Office & Training Solutions

Communicate with the confidence of Steve Jobs!

orla — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:46:35 +0000

At Office & Training Solutions we spend a lot of time working with individuals who have to make presentations and need to master the art of communicating with confidence. Most people are familiar with the worst human fears stats below which suggests speaking to a group is our top fear at 41% as opposed to dying which is at 19% – meaning we would rather be in the box at a funeral than doing the eulogy!

So how did Steve Jobs (RIP) do it so well? According to Carmine Gallo from www.gallocommunications.com he mastered a few very simple techniques. We summarise just a few of these techniques …..all of which can be easily adopted by any speaker to increase the effectiveness of their delivery

At the start of your presentation create a story with a great headline, set the scene, make it clear & memorable – if you use stats put them into context and connect the dots for your audience so they make sense
Provide an outline and open and close each section of your outline so as to make it easy for the audience to follow your story
Demonstrate enthusiasm, wow your audience and don’t send them to sleep, communicate passionately using words such as extraordinary, amazing, cool, awesome, incredible etc..
Make your presentation visual, easy on the eye, paint a simple picture that doesn’t overwhelm
Give your audience a show!
You are an actor on stage so you need to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more but make it look effortless! Steve Jobs spent hours rehearsing for all his presentations.

Don’t convey – inspire and don’t forget that all important mastery of stage presence!

Remember the more you do it, the better you get and if we can help you to perfect your presenting skills, drop us an email to orla@ots.ie or call Orla on 086 3807802

Introducing our new “Public Procurement Rules” Programme

orla — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:43:04 +0000

We are delighted to introduce our newly developed programme Public Procurement Rules which we have started to roll out to a selection of Local Development Companies . This programme is very practically focused and delivers pragmatic solutions to assist all individuals engaged in the public procurement of supplies, works and services to achieve their public procurement legislative requirements.

Contact Orla on 086 3807802 or email orla@ots.ie for more information

Priotising – Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix – Habit Number 3

orla — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:16:06 +0000

I recently completed a Self Management session with a group of middle managers who had real issues prioritising and planning and fought a constant battle fire fighting and being reactive with very little time for proactive tasks. I introduced them to Stephen Covey’s (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) Habit number 3: Put First Things First and his Time Management Matrix – a concept which promotes the use of four quadrants to determine the tasks you “need” to do and deciding what should be made a priority.

Click for an outline of Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix. Outlined below a brief overview of each quadrant….

Quadrant 1 (top left) includes tasks that are both “urgent” and “important” – we have to spend time here and this quadrant will never disappear but we must manage these tasks to avoid burnout. Many important activities become urgent through procrastination or because we don’t do enough prevention and planning. Worryingly Covey suggests we spend up to 90% of our time here!
Quadrant 2 (top right) includes tasks that are “important, but not urgent” which are those we should focus on for long term achievement of goals. Here’s where we do our long-range planning, anticipate and prevent problems and increase our skills. Investing in this Quadrant shrinks Quadrant I, avoiding stress, burnout, and deeper crises. If you are currently doing very little here, begin by carving out a small amount of time here each day and gradually building on it.
Quadrant 3 (bottom left) includes tasks that are “urgent, but unimportant” and should be minimized or eliminated. These tasks are important to someone else and we end up getting trapped by other people’s sense of urgency telling us what is important – this is the Quadrant of Deception!
Quadrant 4 (bottom right) includes tasks that are “not urgent, not important”- what are we doing here…we are escaping from the stresses of Quadrant 1! This is the Quadrant of Waste and includes trivial time-wasters that should be eliminated.

Covey believes that the more time you spend doing things in Q2 the better you become at managing and prioritising. He also suggests that most people spend too much time doing tasks in Q1 and Q3 and are constantly living deadline by deadline and “putting out fires” rather than working on being proactive and “preventing fires”!

Following our session these managers plotted their tasks on their own Time Management Matrix and focused on increasing Q2, reducing Q1 and eliminating Q3 & Q4 with the end result focused planning to prevent these fires … it’s working for them!

Remember: We do not manage time …there will always be 24 hours in a day 7 days in a week , we manage ourselves, others and our work & life and the key is the changing of habits…so start to change your habits and complete your own Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix

If you would like assistance with prioritising and putting your Time Management Matrix into action we would be happy to help – contact orla@ots.ie and 086 3807802

Yet another successful FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer programme completed!

orla — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:34:17 +0000

We have just completed a fully subscribed FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer programme with a highly engaging bunch of trainers in Roscommon Learning Links, Boyle. The group were at absolute pleasure to train and we are thrilled with their feedback…..a flavour below…

“The trainer makes a great connection with us all”

“The course was conducted in a friendly supportive manner which was great encouragement especially in regard to the skills demonstration which can seem a little daunting”

“I found the course very beneficial. The facilitator delivered the course excellently, clearly and concisely. Orla was very helpful and an example of a great trainer, thanking you”

“Very enjoyable course, well structured and great guidance”

“Excellent real life example of how to deliver a training course – seeing a pro in action! Good to look back on”

“The training sessions were very practical and very informative and they made me have a better understanding of the need for different learning needs, thank you!”

“Excellent course, well delivered. Will model Orla’s excellence in training in the future, Thank you!”

