The Assertive Professional

Assertive professionals can stand their ground and express their opinions confidently while respecting the needs and views of others.

Full day

Overview

Timings: 9.30am - 4.30pm with a 15 minute break in both the morning and the afternoon and break for lunch between 12.30 and 1.30pm.

Assertive people can:

confidently express their views and ideas
defend their point of view while respecting others
stay calm and in control of their emotions
say "no" when appropriate, with confidence

Assertiveness is good for you and it's good for your organisation too. Assertive people are able to bring their best ideas to work. If they spot something going wrong, they've got the confidence to ask questions. They are curious about and respectful of others. All this builds great working relationships and fosters creativity and productivity at work.

Assertiveness isn't something you're born with, you've got to learn the skills and practice them.
This course will help you explore:

Your own rights and responsibilities
Why people are aggressive or submissive
How not to take others' behaviour so personally
Barriers and helpers in being assertive

What you'll learn

You'll learn how to:

make the best possible first impressions
make requests assertively
say “no” with confidence
give feedback assertively
turn “can't” into “will”
raise your self-esteem by discovering your personal power
be assertive with new people and in new situations
understand your own and quickly assess others' behavioural motivations
control your own and others' emotional states
calm your nagging inner voice
calm yourself instantly in any situation
use verbal and non-verbal techniques to influence others
“read” people more effectively to get the most out of your relationships with them
speak assertively in meetings
make your points clearly and calmly so people listen
‘work a room' at business and social events

Who is it for?

Anyone who wishes to be more assertive and build better working relationships.

Your facilitator

David Cotton

David has worked in training and development for over 20 years, working in four continents and nearly 50 countries. His work ranges from one to one coaching to managing multinational training programmes and his clients range from small family businesses to the European Commission, United Nations and Middle Eastern petrochemical companies. He is the author of around a dozen books and many journal articles. He is also a qualified and practising hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. He spent 21 years with the major professional services firms, Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers, before becoming an independent trainer, coach, facilitator and speaker in 2002.

A former professional musician, David still occasionally performs and he collects instruments from around the world on his travels. He is the author of several books including 'Managing Difficult People At Work' and 'The Business Strategy Toolkit'.