What is Business Writing?

CFI defines business writing as a type of writing that is used in a professional setting. It is a purposeful piece of writing that conveys relevant information to the reader in a clear, concise, and effective manner. It includes client proposals, reports, memos, emails, and notices. Proficiency in business writing is a critical aspect of effective communication in the workplace.

Why are Business writing skills important?

1. They ensure clarity in business communication

Strong business writing skills help better communication within the company and with all the stakeholders. Any piece written in a proficient, comprehensive, and informative way brings clarity of thought to an organization. Thus, the receivers will clearly understand your message.

2. They give a good impression to the higher management

An employee with good business writing skills gets noticed and appreciated. Senior management often favors employees who can create excellent documentation.

3. They demonstrate credibility

Employees with advanced writing skills are perceived as more reliable and trustworthy. A well-written paper, presentation, or email doesn’t go unnoticed. Strong business writing skills make an employee dependable, assigned with more responsibility, and often the right candidate for promotion.

What is the Business writing skills course all about?

Business Writing Skills is designed for individuals looking to communicate more effectively. This course aims to provide participants with professional and persuasive written communication tools, establishing your reputation as a business expert. During this course, participants will learn to effectively communicate their thoughts, reach their target audience, and produce high-quality written communication.

What You’ll Learn?

This course is designed to improve participant’s basic business writing skills. With a focus on organizing thoughts and applying writing styles and techniques, participants will learn to maximize the effective writing experience.

Idea Development

• Select the most effective writing style when communicating with your target audience
• Utilize a process for organizing thought and idea development
• Create professional-looking communications

Create Clear and Concise Messages

• Improve the quality of communications through effective proofreading
• Prepare effectively organized emails, memos, agendas, and letters
• Apply a writing style that is both professional and clear

Writing to Persuade

• Effectively match written communication to the target audience
• Measure the readability of written communication
• Successfully secure action from their writing efforts

How You’ll Learn?

Every program and individual course we offer is customizable to your organization’s needs. After meeting with one of our Business Development Officers and identifying exactly what those needs are, participants will take part in our engaging and interactive course designed with different learning styles in mind. Participants will be led by one of our experienced and highly skilled facilitators through discussions, and individual and group activities.

Where You’ll Learn?

We work closely with our clients to ensure that we meet all your needs – this includes location. Courses can take place at our location within Mohawk College’s Stoney Creek campus or any location of your choice. That means, if you’d like us to come to you – we will set up shop at your location of choice.

Who Should Attend?

The course is designed for professionals of any level looking to improve their written communication skills.

Conclusion

Strong business writing skills are an asset to every employee and an organization. Unfortunately, despite how important business writing is, many organizations fail to give it its due. But luckily this trend is changing. Nowadays, organizations see it as crucial to spend time, money, and effort to help their teams learn and develop writing skills. If you’re looking for a course that will help you and your team strengthen your business writing skills, this thorough course is exactly what you need.

To enroll, contact P2L today!

What is teamwork?

How often have you heard people go, “Teamwork makes the dream work?” Well, it stands true when a group of individuals come together and work toward a common goal. They help each other in setting and achieving targets, support each other to combine individual strengths, and strengthen the team’s competencies.

Why do we need teamwork in the workplace?

YTI Career Institute explains why teamwork is so important in the professional world:

• It brings new ideas: Businesses need new, fresh ideas to succeed in the competitive world. You have a unique perspective to bring to the table which will benefit the business overall. Businesses thrive when they have a diverse team of people who can contribute individual ideas.
• Teamwork helps solve problems: Collaboration within a group can help solve difficult problems. Brainstorming is a good opportunity for the team to exchange ideas and come up with creative ways of doing things. By working together, teams can find the solutions that work best.
• It’s supportive: Teamwork creates a system to ensure that deadlines are met and that there’s high-quality work. When one team member falls behind, there’s another to pick up the pieces. When work is divvied up among members of a team, it gets done faster, making the overall business operate more efficiently. Your team will develop a sense of comradery as you work toward a common goal.
• Teamwork builds morale: You’ll feel that your work is valued when you contribute to something that produces results. If you offer an idea that helps improve productivity, such as a new filing system, confidence and trust are built within the team. Each team member has something special to offer. By working together, members of a team feel a strong sense of belonging and deep commitment to each other and the common goal.

What is the Teamwork course all about?

Most of the time when you hear the word team, it’s about a group of people who get together to complete a special project. This course is about creating a team environment amongst the people with whom you work each day. This course aims to create a team environment that will foster a positive and productive workgroup. Participants will learn techniques for translating team goals into individual goals, empowering all team members to participate, encouraging collaboration amongst team members, and monitoring the team’s progress using structured tools and processes.