“The course was interesting and well delivered; I found I have gained a lot of additional knowledge”

“Very well organized, very enjoyable”

Our next 3 day programme is filling up fast with just two places remaining – Roscommon Learning Links, Boyle, Co Roscommon, Wednesdays 9th, 16th & 23rd May 2012,at a special rate of €300 per person

Also some late April/early May dates planned for Dublin – will keep you posted with further details!

For more information download our Train the Trainer FETAC Level 6 outline or contact Orla on orla@ots.ie and 086 3807802

Customer Delight – The Bridge to Our Customers – 3rd April, only €20 per person

orla — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:09:01 +0000

We are delighted to be collaborating with ROLE Skillnet in the delivery of this highly interactive 3 & 1/2 hour session for the service sector on how to delight customers through extra ordinary customer service delivery on Tuesday 3rd April, 9.30am to 1pm. Check out the course outline Public Event – Customer Services course. To book your place at a subsidised rate of €20 call 071-9622504 or email info@roleskillnet.com. Places are limited!

FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer, Galway City, April 11th, 18th & 25th – €350 per person

orla — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:57:55 +0000

We are delighted to announce we are now taking bookings for our FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer programme in Galway City – details as below :

Dates: Wednesdays 11th, 18th & 25th April 2012

Venue: Galway City (venue TBC)

Cost: Special rate of €350 per person

If you are an experienced trainer looking to gain a recognised award and sharpen your training skills or a novice trainer starting out looking to develop the required trainer skills alongside getting an award book by calling Orla on 086 3807802 or email orla@ots.ie

Book early to avoid disappointment! For further information download our Trainer the Trainer FETAC Level 6 outline

FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer, 25th January, 1st & 8th February 2012 – 2 places remain at €300 each

orla — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:50:34 +0000

Due to a couple of last minute cancellations two places have become available on our next 3 day FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer programme taking place in Roscommon Learning Links, Boyle, Co Roscommon starting Wednesday 25th January and running over three Wednesdays – 25th January, 1st & 8th February - at a special rate of €300 per person. For more information download our Train the Trainer FETAC Level 6 outline.

A sample of feedback from our most recent Train the Trainer course:

Really enjoyed the whole experience & it has already changed how I approach, plan, deliver and evaluate my courses

I found the training to be very beneficial going forward in designing future programmes

I really enjoyed the three days and it was a real eye opener

My expectations were met & I now feel totally confident that I could conduct a session of training in lots of areas

Many thanks Orla for a very enthusiastic input over the past few days, looking forward to putting learning into practice

I should have done this course ten years ago!

If you would like to book one of these places contact Orla on 086 3807802 or orla@ots.ie.

Job Searching – the positives!

orla — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:10:49 +0000

At Office & Training Solutions we are doing a lot of work with job seekers at the moment particularly in the area of skills self assessment and effective job searching. Did you know in Ireland 70 – 80% of new hires come through referrals i.e. the hidden jobs market (Source: www.careersportal.ie). This really emphasises the importance of networking to job seekers to access this hidden jobs market! Also we hear so much about job losses but let’s look at the positives of job creation – below some very recent job announcements in Ireland:

250 jobs created at IT firm – September 2011
Tech firms to create 165 jobs – October 2011
160 IT jobs to be created in Kerry – October 2011
Irish IT consulting company announces 90 new jobs – November 2011
Four routes out of Knock Airport will create around 100 jobs – November 2011
AUDI create 20 new Sligo jobs (200 nationally!)- December 2011
Hundreds of new jobs are set to be created in Galway City next Spring ZeniMax Online Studios –December 2011
€4 million funding announced for Knock airport will create 35 new jobs – 2 December 2011

A positive thought for a cold Monday!

Good luck to all the job seekers out there and remember to believe in yourself, you have as much in your favour as anyone else, by believing in yourself you will convince future employers!

Customer Service – the link to sales!

orla — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:54:20 +0000

Don’t underestimate the link between service and sales …borne out by these statistics……

Put as much (if not more!) energy into satisfying current customers than chasing new ones!

It costs five times more money to attract new customers than to keep existing customers satisfied …. a 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25% to 125% …. on average 20% of your customer base make up 50% of your sales

Why do we lose customers

We have influence over 69% of the reasons! People do business with People!!

Sorting out complaints can win them over!

Scarily only 4% of customers who have a bad experience report it!

Message….Absence of complaints doesn’t mean people are satisfied with your service – you need to ask them to be sure!

Better still if you do ask ….almost 70% of them will continue to use your service if you listen and sort out their complaint!

Does good news impact?

Unfortunately…People remember the good news less…..We are less likely to tell others when we feel satisfied (unless asked) …satisfied customers ONLY tell 2 to 4!

Always remember the link to service and sales …. Customer Service Skill is now one of the top critical employability skills universally sought by employers……for more details on Customer Service training courses contact orla@ots.ie – 086 3807802

Train the Trainer 2012 dates published!

orla — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:15:33 +0000

Our remaining 2011 FETAC Level 6 Train the Trainer programmes are now fully booked but we are pleased to announce due to popular demand we have booked two programmes for early 2012. We will also be publishing further 2012 dates before the end of the year.

Dates: Wednesdays January 25th, 1st & 8th February 2012 OR Wednesdays March 21st, 28th & Thursday 5th April 2012

Venue: Roscommon Learning Links, Elphin St, Boyle, Co Roscommon

Cost: Special rate of €300 per person

Book early to avoid dissapointment! For further information download our Trainer the Trainer FETAC Level 6 outline