Personal Effectiveness

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Micro-learning: Mastering Meetings and Groups
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Micro-learning: Leading with Stories
Critical Thinking
Micro-learning: Critical Thinking
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Micro-learning: Natural Networking
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Micro-learning: Influencing Well
If Then New
Design (and share) your If > Then statements, for a purposefully prompt towards action
Catherine Allison
How to influence decisions and boost gravitas with your voice
Video
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Upping your gravitas by silencing your inner critic and amplifying your inner coach
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How to check your writing for clarity
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Bennew
Using the 'Rule of Three' to communicate memorable ideas
Video
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How to pause when presenting
Video
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Working with eye contact
Video
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The power of plain language in presentations
Video
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The power of 'You' in writing
Video
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What designers need to know about microcopy
Video
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Skills and mindsets for making mentoring meaningful
Video
RG
Setting mentoring relationships up for success
Video
Liz
The impact of coaching, and it's distinction from mentoring
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Practical pointers for authentic leadership
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Hilary
Coaching, and creating coaching cultures
Video
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Vocal confidence warm up exercises
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Vocal techniques for clearer articulation
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Growth Mindset Mantras
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How to command an on-screen presence
Video
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How to start writing
Video
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The secret to a successful Tone of Voice
Video
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How to write with authority for brands
Video
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Keep it simple. Quick and effortless copywriting
Video
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Writing in the active voice
Video
NO
Course Pack: The art of saying No (and how to say Yes)
Presenting
Course Pack: Purposeful presenting
Behave
Course Pack: Behavioural Insights
Charm
Course Pack: Charm School
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eCourse: Go with the GROW model
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eCourse: Are you listening?
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eCourse: Meaningful Mentoring
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eCourse: Leadership Styles, a primer
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eCourse: Charm School
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eCourse: Owning Feedback
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eCourse: Practicing a Coaching Approach
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eCourse: Get SET with your Goals
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eCourse: Time Management and Prioritisation
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eCourse: Mastering Delegation
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eCourse: Strengths to Influence
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Better Briefing: A bitesize guide from Baxter & Bailey
Tool
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Clear and simple copy
Video
MBT
Get your team talking to each other with a practical take on the Myers-Briggs personality test
Tool
Talking
Knowing me, knowing you
Tool
Tony
Course Pack: Decision Lab
Microicon
Course Pack: Micro-Habits
Mup
Course Pack: Managing Up
Feedback
Course Pack: Owning Feedback
ARC
Course Pack: Effective 1-1s
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What's your team's CAMPS score? Get a snapshot of engagement levels.
Tool
Listenup
Course Pack: Are you Listening?
Tension
And-But-Therefore — Try out a tested storytelling technique
Tool
Groups
Course Pack: Mastering Meetings & Groups
Page tosothat
To.... So That. A snappy structure to define the purpose of any meeting
Tool
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The voice in your head, and how to harness it — with psychologist Ethan Kross.
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TA
Think Again, by Adam Grant
Book
The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker
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RSB
Root, Stem, Branch — An organic approach for telling your own story
Tool
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Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss — Key ideas and takeaways from the best-selling-book on negotiation skills.
Book
Daniel
Mastering (Virtual) Presence, coach and facilitator Mike Sagun in conversation for the Conversation Factory
Audio
Circlesheila
Decoding Difficult Conversations — Sheila Heen unpacks the layers within those conversations you're probably avoiding.
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Course Pack: The Business Model Canvas
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Course Pack: Delegation. Done
Albert
Course Pack: Defining Problems
Conflict
Course Pack: Constructive Conflict and Difficult Conversations
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Course Pack: Influence IRL
Gravitas
Course Pack: Presence and Gravitas
Chatter Bottom
Chatter: Practical tools to apply, and harness the voice in your head
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eCourse: A Brand called You
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Course Pack: A Brand called You
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MOM
Mitchell on Meetings — What we learned and where it led
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Course Pack: Building Confidence
Scaling
Experiment with a 'Scaling Question' to better connect, learn and influence
WW
Course Pack: Writing Well
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Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shares powerful, actionable insights on the impact of our body language
TFF
Watch Sheila Heen explain why we need to be regularly asking for feedback, and what stops us from doing so.
Diff
Listen to former hostage Chris Voss share practical insights on better negotiation.
Time Tool
Experiment with Timeboxing for more focus and productivity
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Build your time awareness, and reveal ways to boost productivity, with an Activity Log
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Time in tomatoes: build productivity and focus with the Pomodoro technique
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Six practical tools for building confidence and self-belief, shared by brain expert Ian Robertson
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Great questions to ask in coaching conversations, 1-1's and other curious contexts
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Course Pack: Navigating Negotiation
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Course Pack: Making Time
Orange
Practice the principles of persuasion from 'Godfather of Influence,' Robert Cialdini.
Circlestwo
How to be a meaningful mentor, insights from a purposeful podcast
Breathman
Mindful breathing — the foundation of focus and flow
Setback
Smarten your approach to setbacks, by trying out a Setback Story
To Think
Don't forget to diarise thinking time — experiment with a 'To Think' list
Silent Meeting
Make your next meeting a Silent Meeting
Can If Go
Immediately build your confidence, with a 'Can-If' statement
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Build belief by recognising small wins — Try a 'Done List'
Friction
Add some friction to your most common distractions
Fly
Channel that fly on the wall. Try some purposeful self talk to mitigate moments of doubt
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Micro-learning: Keeping a coaching mindset
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Micro-learning: Setting Better Boundaries
Breathman
Micro-learning: Building Confidence
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Micro-learning: Feedback fundamentals
Presenting Head
Micro-learning: Purposeful Presenting
Time Team
Micro-learning: Finding Focus and Flow
Newpencils
Micro-learning: Writing Well
Coaching Criticism
Find the Coaching in Criticism. Things to try when feedback doesn't quite land
N Ngrab
Course Pack: Natural Networking
LWS
Course Pack: Storytelling
Spring
Experiment with a Springboard Story to communicate your change idea, and take people with you towards it.
Mentorsqarer
Evolve your 'inner mentor' — a short reflective exercise to focus your development, and the ways you can better support others
Do Story
Practical storytelling principles from Bobette Buster's book — Do: Story
Homework
Homework for Life: A ten-second daily ritual for noticing, capturing and practicing stories
Hear
Try this deep listening exercise for deeper connection and better conversations
5
Discover the impact a five minute favour can have on your relationships, and network building
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Experiment with the BRAIN model for confident decision making and problem solving
VCR
Course Pack: Voice Gym. Building your vocal confidence
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A three minute mindset exercise, to support a coaching approach
Good Qs
Smart ways to frame questions in your next mentoring session
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Try out the CAR technique, and upgrade your understanding when interviewing someone.
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Five powerful questions for adding impact and insight to your next interview.
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Five tactics for influencing those more senior
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Micro-learning: Getting into a Growth Mindset
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Solve problems before they happen with pre-mortems
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A checklist for checklists — five things to tick off when developing a checklist
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Share genuinely useful feedback with the BID model
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Seven things to avoid when writing at work
Meetings
Finding fortitude, and follow on experiments
Confidence Ecourse
eCourse: Confidence Mastery
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Time Blocking, and bringing some colour into your calendar
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Kas's reflections on listening and questioning well
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Matteo's coaching reflections
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eCourse: Difficult Conversations
eCourse
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Worksheet: Owning Feedback
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Worksheet: Time Blocking
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Raul Aparici on mitigating impostor syndrome
Video
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Book Club: New Methods for Women — With Sharmadean Reid MBE
Audio

