MASTER THE ART OF BUSINESS PARTNERING:
MOVE BEYOND THE DATA TO IMPACT YOUR ORGANIZATION
Course Description (6-hour workshop format):
This energetic, thought-evoking, and interactive experience ensures you develop targeted communication skills to increase your influence and credibility as a valued business partner. Highten the intention of what you ask, say and do to impact outcomes with confidence, clarity, and conviction.
Growth Goals:
Understand why being a highly effective business partner is critical for your career trajectory
Earn respect by asking skillful questions to understand and relate to others
Increase impact with relevant, results-focused reasoning
Listen beyond the words to hear what others are saying through non-verbal ques & clues
Calibrate your communication by differentiating between information and conversation tools
Get results by driving meaningful action through clear and compelling next steps
Full Day Course Outline (8:30am – 4:30pm):
Part 1: What You Ask (8:30am – 11:30am)
Lunch: (11:30am – 12:30pm)
Part 2: What You Say (12:30pm – 3:45pm)
Part 3: What You Do (3:45pm – 4:30pm)
Mastering the Art of Business Partnering is about heightening the intention of:
8:30am – 8:50am Capture attention, set the tone, and make a human connection by subtly and creatively modeling the business partnering skillsets that will be taught during the course.
8:50am – 9:00am Build the case for why skillful questions and intentional listening are the keys to business partnering
Resource Article: “What’s Scarier Than Asking”
9:00am – 9:45am Dissect the anatomy of effective questions
Explore the 4 key elements: Disposition, Design, Delivery, and Dig Down
Develop the discernment of when to use directional vs. dialogue questions
Resource Article: “Design and Deliver Better Questions”
9:45am – 10:00am Break
10:00am – 11:00am Increase internal awareness with courageous questions
Personal Activity: Participants will engage in a courageous questioning challenge to overcome the temptation to point blame or make excuses when facing challenges. Each person will reflect on a “pattern problem” they are facing in business life and will courageously ask themselves these 3 questions:
· What’s my role in this?
· What might I do differently?
· How can I grow from this?
Group Activity: Each person will share their insights in small groups after watching the video: “It’s Not About the Nail” by Jason Headley that comically illustrates a powerful reminder that “listening” does not mean “fixing”
11:00am – 11:30am Increase external awareness by listening to understand
Resource Article: “People are Interesting when we Become Interested”
Video “Strangers in a Ball Pit” by Soul Pancake shows how much commonality is hiding behind a few good questions
Activity: Participants will build rapport with partners by asking meaningful questions that empower moving beyond “knowing about” to truly knowing your colleagues:
· Factual questions: typical conversation starters
· Causative questions: uncover the motives behind the facts
· Value-based questions: discover the worth people place on things
11:30am – 12:30pm Lunch
12:30pm – 1:00pm Demystify communication by seeing that it’s a simple 3 step process we naturally use without even realizing it: Open – Message - Close
Group Activity: Participants will break into 3 teams, each representing a key quality of a persuasive communicator: 1.) Confidence, 2.) Clarity, and 3.) Conviction. Each team will create flip chart brainstorms and report out on what it looks like when a communicator possesses their key quality
Video: “The Power of Simplicity" drives home the point to get to the point!
1:00pm – 1:15pm Understand what your business partners really care about so you can communicate in a way that helps them get the results they’re after
Resource Article: “Know Your Audience”
Personal Activity: Each participant will make real world application as they complete this pivotal checklist of questions to get inside the minds of the key business partner they are seeking to influence:
· What challenges are they facing?
· What opportunities are they chasing?
· What words resonate with them? What jargon should be avoided? (Your aim is to resonate; not alienate)
· When you have completed speaking with them, what do you want them to think, feel, and do?
Translate the truth behind objections: “We don’t have the time/money” really means “We don’t see the value”…learn to speak their value language
Resource Article: "Your Value Deficit"
1:15pm – 1:45pm Select the right communication tool based on your intent
Do you need to relay information or have a conversation? (Email is not for the latter)
Resource Article: “Step Away from the Keyboard”
Video: “The Letter" by Highly Evolved Human shows the importance of matching your message with the right delivery method
Adopt a process to create emails that people actually read and respond to
Resource article: “Why Your Email Needs an 'I' Exam”
1:45pm – 2:30pm Open your message by capturing your audience’s attention using the wisdom of Chip and Dan Heath, “The best way to capture someone’s attention is to break a pattern.”
Call out the common (and boring ways) people tend to start meetings and presentations
Group Activity: Participants will break into teams representing the 5 types of effective openings and will compete to craft the most creative opening line using the category they represent: 1.) Curiosity Statement, 2.) Thoughtful Quote, 3.) Relevant Compliment, 4.) Specific Incident, 5.) Intriguing Question
Resource Article: “Choose Their Value Over Your Discomfort”
2:30pm – 2:45pm Break
2:45pm – 3:00pm Close your message by gaining commitment
What is a message without momentum? Your communication isn’t complete until 3 key pieces of data have been identified: “WHO will do WHAT by WHEN?”
3:00pm – 3:45pm Strengthen a strategic business relationship through an invitation to intentional conversation
Personal Activity: Participants will craft an email message they will send out when they return to the office designed to set up a conversation that will strengthen a strategic business relationship. They will craft a subject line that speaks the value language of their recipient, break a pattern with their opening line to capture attention, and drive action with the compelling next step of offering 3 potential times to connect for a phone or in-person conversation.
Group Activity: Participants will pair up and help each other prepare and practice the conversations each person’s email is designed to secure
3:45pm – 4:30pm Knowledge isn’t power…application is
Group Activity: Participants will make a public proclamation to A.C.T. on strengthening a specific skillset from the course:
· A.) Accountable: Each participant with be paired with and accountability partner
· C.) Clearly defined: Their goal will be defined in a manageable and measurable first step
· T.) Time-specific: Partners will report out on their progress via email within one week
Resource Video: “Don’t Stop Don’t Give Up” by Blanca Ramirez is a fun and energizing reminder that if we keep trying…we’ll get it right