38 Business Development courses in Birmingham

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ABOUT THIS TRAINING COURSE Time is money in the oil business. Drilling time is big money. Whether in a technical, managerial or supporting role, you are a valuable asset to ensuring that project delivery targets are met and profits are realised. As drilling activities continue, professionals like you must grasp the language and technology of drilling operations in order to maximise expenditures throughout the producing life of a well. Drilling equipment and procedures have a unique language that must be conquered for maximum benefit. Clear and understandable explanations of drilling rig equipment, procedures, and their complex interactions provide an excellent foundation for smooth communication and increased efficiency in inter-department project team efforts. Drilling Essentials will help you de-mystify activities around the rig and well planning. It will explain the fundamentals of drilling with an emphasis on key areas such as logistical considerations, costing, and analysis of drilling contracts. Understand the urgency of drilling requests, know more about the cost implications of drilling-related problems, and understand the risks involved in a drilling contract. With the course director's drilling knowledge and skills, this is your opportunity to explore and understand important drilling concepts, principles, and technology which are presented in a reader-friendly format and illustrated with examples. As a non-drilling professional, you too can grow with the drilling industry with a deeper understanding of the critical role you play in contributing to its success! Training Objectives By attending this industry fundamentals Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) course, you will be better able to: * Understand drilling terminology & drilling processes for completing onshore & offshore wells * Appreciate major cost components of drilling operations and its impact for better project planning and management * Better visualise major drilling equipment and their technical functions to promote a deeper understanding of the logistical and technical considerations * Gain valuable insights on the drilling industry with a synopsis of recent technology developments that impact the drilling process Target Audience This Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) course has been developed for new engineers and forward-looking executives in the following fields who are interested in enhancing their knowledge and awareness of the drilling process for increased productivity & contribution to the team they're supporting: * Accounting * Commercial * Finance & Administration * General Management * Logistics * Procurement * Tender Contract * Administration * E & P IT * Finance * Joint Ventures * Materials Planning * Sourcing * Training * Business Development * Estimation & Proposal * HSE * Legal * Planning & Budgeting * Supply Chain * Drilling Fluids Organisational Impact Your expert course leader has over 45 years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry. During that time, he has worked exclusively in the well engineering domain. After being employed in 1974 by Shell, one of the major oil & gas producing operators, he worked as an apprentice on drilling rigs in the Netherlands. After a year, he was sent for his first international assignment to the Sultanate of Oman where he climbed up the career ladder from Assistant Driller, to Driller, to wellsite Petroleum Engineer and eventually on-site Drilling Supervisor, actively engaged in the drilling of development and exploration wells in almost every corner of this vast desert area. At that time, drilling techniques were fairly basic and safety was just a buzz word, but such a situation propels learning and the fruits of 'doing-the-basics' are still reaped today when standing in front of a class. After some seven years in the Middle East, a series of other international assignments followed in places like the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Turkey, Denmark, China, Malaysia, and Russia. Apart from on-site drilling supervisory jobs on various types of drilling rigs (such as helicopter rigs) and working environments (such as jungle and artic), he was also assigned to research, to projects and to the company's learning centre. In research, he was responsible for promoting directional drilling and surveying and advised on the first horizontal wells being drilled, in projects, he was responsible for a high pressure drilling campaign in Nigeria while in the learning centre, he looked after the development of new engineers joining the company after graduating from university. He was also involved in international well control certification and served as chairman for a period of three years. In the last years of his active career, he worked again in China as a staff development manager, a position he nurtured because he was able to pass on his knowledge to a vast number of new employees once again. After retiring in 2015, he has delivered well engineering related courses in Australia, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Thailand, India, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, The Netherlands, and the United States. The training he provides includes well control to obtain certification in drilling and well intervention, extended reach drilling, high pressure-high temperature drilling, stuck pipe prevention and a number of other ad-hoc courses. He thoroughly enjoys training and is keen to continue taking classes as an instructor for some time to come. POST TRAINING COACHING SUPPORT (OPTIONAL) To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized 'One to One' coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster. Request for further information post training support and fees applicable Accreditions And Affliations