Watch Sheila Heen explain why we need to be regularly asking for feedback, and what stops us from doing so.

In this punchy and practical Ted Talk, co-author of 'Thanks for the Feedback', Sheila Heen, shares actionable insights for how we should be continually using feedback to learn and grow: revealing the pitfalls that often prevent us from pulling in and processing it properly. Alongside the talk itself, we've pulled out some insights and takeaways, tied in as always to broader ideas and lateral learning.
"We all have blindspots. Actually, I don't have blindspots, but I know that you all have blindspots. This is the nature of blindspots."
Sheila Heen

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1
Triggered? Pause, acknowledge and question

In all of Heen's work studying the many reasons why people readily dismissed feedback, she discovered that they all tied into three fundamental 'triggers': The 'truth trigger,' (the feedback was falsely observed) the 'relationship trigger,' (a lack of credibility in the person giving the feedback) and the 'identity trigger,' (it rocked our sense of self).

The problem, according to Heen, is that when triggered, "we usually decide to dismiss feedback too soon." We need to slow down, allow our emotional reaction to pass, and then begin to learn from it. She advises us to pause, acknowledge that the feedback has been given, and (if we're feeling not quite right about what we're hearing) to use curious questions to 'separate the data from the interpretation'.

👉 In our bitesize Owning Feedback course we experiment with some scenarios around these triggers for a better handle for how to deal with them. Find coming dates here.

2
Be specific, and find the signal in the noise

Part of what makes feedback so difficult to navigate is how inundated we are with it every day: comments made in passing, 'helpful,' advice from a friend or a relative, the list goes on. Most of it, we need to dismiss to protect our self-esteem and keep a clear head, but should we choose to listen to it we must understand our own wiring.

Our baseline (the emotional root state we gravitate back towards) our swing (how far off of our baseline we're thrown when we receive feedback) and our sustain/recovery (how long it takes for us to return to our baseline) all play important roles in how we receive feedback. Awareness of our own profile is important to help us understand why we're having the reaction we're having, and to slow our brains down in order to learn.

👉 It's also important, when asking for feedback, to be specific. Avoid open questions that have the potential to overwhelm to person asked such as "How was my presentation?" Instead, try "What's the one thing you think I can do to improve my presentation next time?" A participant in a workshop once shared how they would notify colleagues in advance of when they'd be asking them for specific feedback, along the lines of "I'd love some feedback on the pace of my delivery in the presentation, as I've been told before that I tend to speak quickly in front of clients. Could you observe this for me this afternoon, and let me know some feedback afterwards?"

3
Little and often

People who actively seek out feedback as a launchpad to improve themselves have higher rates of job satisfaction, adapt more quickly to new roles and consistently score higher on performance reviews, but that doesn't make the process any less daunting or painful. Recognising, and working on, your own shortcomings can be terrifying, so why can't we have a pain free learning system?

"How many of you would say that some of the most important things you've learned in life have come from some of your most painful experiences?" asks Heen. Feedback, both giving and receiving, can never be without pain, but the goal is to learn to understand and manage the pain. That way, "we can get to the learning faster."

👉 Find your regular rhythm for requesting feedback. And make recognition a ritual in your relationship with others. As Sheila Heen shows us in her brilliant book Thanks for the Feedback, the more we give it, the more we will receive it back.

"Feedback is really our relationship with the world, and it's the worlds relationship with us."
Sheila Heen

GOOD TO KNOW

In this Knowledge Project podcast with Farnam Street, Sheila dissects conversational contexts and shares some practical insights to help us reframe the idea of 'difficult' and ensure that effective communication takes place.

As well as our Owning Feedback course, there's lots of ripe and lateral ideas to explore around communicating confidently with others in its counterpart Courageous Conversations. Find dates for both here.

This 15 minute eCourse included lots of practical nuggets drawn from Sheila's thinking.