to understand. However, mastering the art is a whole lot more complicated and difficult to accomplish because it not only involves techniques, but also requires certain behavior that is not always easy to adopt. In fact many people are intimidated by the mere thought of having to negotiate with someone else and although they will usually do their best to get a good deal, they may well be losing out more often than they realize.

Introduction

Negotiation is a process and it requires a positive attitude, sound knowledge and plenty of practice in order to be able to manage successfully with confidence and ease. That said, the benefits of being a competent negotiator far outweigh the effort it might take to get there. This program provides a solid understanding of the theoretical aspects of negotiation, as well as an opportunity to practice, transfer and apply the theory and techniques into everyday sales situations.

Benefits

On completion of this program, you will:

• Fully understand the nature of negotiation and the associated benefits;
• Understand the key concepts of negotiations, negotiation relationships and negotiation styles;
• Understand the role of their own personality and conflict handling disposition in negotiations;
• Be able to prepare and plan for a negotiation;
• Understand all the factors that affect the climate of the negotiation and how to use these to best advantage;
• Understand how to negotiate for common ground;
• Understand how to conduct truly persuasive communication;
• Understand how to deal with conflict and aggression;
• Be able to demonstrate the capability to apply these fundamental negotiation skills.

Logistics

Negotiate a Better deal is a three day course, comprising of three sessions.
Session One covers the major theoretical elements of negotiation as well as the human behaviour required in order to be successful.

Session Two covers the fundamental steps required, to plan and prepare adequately prior to negotiation and what factors can affect the climate in which the negotiation takes place.

Session Three covers how to find the common ground in the negotiation, how to ask questions and answer them as well as how power is gained and lost and when it is best used. The session will also cover how to master persuasive communication in order to gain advantage, sway opinions and change attitudes.

With most business communication initiatives, people aim to provide others with a great experience with the purpose of forging a strong relationship, but people can often be difficult to deal with. Through using the Transactional Analysis model, delegates will learn how to keep their cool while dealing with difficult clients as well as how to manage themselves in the face of abrasive clients or tough conversations with colleagues.

Introduction

When someone in our business lets a client down they usually are not doing it on purpose. Actually many of us who work with clients, whose bread and butter comes from clients do not consciously and vindictively let our clients down. Mostly we want to give them a great experience, we want to do the best for them and grow the relationship with them.
However, sometimes things go wrong and we don’t delight our customer, we do our best to correct the situation but it is still very difficult to deal with a client who is darn-right angry with us. So we mentally shut down or we feel tempted to give them a serious piece of our mind or we just struggle to deal with the situation emotionally.

Benefits

The key to understanding our reactions lie in understanding our different ego states, the Parent, the Child and the Adult. During difficult interactions we may find ourselves responding instinctively in an ego state that triggers an emotional or irrational response and so may jeopardise our relationship with the person we are trying to communicate with.
Understanding the Fragile Relationship Balance explores the different ego states that we all have within us. Understanding why we respond in these ego states is key to knowing how to deal with a difficult person and is key to understanding our own emotions and responses when faced with these situations.

Logistics

Dealing Conflict can be run as a half day workshop or it can be a one hour talk that will be interesting, fun, interactive and educative. The content is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction - role play
• Understanding the three ego states
• Understanding why and how we respond in different situations
• How to practically apply the knowledge
• Close

The ability to present effectively is becoming a minimum expectation for performance, a critical skill in a highly competitive and dynamic business environment and an invaluable tool for improving your position on the totem pole. If you’ve done the basics in presentations, and you’ve got some serious experience under your belt, you may be looking for the next thing that will help you lift your game into the arena of Mastery. This is it. But this programme is not for novices. If you’re worried about your own entry-level skills on delivering presentations, rather attend our 2-day On the Spot programme. You really have to crack the basics before you can break the rules well.

Introduction

This programme is not for novices. If you’re worried about your own entry-level skills on delivering presentations, rather attend our 2-day On the Spot programme. You really have to crack the basics before you can break the rules well. The format of the day is built around action learning methodologies. Delegates will be expected to prepare thoroughly before they attend the programme: they will receive a skills refresher booklet which they will be expected to have prepared in advance, and then come prepared with a rehearsed 10-minute presentation, pertinent to their existing working context, with visual aids prepared. As they deliver their presentations, the facilitator will coach, and work with skills gaps specific to the individuals in the group. The theoretical aspects of the content will be covered as part of this methodology, as the issues arise.

This is a challenging and robust process. Our highly skilled coaches will work live with the team, and delegates should prepare themselves for a mentally and physically taxing day. Beginners should not attend.

Benefits

• Working the room means being able to deviate from the script: You’ve been there. Every duck is in its row. The slides are spot-on. The figures are perfect. The intro is rolling off your tongue when the curve balls start coming and the tapdance begins. Be ready to deal whatever comes at you.
• We learn best when we are able to see our own strengths and weaknesses. Watch yourself in action. Whatever you do will be captured on camera and dropped onto CD. You can continue to work your game long after the day you spend with us: keep watching, keep learning, keep tapdancing!
• Getting real. This means that we have to be authentic when we communicate with people. The day will provide the opportunity for you to understand how to maximise your unique personality and presentation style. People will buy from you because they trust you: they can sense that what they see is what they get.
• Find out which rules you’re best at breaking. Truly coming to terms with your strengths is the most powerful thing you can learn about this game. Your coach will help you see that stuff more clearly.

Logistics

The Boardroom Tapdance programme is built for a maximum of 8 and a minimum of 5 people. It is designed to run over a period of one full day. Company programmes can be booked or individuals can be sent on open programmes.