The Sales Accelerator programme is a fresh approach to improving business development productivity. It focuses on identifying and using a series of business productivity metrics in order to build a clear action plan for improving sales results - typically within 90 days. The metrics are grouped under three headings: The basic principle is that a small improvement in each area can lead to a significant increase in sales results and productivity. And the object of the programme is to show how best to achieve that. The programme therefore looks at each of these three areas in turn, spending a day on each. Suitable for any and all businesses and all levels of experience and expertise, this is a remarkably practical and hands-on programme. During the workshop, participants discuss, review and apply many proven sales and marketing techniques and personal selling ideas. The goal is to generate and commit to changes and actions that can lead to a 10-30% increase in the next three to six months. There's also a consultancy option, rather than the workshop-based programme. See below for details. DAY ONE - ACTIVITY Key objective This first module introduces the Sales Accelerator model. The goal here is to show participants how to increase their pro-active activity levels by around 10%. It covers all aspects of creating new business opportunities, from existing customers and non-customers alike, and is linked to personal activity improvement goals. Main elements * Improve the productivity, accuracy and effectiveness of your business approach by using new and unique models and techniques. * Different methods of creating and generating new business opportunities in the short, medium and long term. This includes sourcing new business, up-selling, cross-selling, warm calling and gaining referrals. * Using organised persistence to track and build new customer revenue. * Managing your sales time effectively. Key learning points * Sales productivity - understand the dynamics of increasing the combination of activity levels, deal value and conversion rate of proposals/quotations to orders and implement an improvement plan. * Sales goal setting: setting business development objectives for quantity and quality - plus tips and tricks of top performers. * Maintain a peak activity level, on a consistent basis using 'organised persistence' and structured business development tracking methodology. * How to prioritise opportunities and manage your time when sourcing new business. * Identify potential new customers - and particularly the decision-makers and influencers - with greater accuracy. * Make outbound business or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results. DAY TWO - VALUE Key objective To be able to better anticipate, identify, create, and develop business opportunities using a customer / client-focused communication-based business model and consultative skills. Main elements * How to develop sales more effectively from new and existing customers; and managing the first appointment with a new customer. * Use structured and assertive drawing-out skills to identify, develop and formalise business opportunities and to gain commitment. * How to better position your company and your products and services against your main competitors. * Create and deliver persuasive business messages based on specific need areas, criteria and value. Key learning points * Advanced consultative selling - use a variety of structured and advanced questioning techniques to confidently and efficiently uncover opportunities, need areas and business criteria - confidently and efficiently. * Involve the customer/client at all times, and to a far greater degree, and keep better control of business development process. * Value message - differentiate your solutions clearly and accurately with customer/client-matched value statements. * Presenting the right USPs, features and benefits and making them relevant and real to the customer. Qualification and reading buying signals. DAY THREE (HELD AROUND FOUR WEEKS AFTER THE FIRST MODULE) - CONVERSION Key objective This module looks at how to improve the final qualification, progression and conversion of opportunities in your sales pipeline. Also includes price negotiation, overcoming objections and obstacles to gaining agreement. The module begins with a learning review, sharing participants' experiences over the last four weeks in applying the new techniques and skills acquired during the first two modules. This is an opportunity to revisit particularly challenging areas as well as to share and celebrate successes. Main elements * Structuring and preparing for negotiating a deal and knowing when and how to move into the 'end-game' mode. * Anticipate and answer customer objections and questions more confidently. * Build more credibility and proof into your business process to reduce 'buyer's remorse' and speed-up decision-making. * Being more assertive and developing better instincts and strategic thinking in progressing quotations and proposals. Key learning points * Smart ways to position price, emphasise value and be a strong player without being the cheapest. * Becoming more assertive in closing deals, and the importance of organised follow-up on the telephone. * Qualify pipeline opportunities with more accuracy, using a proven check-list. * Use an 'option generator' to simplify complex proposals, increase business value and close business faster. * Writing more effective sales proposal documents and quotations. * How best to draw-out, understand, isolate and answer customer objections, negotiate points and concerns. * Practical methods of asking for agreement and closing a sale

ABOUT THIS VIRTUAL INSTRUCTOR LED TRAINING (VILT) The 5 half-day Piping Stress Engineering Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) course will systematically expose participants to: 1. The theory and practice of piping stress engineering, with special reference to ASME B 31.1 and ASME B 31.3 Standards. 2. The basic principles and theories of stress and strain and piping stress engineering, through a series of lessons, case study presentations, in-class examples, multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and mandatory exercises. 3. Principal stresses and shear stresses which form the backbone of stress analysis of a material. Expressions for these quantities will be derived using vector algebra from fundamentals. 4. Thermal stress-range, sustained and occasional stresses, code stress equations, allowable stresses, how to increase flexibility of a piping system, cold spring. 