Outcomes:

• Identify telltale signs that the teamwork within your team needs attention
• Apply techniques to translate goals to individual team members
• Apply techniques to empower all team members to participate
• Apply techniques to encourage collaboration amongst all team members
• Discuss techniques to track the team’s environment and to make adjustments
• Recognize how teamwork is often more beneficial than individual performance

Conclusion:

It is easy to build teams, but not every team is always good at teamwork. Teamwork helps us grow as people and accomplish more than we ever could on our own. It helps us develop people skills, learn new things, build relationships, and achieve organizational success. A team that works well together supports each member and sticks together to produce great results.

If you’re looking for techniques to build a strong team, empower your team members to participate in decision-making processes, and collaborate to achieve higher productivity, this course is just what you need.

Contact P2L to enroll today!

What is stress?

Stress is a normal part of everyday life. It is a feeling or your body’s reaction to pressure on your mind.

What is stress management?

Mayo Clinic defines stress management as a range of strategies to help you better deal with stress and difficulty (adversity) in your life. Managing stress can help you lead a more balanced, healthier life.

What are some techniques for stress management?

WebMD has laid down some stress management techniques:

• Exercise- Physical activity can help improve your sleep. And better sleep means better stress management. People who exercise also tend to feel less anxious and more positive about themselves. When your body feels good, your mind often follows.
• Diet- The benefits of eating healthy foods extend beyond your waistline to your mental health. A healthy diet can lessen the effects of stress, build up your immune system, level your mood, and lower your blood pressure. To stay healthy and on an even keel, look for complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and fatty acids found in fish, meat, eggs, and nuts. Antioxidants help too. They protect your cells against damage that chronic stress can cause. You can find them in a huge variety of foods like beans, fruits, berries, vegetables, and spices such as ginger.
• Sleep- A common side effect of stress is that you may struggle to fall asleep. If this happens three times a week for at least 3 months, you may have insomnia, an inability to fall and stay asleep. Lack of sleep can also add to your stress level and cause a cycle of stress and sleeplessness. Better sleep habits can help. This includes both your daily routine and the way you set up your bedroom. The role of your bedroom in good sleep hygiene also is important. In general, your room should be dark, quiet, and cool — 60-65 degrees is thought to be an ideal temperature to stay asleep. Your bed also plays an important role. Your mattress should provide support, space, and most of all, comfort.
• Relaxation techniques:

1. Yoga- This is a form of exercise, but it can also be a meditation. There are many types of yoga. The ones that focus on slow movement, stretching, and deep breathing are best for lowering your anxiety and stress.
2. Meditation- It has been around for over 5,000 years for a reason. Meditation works well for many people and has many benefits. It can lower stress, anxiety, and chronic pain as well as improve sleep, energy levels, and mood.
3. Deep breathing- When you practice deep breathing, you turn on your body’s natural ability to relax. This creates a state of deep rest that can change how your body responds to stress. It sends more oxygen to your brain and calms the part of your nervous system that handles your ability to relax.

What is the Stress Management course all about?

A person’s ability to understand and manage stress has a direct correlation to effective performance in the workplace. In this course, participants will learn how stress works, recognize personal sources of stress, understand the effects of stress, develop resilience strategies, and create an action plan to reduce stress and improve productivity.

What are the course outcomes?

• Apply a three-step process to manage your stress
• Define stress
• Discuss how stress works
• Identify personal sources of stress
• Apply effective strategies to increase resilience
• Implement an action plan to reduce stress and improve personal productivity

Conclusion

One goes through stress because of various reasons. Rather than pondering over what is causing you stress, it is important to seek ways to manage and relieve it. If you’re looking for stress management techniques to help you calm your mind and give your mental health a boost, this course is a boon for you.

To enroll, contact P2L today!

Problem-solving and decision-making are two of the strongest qualities of a good leader. A strong leader is someone who knows how to come up with creative solutions to solve problems as effectively and efficiently as possible.

What are the steps to effective problem-solving?

Step 1: Identify the Problem

This step includes getting to the bottom of any situation and understanding where the problem stems from.

Step 2: Analyze the Problem

This step helps identify the urgency of the problem which generally has three stages:

The emergent stage is where the problem is just beginning to happen. It does affect those in question immediately but can cause harm to the business operations in the long run.

The mature stage is where this problem is causing more than just minor damage. Usually, consequences during this stage at much more than the emergent stage.

The third stage is the crisis stage, when the problem is so serious it must be corrected immediately. At this stage, damage can be done to the company’s operations, reputation, finances, etc. that may hamper the long-term plans of the business.

Step 3: Describe the Problem

This step includes diagnosing the problem to be able to define it. This stage is to get clarity and to dig deeper into what the issue really is. This stage is also about making sure all your employees agree to the said problem and are gearing up to work toward a solution and a common goal.

Step 4: Look for Root Causes

This step involves understanding what caused this problem, who is responsible for this problem, when did it first emerge, how and why did it happen, how can it be resolved, and more. This stage is also about making sure the company comes up with solutions that can eradicate the problem for good and that it does not arise over and over again.

