Workshops/Seminars

Innovation: Moving Beyond the Buzzword

As individuals, we easily fall to the lure of iPod, web-enabled camera phones and flat-screen TVs. We welcome the falling prices of computers and communication. And when someone falls seriously sick, we wish and pray for medicines that could provide the cure.

As organisations, however, we wonder whether innovation is required. Innovation remains a buzzword for many organisations.

Isn't it a great paradox that as individuals we accept, like and even demand new/improved products and services at lower prices, but as organisations, we often ignore innovation?

What is innovation and why should an organisation bother about it? That's the first thing you'll learn in this workshop. Indeed, it's important to recognise how innovation provides competitive edge to organisations.

The next thing to learn is "How to innovate?" Innovation is not about scientists and engineers sitting in a research lab. It's also not about wishing for some great ideas from nowhere. Innovation requires systematic work and adherence to a process. And it's everyone's baby.

Finally, the most important thing to learn is that no amount of training can help an organisation innovate, unless its culture encourages innovation. So the key to innovation is moving beyond the buzzword and creating a culture where innovation is encouraged and rewarded.

Features
- Interactive: You'll need to ask questions, share your views and do lots of exercises during this workshop.

- Practical: Innovation is not about having great ideas. It's about turning ideas in reality. So, it's full of practical examples and exercises.

- Relevant: The exercises in this workshop would involve actual issues/problems/challenges faced by your organisation. So at the end of the workshop, you may have a good crop of relevant, new ideas.

- Result-oriented: What's the end-gain for your organisation?

Frankly, the real gains will not come while sitting in the workshop. Gains will come when either some of the ideas generated during the workshop get implemented or when the participants start practicing innovation in their day-to-day working. They may improve products/services, help to reduce cost of operations, cut down on wasteful processes and improve productivity, and may help organisation spot new opportunities. The possibilities are endless!

This workshop places heavy emphasis on "producing results in day-to-day working."

Duration: Full/half-day
Target audience: Middle/senior-level executives and staff
Venue: In-house (at your premises)

Contact: If you wish to organise the above workshop for your organisation or need more information, contact Atul Mathur

Thriving on Creativity

Today, an organization’s competitiveness depends on how creatively its people think. Every organization is a pool of creative minds. The question is “Are you thriving on your creativity?”

Thriving on Creativity is a hands-on workshop to unlock your hidden creativity. You will learn several useful and effective creative thinking techniques to systematically conquer difficult problems and come up with new, valuable ideas. The workshop will conclude with a brainstorming session on an issue of prime importance to your organization.

The end results
This workshop aims to produce the following end results for your organisation:

1. Participants will understand what creativity is, why it’s so important in today’s competitive world and how to unleash their own creativity.

2. They will learn several useful and effective creative thinking techniques that they can straightaway apply in everyday work situations to solve problems and generate new ideas.

3. During the brainstorming session towards the end of the workshop, participants will focus on an issue of prime importance to your organization. By the end this workshop, you will have a rich crop of valuable ideas that could benefit your organization in multiple ways.

Features
- Interactive:You'll need to ask questions, share your views and participate in discussions to stimulate yourself and others.

- Practical: It's full of practical examples and exercises.

- Relevant: The exercises in this workshop would involve actual issues/problems/challenges faced by your organisation. So at the end of the workshop, you may have a good crop of relevant, new ideas.

This workshop places heavy emphasis on "producing results in day-to-day working."

Duration: Full/half-day
Target audience: Middle/senior-level executives and staff
Venue: In-house (at your premises)

Contact: If you wish to organise the above workshop for your organisation or need more information, contact Atul Mathur

Sharpen Your Business Writing Skills

Written communication is the lifeblood of business. If you don't believe it, observe what people are doing most of the time. On average, people spend about 40-60% of their working time in reading/writing e-mails, letters and reports.

Another way to gauge the importance of written communication is to look at the job advertisements. You would find "written communication skills" is one of the most common requirements for all kinds of positions.

Many organisations are now realising that when people are equipped with sound business writing skills, it helps an organisation to function more efficiently and smoothly. And it also helps to build and maintain a good corporate image in the market. Basically, good writing is good for business.

"Sharpen Your Business Writing Skills" is a 4-part workshop.

Workshop outline
Part 1 (foundation): Principles of effective business writing
Effective business writing is based on six principles.
- Write with objectives
- Give human touch to your writing
- Write complete and specific messages
- Write for effortless understanding
- Write in proper tone
- Write, leave it and rewrite

Part 2: Effective e-mails
While e-mail is the most popular way to communicate, not many of us realise that writing effective e-mail messages is also a skill.
- How to write e-mail subjects
- Salutation and signing off
- How to write short, simple and to-the-point messages
- Organising the content
- Inverted pyramid style
- Netiquettes

Part 3: Business letters
You may not write too many letters, but that's precisely the reason why you should know how to write proper business letters. Letters carry weight in the business world.
- Parts of a letter
- Styles (Block, modified block and semi-block)
- Punctuation (open or mixed)
- Presentation

Part 4: Reports
Many people see reports as yet another written document. Actually, a report is a decision-making tool. Reports help us to make sense of complex business issues.
- How to write a report? What are the various steps involved?
- Formats-long and short reports
- Presenting a report

Features
- Learn by doing: You'll need to do lots of exercises during the workshop. In addition, there will be pre-session and post-session assignments. The reason for all this trouble is simple: You can improve your writing only by writing.

- Learn and apply: It's not possible to improve writing skills overnight. That's why this workshop is divided into four parts, to be conducted over four weeks. You will have ample time to apply your newly-acquired writing skills in real-life situations.

- Relevant: The examples and exercises used during this workshop will be based on the actual issues you face in your day-to-day work.

Duration: Four half-day sessions (one session per week)
Target audience: Middle/senior-level executives and staff
Venue: In-house (at your premises)

Contact: If you wish to organise the above workshop for your organisation or need more information, contact Atul Mathur

Writing Good Reports

In many business situations involving an investigation or a study, a report is the only tangible thing that comes out after you have spent hundreds of hours studying and analyzing the issues involved. Rightly or wrongly, the value and quality of your work is often judged by the quality of your report.

While reports are generally seen as a long, thick document, they are more of a tool to enable people make sense of complex issues, find direction and make important decisions. The job of a report is to communicate specific information, compiled as a result of research and analysis, to serve a clear purpose.

The key to writing good reports is to follow a systematic process by doing one thing at a time.

Workshop outline
- What’s a report? Long, thick document or a business tool?
- Types of reports
- Importance of writing good reports
- Qualities of a good report
- Seven-step process to write good reports
+ Understanding the scope, purpose and audience
+ Planning: Preliminary structure and activity schedule
+ Research and analysis
+ Writing first draft
+ Revision
+ Making it presentable
+ Presenting a report

Features
- Learn by doing: You'll need to do lots of exercises during the workshop. In addition, there will be pre-session and post-session assignments. The reason for all this trouble is simple: You can improve your writing only by writing.

- Learn and apply: It's not possible to improve writing skills overnight. That's why this workshop is divided into two parts, to be conducted over two weeks. You will have ample time to apply your newly-acquired writing skills in real-life situations.

- Relevant: The examples and exercises used during this workshop will be based on the actual issues you face in your day-to-day work.

Duration: Two half-day sessions (one session per week)
Target audience: Middle/senior-level executives and staff
Venue: In-house (at your premises)

Contact: If you wish to organise the above workshop for your organisation or need more information, contact Atul Mathur