5. The historical development of computational techniques from hand calculations in the 1950s to the present-day software. Training Objectives On completion of this VILT course, participants will be able to: * Identify potential loads the piping systems and categorise the loads to primary and secondary. * Determine stresses that develop in a pipe due to various types of loads and how to derive stress-load relationships, starting from scratch. * Treat the primary and secondary stresses in piping system in line with the intent of ASME Standards B 31.1 and B 31.3 and understand how the two codes deal with flexibility of piping systems, concepts of self-springing and relaxation/shake down, displacement stress range and fatigue, what is meant by code compliance. * Understand the principles of flexibility analysis, piping elements and their individual effects, flexibility factor, flexibility characteristic, bending of a curved beam and importance of virtual length of an elbow in the flexibility of a piping system. Learn stress intensification factors of bends, branch connections and flanges. * Understand how the stresses in the material should be controlled for the safety of the piping system, the user and the environment. * Examine how codes give guidance to determine allowable stresses, stress range reduction due to cyclic loading, and effects sustained loads have on fatigue life of piping. * Confidently handle terminal forces and moments on equipment. Understand the supplementary engineering standards required to establish acceptance of the equipment terminal loads and what can be done when there are no engineering standard governing equipment terminal loads is available and learn the techniques of local stress analysis. * Get a thorough understanding of the concepts and the rules established by the ASME B 31.1 and ASME B 31.3 Standards. * Perform flange load analysis calculations based on Kellogg's Equivalent Pressure method & Nuclear Code method. Perform the same using a piping stress analysis software and check for flange stresses and leakage. * Confidently undertake formal training of piping stress analysis using any commercial software, with a clear understanding of what happens within the software rather than a 'blind' software training and start the journey of becoming a specialist piping stress engineer.   Target Audience The VILT course is intended for: * Recent mechanical engineering graduates who desire to get into the specialist discipline of Piping Stress Engineering. * Junior mechanical, chemical, structural and project engineers in the industry who wish to understand the basics of Piping Stress Engineering. * Engineers with some process plant experience who desire to progress into the much sought-after specialist disciplines of Piping Stress Engineering. * Mechanical, process and structural engineers with some process plant experience who desire to upskill themselves with the knowledge in piping stress engineering and to become a Piping Stress Engineer. * Any piping engineer with some pipe stressing experience in the industry who wish to understand the theory and practice of Piping Stress Engineering at a greater depth. A comprehensive set of course notes, practice exercises and multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are included. Participants will be given time to raise questions and participants will be assessed and graded based on responses to MCQs and mandatory exercises. A certificate will be issued to each participant and it will carry one of the three performance levels: Commendable, Merit or Satisfactory, depending on how the participant has performed in MCQs and mandatory exercises. Training Methods The VILT course will be delivered online in 5 half-day sessions comprising 4 hours per day, with 2 breaks of 10 minutes per day. Course Duration: 5 half-day sessions, 4 hours per session (20 hours in total). Trainer Your expert course leader is a fully qualified Chartered Professional Engineer with over 40 years of professional experience in Oil & Gas (onshore and offshore), Petrochemical and Mining industries in engineering, engineering/design management and quality technical management related to plant design and construction. At present, he is assisting a few Perth based oil & gas and mining companies in detail engineering, piping stress analysis, feasibility study and business development work related to plant design. He is a pioneer in piping stress engineering in Western Australia. His recent major accomplishments include the following roles and challenges: 1. Quality Technical Support Manager of USD 54 billion (Gorgon LNG Project). This encompassed management of quality technical services connected with Welding, Welding Related Metallurgy, Non-Destructive Examination, Insulation /Refractory /Coating, AS2885 Pipelines Regulatory Compliance and Pressure Vessel Registration. 2. Regional Piping Practice Lead and Lead Piping Engineer of Hatch Associates. In this role, he was responsible for providing discipline leadership to several mining projects for BHP Billiton (Ravensthorpe), ALCOA-Australia (Alumina), Maáden Saudi Arabia (Alumina), QSLIC China (Magnesium), COOEC China (O&G Gorgon). He was actively involved in the development of piping engineering practice in WA, including training and professional development of graduate, junior and senior engineers. This also includes the formation of the Piping Engineering Specialist Group. 3. Lead Piping/Pipe Stress Engineer on ConocoPhillips' (COP) Bayu Undan Gas Recycle, Condensate production and processing platform. He was able to develop several novel design methodologies for the project and provided training to engineers on how to implement them. These methodologies were commended by COP and the underwriters of the project Lloyds Register of Shipping, UK. 4. Creator of Piping Engineering Professional Course aimed at global engineering community. Professional Affiliations: * Fellow, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK (IMechE) * Fellow, Institution of Engineers, Australia (EA), National Register of Engineers (NER) * Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers, USA (ASME) * Honorary Life Member, Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL)   POST TRAINING COACHING SUPPORT (OPTIONAL) To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized 'One to One' coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster. Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this. Accreditions And Affliations