The reality is presentations are often uncomfortable. Some of us are terrified by presenting, others wonder how they could improve and make their presentations a little more dynamic or a little more interactive, while others walk away from their presentations disappointed because it didn’t go the way they wanted. Yet we all know it’s a critical business tool.

The ability to present effectively is becoming a minimum expectation for performance, a critical skill in a highly competitive and dynamic business environment and an invaluable tool for improving your position on the totem pole.

“By implementing a clearer, more structured approach to my presentations and general communication, I have seen a significant increase in the buy-in from my audiences. I’m getting the results I want. Implementing what I learned on your programme has really opened doors for me.”
Thabo Lebelo, Anglo American

Introduction

The reality is presentations are often uncomfortable. Some of us are terrified by presenting, others wonder how they could improve and make their presentations a little more dynamic or a little more interactive, while others walk away from their presentations disappointed because it didn’t go the way they wanted. Yet we all know it’s a critical business tool.

This programme combines a comfortable depth of theory and understanding rules, with many opportunities to test learning and try out new things in a relaxed and encouraging environment with the input of a highly skilled coach.

The ability to present effectively is becoming a minimum expectation for performance, a critical skill in a highly competitive and dynamic business environment and an invaluable tool for improving your position on the totem pole.

Benefits

• A sustainable investment. Avocado Vision believes that people only change when they can see what the benefits are for them. The intensive 2-day course allows the delegate to deeply listen, learn and practice skills in a supportive environment. This ensures that the skills are internalised and that the delegate leaves the course knowing that they have grown in a tangible way.
• We learn best when we are able to see our own strengths and weaknesses. Delegates are expected to demonstrate and practice every skill taught. They are filmed and are given the opportunity to see themselves in action. They leave the course with the knowledge and tools to continually hone their abilities and to make themselves master presenters.
• In today’s world, business takes place everywhere. One can sell at the gym, in a coffee shop or in an auditorium. The skills taught on the course will make a dramatic difference to the way people communicate, wherever the business opportunity arises.
• Business is gained and lost according to how effectively we communicate our message. A huge emphasis is placed on the careful structuring of the message so that it can be communicated in a simple but powerfully appropriate way. Simply put, the message is only going to be heard if it directly meets the needs of the audience. It is not about what we are saying, it is how we choose to say it.

We buy people. Avocado Vision believes that people buy people rather than the product. This means that we have to be authentic when we communicate with people. The course provides the opportunity for delegates to understand how to maximise on their unique personality/presentation style.

Mark or example of someone who is able to practice all the basic presentation skills. The programme makes use of practical presentation exercises, group discussions and debates and video feedback to help internalise the concepts introduced. On completion the delegate receives both written and video feedback from the instructor.

Logistics

The presentation skills programme is built for a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 8 people. It is designed to run over a period of two full days. Company programmes can be booked or individuals can be sent on open programmes scheduled for the dates below.

For companies that cannot afford to take delegates out of their working environment for a full two day programme, we do offer specially customised modular programmes, which can be run at times more suitable to the client.

Although we all intuitively learned how to tune in to other people, most of us still find that we need to sharpen the interpersonal skills sword in order to maximise our impact during our interactions with others.

Avocado Vision has worked in the field of interpersonal communication for the past 9 years, and has been seeking to understand the dynamics of what happens within a relating moment. We then transform our understanding into training interventions that help individuals master and fine-tune their skills in this regard.

Our methodology takes learners through an appropriate diagnostic tool to help them individually identify their characteristic personality traits. We then describe the different aspects, giving insight into what effects the different personalities have on one another when they interact. We also use a tool to help individuals practice their ‘identifying’ techniques so that they can learn to look out for the clues that show us the styles of the people we interact with, which will guide us towards appropriate behaviour. Stunning team-building tool!

Communicating effectively with other people involves a wide range of skills which we all have mastered to some degree, whether it be consciously, or unconsciously. We use our skills to tune in to people to get them to co-operate with us, buy from us, befriend us, or understand us by giving them what they need to see things from our point of view. There are many models that help us understand how people displaying different aspects of personality types behave.

The objective of the programme is to help learners understand themselves better, and then understand how to identify and interact with other personality styles. It is important to note that this process identifies and describes only one aspect of the interpersonal communication space, and also only one aspect of individual personality. Our facilitators are careful to stress this, as we want to avoid people fatalistically describing themselves in terms of boxes where they cannot change and adapt to the world because ‘its not me’. The point is that the better I understand myself, the more likely I am to be able to adapt to tune in to and read what other people need. The tool helps us along the path to better understanding.

This intervention is usually run in a light-hearted way - learners laugh and learn, and are encouraged to participate in the banter as we move them towards a deeper understanding.

Benefits

Marcus Buckingham, in ‘The one thing you need to Know’, says that effective managers in this century are the ones who learn how to play a new board game. Whereas in the past, managing people was a bit like playing Checkers: you were most effective when everyone moves the same way, today, managing people is all about playing Chess. You will be most effective when you understand the strength of each individual, and move them accordingly to achieve your ultimate strategy. Sussing your own and your team’s personality takes you a long way towards achieving that insight.

But learning about personalities is not just for the domain of the manager! Being able to suss the personalities of the people you have conversations with is such a useful tool! And having a deeper understanding of your own personality, so you know how to adapt and adjust when communication with other people is just as useful.

Logistics

The open programme is run from 09h00 to 14h30. Timing for company programmes can be tailored to suit company needs. Delegates will be required to fill out a confidential questionnaire a week prior to the programme: a personal DISC report will be prepared for each person to be used as part of the workshop on the day. A magnificently mouth-watering lunch will be served as part of the package, expect to be dining with an unforgettable, breathtaking Johannesburg view!

Group size will never be larger than 14 people.