Over the past couple of months, a number of recent articles and podcasts have caught my attention and challenged my point of view for the better. Here are my top selections about culture, innovation, and the future of hybrid workplaces.
INSIGHTS
Why are virtual presentations important? In the new world of work, being able to work fluidly in a variety of modes and using multiple platforms is, and will continue to be, more critical than ever.
Virtual selling is business as usual today—and in the future. Find out why that’s great for your business—and how your salespeople can really set your company apart from the competition.
Mandel Communications, known globally for its presentation and conversations skills workshops, fills a major gap in the field of human communications training by announcing its new neuroscience-based, listening skills-building workshop, “The Listening Edge.”
This innovative training is bolstered with a validated, proprietary, science-based personal listening assessment that accelerates this learning and its application on the job.
As you and your teams navigate working remotely, we’re publishing tips and best practices for leading virtual meetings, presenting virtually and promoting remote team collaboration. For this week’s tips, here are 3 best practices for encouraging collaboration in your virtual meetings:
As you and your teams navigate working remotely, we’re publishing tips and best practices for leading virtual meetings, presenting virtually and collaborating on virtual teams.
For this week’s tips, here are 3 best practices for improving virtual meeting experiences:
As you and your teams navigate working remotely, we’re publishing tips and best practices for leading virtual meetings, presenting virtually, and collaborating on virtual teams.
For this week’s tips, here are 3 best practices for engaging your teams in virtual meetings:
As you and your teams navigate working remotely, we’re publishing weekly tips for leading virtual meetings.
For this week’s tips, here are 3 best practices for optimizing your virtual meetings.
The scope of the Coronavirus outbreak is changing rapidly, and the way organizations manage their training initiatives is changing just as quickly in response.
Mandel is prepared for times like these and we’re here to help.
We know organizations are putting significant thought into business continuity plans, and we’re standing-by to help our clients with the execution of these plans.
In an era of digital transformation, skill development is all the more critical to organizational success. In 2020, we’ll share best practices for skill-building and keep readers abreast of trends that will help transform teams and drive workplace performance.
There’s a treacherous siren threatening learning effectiveness today. It seductively sings, “Don’t make it too difficult. Make it easy.” Now, there’s nothing wrong with trying to make learning more physically convenient for people. But is your learning at risk of becoming too convenient?
Read the blog to discover why learning should be uncomfortable.
How do you feel about building rapport? Many introverts feel uncomfortable when it comes to rapport-building because they think it means having to make “small talk” with others. If that’s you, fear not. You don't need the gift of gab to build good rapport. And having the gift of gab (or being extroverted) doesn't guarantee success either — especially if you're the one doing most of the talking.
Read the blog to get specific rapport-building tips anyone can use to quickly make a strong connection with others.
What's the one virtual communication skill that nearly everyone struggles with? Hint: um, well, err, still not sure? It's your delivery. This includes things like composure, intonation, energy, pausing, eliminating clutter words, etc. Poor delivery skills get magnified in virtual settings. It's the #1 reason why web meetings and webcasts earn a bad rap.
The good news? Anyone can improve their virtual delivery skills by mastering composure and amplifying their energy. Read on to learn how.
Strong and engaging public speakers are powerful people who make change happen. Through their words and presence, they can influence people’s thoughts, decisions, and actions for the better.
That’s why this week, I thought I’d share 5 of my favorite TED Talks to help you improve your speaking skills. I guarantee you’ll be entertained watching them. But more than that, I hope you’ll feel empowered to become the speaker or change agent you were meant to be.
When team performance sinks, it’s the responsibility of the team’s captain to right the ship. Better yet, a great team captain can prevent their crew from crashing against the rocks or getting stranded in the shallows to begin with. How? Here are 3 things leaders of high-performing teams do extraordinarily well.
Communication is the skill most in demand across 100 major US cities, according to LinkedIn research. That may be why more than 2000 talent professionals and executives identified soft skills as their #1 development priority for 2018. But in a world obsessed with data, why do soft skills matter? And how can companies meet demand in the face of such a huge shortage?
Communicating complexity is challenging. For technical teams, presenting data-driven topics engagingly and concisely may be as easy as herding cats. That's because (1) the more specialized your knowledge is, the harder it becomes to present to people not “in the know" and (2) your audience is overwhelmed and overburdened by data already. So how can you simply communicate complex ideas? Try these two proven tactics
You’ve no doubt felt the impact of poor communication at some point in your life. What’s less clear is just how much poor communication costs. Specifically, how much does it cost the typical business? According to this first-of-its-kind 2017 report on workplace productivity, the price may shock you. Find out what it is and why getting specific is critical to making the case for training investment.
As the year comes to a close, here's a look back at Mandel's most popular skill-building content of 2017. Whether trying to make a great first impression, give a persuasive presentation, or convince others to support your idea, how you communicate will be key to your success in 2018. To help you prepare, we’ve curated this list of the most downloaded skill-building content just for you.
The holiday season means more joy. . . and more stress! If you're feeling it, you're not alone. 62% of people describe their stress level as "very or somewhat elevated" during the holidays. Here's what the science says about how to experience more joy and less stress this season. And here's a wish for you, from all of us here at Mandel. (Of course, we had to SCI-PAB it.)
A recent MIT Sloan/Deloitte study named innovation the second most important issue companies are grappling with today. Most organizations aren't lacking for ideas—the challenge is making sure the best ones get heard and funded. Unfortunately, too often, even great ideas get lost when poorly communicated. If you can't make a clear enough case for your idea, it ends up ignored, shelved, abandoned— or it may even get defeated by a weak idea, better presented. Don't let your best ideas get lost in presentation. Here's how.
Mandel Concepts
Heather Muir
As Vice President of Marketing, Heather directs Mandel’s marketing, branding, and communications strategies in collaboration with the Executive Team. In addition, Heather leads Mandel’s public- and industry-relations activities.
Prior to joining Mandel in 2010, Heather held several marketing and communications roles within the learning and training industry. She is also an active member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), Training Industry, Inc.; eLearningGuild; and the Association of Briefing Program Managers (ABPM).
Heather holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis, and has completed graduate courses in business and entrepreneurship at the University of Washington.