Generating new leads and new business can be both time-consuming and frustrating. It's not easy - it takes skill, careful preparation and the creation of effective models and methods, even perhaps using formal approaches and scripts. Once generated, a new lead or enquiry must also be carefully managed to maximise the potential revenue it can generate. But it's crucial to get it right. If your company can afford not to worry about getting new business - congratulations! If your company is completely confident that it is performing at peak potential in generating new leads - again, congratulations! But if your company is working in the real world, couldn't your team do with some help, to become even just that little bit more effective, to make the process just that little less painful? This highly practical, intensive workshop gives sales teams the proven strategies and tactics they need to build a sustainable new business pipeline. This course will help participants: * Develop a clear and consistent process for new business development and lead-generation * Master the secret of effective new business development and lead-generation - 'only sell the appointment or next stage of the sales process, not your product or service' * Set and achieve the right level of new business development and lead-generation activity to achieve your personal and organisational sales goals * Apply the key principles of effective prospecting and pipeline management using a proven toolkit and approach * Overcome the most common 'put-offs' when conducting telephone or face-to-face business-development and lead-generation activities * Develop an engaging telephone voice and manner - and a 'networking personality' * Qualify potential opportunities with more accuracy on a consistent basis * Prioritise opportunities and manage their time when sourcing new business * Discover online sources of leads, contacts and referrals * Overcome psychological blocks to cold or warm calling - theirs and the client's * Identify potential prospects - and decision-makers and influencers within target prospects - with greater accuracy * Make outbound sales or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results * Improve the conversion of calls to appointments by using more effective questions and sales messages * Get past gatekeepers and assistants more effectively * Make the most of your CRM software and systems 1 ONLINE MARKETING - WHAT WORKS! * Workshop overview and learning objectives * Choosing your social media channels * LinkedIn for sales and marketing * Designing and implementing an effective new business email campaign online * Creating a lead-generation strategy online - with case studies * Avoiding common mistakes in social media marketing * Case study: 'Best practice in social media sales and marketing' * Using blogs and video-based marketing (eg, YouTube) * New trends and how to keep your finger on the 'social media' pulse * Twenty essential websites and online marketing tools 2 MAKING APPOINTMENTS BY TELEPHONE * Planning the call, telephone techniques, integrating with email and online marketing * Developing a clear and consistent process to appointment-making * Setting and achieving the right level of telephone activity to achieve your appointment goals * Applying the key principles of effective prospecting and pipeline management generation, using a proven toolkit and approach * Overcoming the most common 'put-offs' to seeing or engaging with you * Overcoming psychological blocks to cold or warm calling - yours and the client's * Identifying potential prospects - and decision-makers and influencers within target prospects - with greater accuracy * Making outbound sales or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results * Improving conversion of calls to appointments by using more effective questions and sales messages * The five keys to developing an engaging telephone voice and approaching manner 3 POWER NETWORKING * Strategies for networking and B2B referral-based marketing * The importance, and different types, of networking * How to work a room - preparation and strategy * Communication dynamics in networking - the power of the listening networker * Assumptions when networking * Business networking etiquette * Making connections, asking for cards, contact details and referrals, gaining follow-up commitments * Building relationships - follow-up and follow-through 4 DEVELOPING NEW LEADS * Strategies for first-time sales calls * Gaining rapport and opening first-time and new business sales calls effectively * Advanced consultative selling - questioning techniques to quickly and efficiently uncover opportunities, need areas and preferences * Presenting your solution to a new or first-time customer - creating an enthusiastic and compelling personalised and persuasive summary of your proposal * Value message - differentiate your solutions clearly and accurately, with tailored value statements * Presenting the right initial USPs, features and benefits and making them relevant and real to the customer * Smart ways to position price, emphasise value and be a strong player without being the cheapest or leading on price * Learn and use advanced techniques to determine customer needs, value and decision-making criteria in depth on a first-time call 5 ORGANISED PERSISTENCE - CRM AND PROSPECT-TRACKING * Organised persistence - sales tracking, following up on 'sleeping' customers, gaining referrals, time and territory management * Maintaining a good database for maximising new business ROI * Developing a contact strategy with different types and levels of contact * Analysing your contact base using state-of-the-art software and tools * Making the most of your CRM systems and solutions * Understanding that your attitude makes a difference when sourcing new business * Setting SMART objectives for new business development and lead-generation * Practical exercise - setting personal development and business goals * Time management tips to improve daily productivity * New business pipeline management strategies for peak sales performance 6 WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND CLOSE * Practical exercise - developing your new business action plan * Review and feedback

For anyone who has to deliver presentations who wants to become more confident and improve their speaking skills.