Step 5: Develop Alternative Solutions

Every problem must have a bunch of solutions in case one of them fails. Planning for contingency is as important as coming up with solutions. So, it is best to develop a list of alternative solutions that you and your team can assess and decide which one will be the best for the particular problem. Then it is important to estimate efficiency, cost, long-term value, and resources you have to solve the problem.

Step 6: Implement the Solution

This step is about chalking out the final implementation plan. Implementation means that each employee is aware of his/her tasks and knows their timelines for execution. Also, an organization should have a system in place to track whether or not the solution has corrected the problem.

Step 7: Measure the Results

This step is all about measuring the success and failure of a certain solution. This also helps us learn from one’s mistakes and not repeat them in the future. Measuring the results means answering questions such as: Did it work? Was this a good solution? Did we learn something here in the implementation that we could apply to other potential problems?

What is the Problem-Solving & Decision-Making course all about?

Employees in any organization find themselves solving problems on a daily basis. The ability to identify the problem, pinpoint the true cause, and identify a workable solution is essential for personal, professional, and organizational success. This course will help employees master their problem-solving and decision-making skills. They will learn how to assess a problem and then find solutions to overcome it.

Outcomes

• Define your role in problem-solving
• Identify barriers to effective problem solving
• Apply a six-step problem-solving process
• Select appropriate tool(s) to effectively problem solve

Conclusion

Decision-making and problem solving are two closely related but different skill sets that apply to different business situations. Leaders often incorporate both these skills to achieve organizational success. If you’re a leader who wants to strengthen his/her problem solving and decision-making skills and lead his/her organization to newer heights, then this course is perfect for you.

To enroll, contact P2L today!

How often have you sat through a presentation that ended up being a snooze fest? Giving a good presentation can be very challenging mainly because it is mostly one-way communication. It is hard to keep your audience attentive while you look at slides and present them. It is not very easy to make a presentation informative and engaging at the same time.

What are presentation skills?

Presentation skills are the skills one needs to create and deliver engaging presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills include components such as the design of your slides, the theme of your presentation, the content on your slides, the tone of your voice, and the body language you convey.

Why are presentation skills important?

• To enhance communication skills: Good communication skills are an asset to every employee. These can be developed by jumping on to every opportunity to deliver a presentation in front of a large group. Great presenters can communicate clearly to an audience and bring those same great communication skills to the workplace.
• To lead to individual success: Presentation skills help employees sell their ideas and themselves. Employees who have good presentation skills and clarity of thought are more likely to be chosen to work on bigger projects, thus advancing their career growth.
• To help in time management: Anyone who takes up the task of presenting a project gets good at managing his/her time well. Given that they have limited time to convey their idea and concept of the project to the client, they tend to master time management skills.
• To connect with people: Presenters often build connections when they go to meetings. The way they talk and build a rapport with their audience is what makes them connect well with their audience.

How to improve your presentation skills?

Explaining a concept to a friend and presenting an idea to your superior or stakeholders are two very different things that require extremely different skills. Here are some techniques that can help one improve their presentation skills:

• Rehearse: Make sure to always practice your script a couple of times before your presentation day.
• Time yourself: It is important to know how much time you need to dedicate to each slide or each topic. Take a stopwatch and time yourself to make sure you don’t go overtime.
• Be confident: It is always easier said than done but you must make sure to not show your nervousness. It is natural to feel tensed before taking the floor but try to not show that on your face or with your shaky hands. Be confident and stay calm.
• Sleep well the night before: A fresh mind can make you feel more confident. Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep the night before your presentation.
• Watch other presentations: Watch videos or attend conferences where you get an idea about how people usually start and end their presentations. This will give you a good understanding of how to structure your presentation.
• Make eye contact: Eye contact is extremely important. This keeps your audience engaged throughout your presentation.
• Develop a personal speaking style: Your individuality is what will make your audience listen to you. Use simple language and try to make the session as interactive as you can.

What is the Presentation Skills course all about?

Powerful presentation skills increase a person’s ability to educate and inform audiences. Ideas, products, and concepts must be presented succinctly and compellingly. This course, specifically designed for people looking to influence or inspire, teaches a presenter to develop and deliver a clear, concise message that will quickly and effectively gain the attention of the audience.

Outcomes

• Identify the benefits of a powerful presentation
• Create an opening that will capture the audience attention
• Apply a five-step process for preparing a powerful presentation
• Utilize techniques to add variety, interest, and emphasis
• Manage nervousness
• Discuss the power of visual, verbal, and vocal skills
• Use visual aids effectively (handouts, charts, PowerPoint slides)
• Encourage audience participation
• Manage difficult questions and audience members

Conclusion

A good speaker cracks the deal. Having strong presentation skills helps not only in individual success but also in overall business success. Good speakers make sure they have their audience’s attention all to themselves and make sure they leave an impression. If you’re someone who is struggling with stage fright, nervousness, or presentation skills, this course is exactly what you need to upskill yourself.

To enroll, contact P2L today!