EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Influencing and Persuading

Your ideas are only valuable if you can convince others to take action and implement them. When you
have the confidence, ability and skill to influence your clients, colleagues and boss you can get support
for your ideas and achieve your goals.

Agenda
You will cover:

Understanding the differences between persuading, influencing and manipulating

Flexing your styles of persuading

Influencing others through four key approaches

Recognising Cialdinis 6 levers of influence and when to apply them

Managing challenges/problems on your feet

To prepare
Please think about a specific situation at work where you wanted to persuade someone to do something.
You will be expected to analyse and role-play this in the session. Remember to choose a situation you feel
comfortable sharing with others.

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see www.iopener.com.

EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Business writing
Expressing yourself clearly in writing is a core business skill in todays global environment. Well written
communications save time, effort and money. This workshop will show you how to write clearly and
avoid misunderstanding. So you can position your ideas clearly for your readers and get the results you
want.

Agenda
You will cover:

Organising your thoughts

Using structure and the inverted pyramid

Writing clear topic sentences and opening paragraphs

Understanding the power of verbs and the active voice

Recognising plain language

Practising the write-tight technique

Examining layout and presentation

Editing: what this means and how to do it

Analysing persuasive writing: the magic ingredient

To prepare
Please come with a hard copy of a piece of writing that you would like to get feedback on. You will re-work
this piece of writing in a one to one session with the facilitator during the workshop. It can be in the form of
a report, an email, a covering letter any form of business writing - but should not exceed two sides of A4.
Please email a soft copy of this piece of writing to your iOpener facilitator in advance of the session. The
programme office will advise the correct email address to send it too.

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see www.iopener.com.

EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Personal impact
This workshop investigates the tools and techniques needed to create impact with any stakeholder. So
that people not only remember who you are but act on what you have to say. You will achieve this
through understanding different ways to express yourself and to do this with confidence.

Agenda
You will cover:

Understanding presence in the terms of words, voice and body language

Building rapport with everyone

Approaching others and doing this with confidence

Dealing with status and jeopardy: handling challenges

Projecting authority under pressure

To prepare
Please come to this workshop prepared to introduce yourself with impact. You will need to:

Say who you are

Explain what you do

Tell the group one interesting thing about yourself

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see www.iopener.com.

EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Presentation skills
The higher you climb in any organisation the more important your presentation skills become. You have
to get the message right every time. This workshop will help you prepare for those make or break
moments, so you can deliver with confidence and credibility.

Agenda
You will cover:

Revisiting structure: make sure you FACE it

Persuading and motivating: who your audience is and what they need to hear

Positioning both good and bad news

Explaining the need behind the need and checking buy-in

Delivering the hardest messages: using anecdotes

Overcoming resistance

Reviewing rhetorical techniques: inspiration for ending and calls to action

To prepare
Please come with a 5 minute presentation which focuses on persuading key stakeholders to take action.
Your presentation can be:

On any work related topic relevant to your job

Part of something you done before

In any format youd like

Please make sure you bring it with you ready to present.

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see www.iopener.com.

EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Listening to and observing others

This workshop provides leaders with the tools to deeply connect with and understand others. Listening
and observing are skills that are taken for granted, but not always used to maximum advantage. They are
the foundation skills for enabling performance and therefore must-haves as a leader today.

Agenda
You will cover:

Understanding the differences between superficial and deep listening

Identifying your personal listening/observing styles and preferences

Build real rapport with everyone

Recognising personal barriers to listening and observing

Working with intuition and insight

Developing a listening and observing toolkit

To prepare
No preparation is needed for this workshop. Just come with an open mind and a willingness to learn and
experiment.

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see http www.iopener.com.

EMBA 2013 Business Skills: Sessions 1 & 2

Coaching for Leaders

Coaching is one of the main skills that enables you to create and develop high-performance trust-based
relationships. In tough environments where delivery counts this is a key leadership tool that will help you
and your team excel.

Agenda
You will cover:
Understanding what coaching is and isnt: directive and non-directive approaches
Setting up objectives and outcomes
Recognising the pros and cons of strength/weakness-based coaching
Using the GROW model: a coaching framework
Understanding the process from a coachee perspective
Listening techniques that accelerate coaching conversations
Understanding the difference between managing performance through coaching and managing through
feedback

To prepare
Please think about a situation that you would like to be coached on. You will be coaching one another, so
come prepared to share your situation.

iOpener
iOpener is a consultancy that excels in leadership development and executive coaching. We work with
some of the worlds leading business schools, multi-nationals, NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. To
find out more about iOpener please see www.iopener.com.