If you want to improve your or your team ability to have the best approach to personal development, feel free to check out my Training course focusing on continuous improvement.

OVERVIEW Networking has become a crucial factor in the modern workplace. It is the most effective method of developing your business or career and is a key component of your personal brand. This one day course will teach you how to be able to build strong business relationships, develop a level of personal credibility and increase your network of contacts in order to enhance your visibility and create opportunities for yourself and your organisation. DESCRIPTION This training course will help your participants build a professional reputation and develop a network of connections through the two key methods available to them; face-to-face and online. Attendees will discover how to effectively combine these two approaches and create a strategy for networking success that will generate their own community and actively grow their personal network. This will result in an improved performance in their approach to networking and consequently provide opportunities and prospects that will increase their business success. The training provides them with the tools and techniques to both plan a successful, strategic approach to networking and develop their personal communication skills, which will ensure they build effective business relationships. Topics covered: * Why Network? – Establishing the importance of networking with some shocking statistics and an activity that defines the importance of networking to the individual. This is followed by some insight into the key aims of a networking strategy, what puts people off, as well as some personal revelations about networking. * Increase Your Business Presence – Looking at the components of a strong business presence, including; credibility, personal brand, visibility and social capital. * Developing a Networkers Attitude – An exercise that clarifies the perfect attitudes and behaviours of great networkers and comparing the participants against this. Thus identifying areas for development. * Face to Face Networking – An overview and insight into the main types of face to face networking opportunities available with the benefits and pitfalls of each. * Online Networking – An overview of the different social media and online networking tools and how to get the best out of them. Includes; LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and online forums. * Communication Skills for Networking Success – Ensuring a good first impression, creating an opening sound bite and writing an online profile that promotes and engages. * Developing a Conversation – Building on the opening sound bite and developing a conversation through good questioning techniques and following a selection of key networking rules. Including an activity to test and practice the skills. * Working a Room – A fun activity that embeds and develops learning while encouraging practice and communication. This activity covers 10 of the main skills required to work a room. * Breaking into a Group – Identifying body language to spot when a group or pair is open to new people entering the conversation or would rather not encourage participation. Knowing how to break into a group, what to say and how to remain professional. * Exiting a Conversation – Developing some techniques to extricate oneself from a conversation without causing embarrassment or rudeness. * The Follow-Up – Using a structure to identify the most important contacts created and establishing when and how to follow up with each group. Includes example follow-up email and a chance to develop their own. * Creating a Network Plan – Participants are provided with a networking action plan to review and complete. This sets them on the journey of developing their networking skills and ensures they have a strategy and goals to target.   WHO SHOULD ATTEND Anyone who is looking to improve their networking performance, or the networking performance of a management or sales team. REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDEES No pre-requisites required.

