E-Newsletter
Issue 1

In This Issue

• Shiny shopwindow
• 'I eat my peas with honey!'
• Getting the message across

Shiny shopwindow

Welcome to TSO Consulting's new eNewsletter. We're all the more delighted to launch it in conjunction with our new website, which you can explore at www.tsoconsulting.co.uk

Our aim is to bring you useful information, interesting developments, added value. The newsletter is designed to share the benefit of our recent client work with a wider audience potentially interested in similar challenges.

Our website is already a comprehensive source of knowledge and expertise on TSOC's core disciplines of management and organisation development. Visit our Library for practical help and opinions by senior consultants on leadership, coaching, communications and management. Explore our Case Studies to see if another client's challenge is like yours (but beware the temptation of 'one size fits all').

And, in case you don't yet know us very well, you can find out what makes us tick; why customers choose us, what we bring, our approach. And you can read what we think of return on investment.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to an interested friend or colleague and invite them to subscribe. We've decided not to identify clients in order to more easily share our expertise and we will never disclose subscriber contact details; you can unsubscribe any time.

Do contact us if you have a query now; use our quick and easy online query .

^ Back to top

'I eat my peas with honey!'

A group of 20 senior managers are shouting at each other. But this is no top team disagreement. They're yelling, 'I eat my peas with honey!'

You'd be forgiven for wondering what was going on.

Recognising the importance of how we say what we say is a key part of a 12-month programme designed to make good communication part of the culture at a large and complex organisation.

The programme combines specialist voice-related workshops with TSOC's experience of organisation development to bring managers innovative ways of getting their messages across in ways that suit their audience.

Coaching, self-assessment opportunities, self-development tools and voice workshops with our partners, Central School of Speech and Drama, are bringing people at all levels innovative techniques in communication.

CSSD's specialist skills in movement, breathing and voice power have already begun to help people understand how they come across. The work will help them identify their preferred means of communication and to improve their voice and influencing skills.

The voice workshops include breathing exercises, understanding body movement, role play, scenarios and forum theatre. Saying 'I eat my peas with honey' using different inflections - happy, angry, placatory, or pleasant but firm - illustrates how appropriate use of the voice can enhance communication.

Lyn Bicker, TSOC managing director, says the work is more than a communication programme. 'Changing how people talk to each other in this client organisation will generate a cultural shift. To make it a lasting change, the work needs to be memorable, valuable and fun. But this does not mean people should fear losing their dignity, so we ensure there is a careful mix of buzz and rigour.'

For more information on TSOC communication programmes and creating lasting behavioural change, contact Cathy Collins .

^ Back to top

Getting the message across

When a drinks conglomerate needed to get a set of new business messages across to its European sales organisation, it knew action would speak louder than words.

Thirty sales bosses were brought together in Rome for an intensive two-day conference and workshop. But how could the company ensure each leader left the event with the same memory of business need, and galvanized by the same set of calls to action?

Now the company recognised a picture can paint a thousand words. It called on TSOC's specialist Scribes to support facilitation and provide real-time feedback on presentations and discussions in the form of hand-drawn images and diagrams.

Maintaining the energy of a workshop once delegates are back at their desks is always a challenge. Scribing replaces reams of paper and flip-charts with CDs or event books which can be ready overnight. In Rome, output was distributed on CD to delegates 24 hours after the event.

The use of graphics to help engage and galvanise facilitated groups is an increasingly popular and successful technique. Scribing is a powerful tool for critical thinking, problem solving and strategic planning. It's a way of building a logical, cohesive picture from what is often a disparate set of thoughts, ideas and opinions. It relates and clusters information to capture people's moods, tones or feelings about a subject quickly and easily, and it can quickly get dialogue back on track.

This approach can inject energy and colour into conversation in a way that can mean the difference between stagnancy and innovation. For group facilitation activities it works well to revive stale Boardroom discussions, overcast 'blue sky' sessions and those regular meetings where the only thing execs hear is the clock ticking.

Click here for Scribing examples or contact Rachel Bicker now.

^ Back to top