OVERVIEW This one day Building Better Work Habits training course has been developed for everyone in your organisation who may struggle with their own personal effectiveness. They may not have control of their own workload or blame others as to why they’re not achieving certain tasks and projects. Alternatively, it might be that high performers want to understand how they can organise themselves in a new way to give themselves more stretch in their roles. The training course will help the learners build self-awareness and will highlight the important parts of working smarter to achieve end goals. DESCRIPTION We are all busy, and sometimes it seems we do not have enough hours in the day to complete deadlines and projects. It can then eat into our home life, meaning we often end up stressed, or in worst-case scenarios, unwell (both physically and mentally). The reason behind this is often how we work day to day, as opposed to others giving us work at the last minute. These training course materials have been designed to help your participants work more effectively for the long term. This isn’t about how to manage a diary or emails, but rather look closely to see what are the blockers which get in the way of success. These small changes in day to day work will have a dramatic impact in both productivity and personal effectiveness. Topics covered: * Productivity: the science bit – A chance to explore what we mean by being productive and how that helps us build better work habits, as well as the opportunity to look at some of the science behind myths and bad habits we’ve probably already formed. Includes a link to a YouTube video. * Procrastination, why put off to tomorrow what we can do today! – Participants will explore what we procrastinate about, how we procrastinate in our own lives, and what we can do about it! * Eat That Frog – An introduction to Brian Tracy’s book “Eat that frog” and how it can help us improve our working habits. Includes a link to a YouTube video. * Eat That Frog: Thinking on Paper – A chance to put into practice some of Brian Tracy’s methods and how to use them in our real lives * Eat That Frog: Rocks, Pebbles and Sand – Taking our goal setting further, we explore Covey’s methodology around prioritising our tasks. * Eat That Frog: The Pareto Principle – The final part of the “Eat that Frog” section looks at how effective we in terms of how we spend our day * Prioritising: how do we spend our day? – Participants explore how proactive they are, and what the danger might be in letting a situation rule their time * Prioritising: The Priority Matrix – Taking the Rock, Pebbles and Sand methodology further, participants explore what truly is urgent and what is important in our day to day * Prioritising: Company Performance Tensions – We may know what our own personal objectives are, however, our business objectives have certain tensions that could impact these. How can we balance these two different objectives to ensure we’re successful day to day? * What’s my mindset? – Sometimes we can get in the way of our own successes and plans due to our mindset; utilising Carol Dweck’s work, it is a chance to reflect on our own mindsets when we’re building new work habits. Includes a link to a YouTube video. * What’s my mindset? Energy Cycles – Our energy can impact our mindset and how productive we are. A chance to look at what gives us energy, and how we can work more effectively depending on where our energy levels might be WHO SHOULD ATTEND Anyone interested in understanding in being more effective at work. REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDEES None. sales@18.132.1.174?subject=%27Building%20Better%20Work%20Habits%27%20Training%20Course

OVERVIEW This one day course covers the basics of brainstorming and then goes on to look at a number of different yet highly effective techniques that can be employed. DESCRIPTION Brainstorming is probably the most well known and most widely used method for bringing groups of people together to generate ideas about an issue or problem. This is because it’s a good way to gather a lot of ideas very quickly. It is also a great way of bringing people together and helping to build them as a team. Just imagine the effect on the team and its morale if ideas that they generate are actually used. There is no doubt that people are more likely to buy into the ideas that they came up with themselves. Although brainstorming is widely used for decision-making, it is not always handled very well. If that is the case, it can have the opposite effect to the one that is intended. Rather than creating ideas it can stifle them and rather than motivating people it demotivates them. This highly interactive course will help learners to make the most of brainstorming sessions and also provides alternative techniques to enliven any session that is beginning to flag. Topics covered: * What is Brainstorming? – A discussion to help participants understand what brainstorming is, and what it involves. * Brainstorming rules – A quick look at the very limited rules suggested by Alex Osborn who is generally credited with being the inventor of brainstorming. * Preparation – Although many brainstorming sessions take place on the spur of the moment they all require some preparation. We look at the importance of defining the purpose of the session, selecting the right participants, and then briefing them properly. * Storm and Floods – This is an activity that we re-visit on several occasions to take participants through the whole brainstorming process and to give them plenty of practice. * The Three R’s of Facilitation – The three R’s take you through the essential elements of facilitating an effective brainstorming session. * Closing the Session – Effective closing of the brainstorm may be just as important as the session itself. We look at the essential elements that the facilitator needs to cover. * Clarify and Nurture – Learners discover the importance of ensuring that all ideas that are unclear are clarified and that ideas are nurtured. They also learn what this involves practically. * Alternative Techniques – There are many ways to enliven a flagging brainstorming session, provide a fresh approach or simply build on initial ideas. The learners are introduced to some of the most important of these. * Brainstorming Scenarios – Learners work through up to 6 scenarios so that they can practice the alternative techniques covered during the programme. WHO SHOULD ATTEND Anyone who facilitates or takes part in brainstorming sessions, or wants to work with organisational teams to develop their problem-solving abilities. REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDEES None.