People don’t make decisions based on logic alone. They need to connect emotionally with your message —and use logic to justify it later. That’s where storytelling comes in. A good story doesn’t just inform; it makes people feel. And when they feel, they remember. More importantly, they act.
Read on to understand why stories work, what makes a story unique, and how to ensure your points land by wrapping them in stories.
Read MoreBreakouts are the moment when your attendees are given the space to explore, discuss and internalize a key message at your conference. They’re where concepts are made real and tangible.
Focus your breakouts on the content and skills you most want people to hold onto when they leave, and make sure they don’t turn into just another presentation. Consider these rules of thumb to make your breakouts truly effective.
Read MoreNavigating change is at the heart of many conversations that we have—be it with a friend who’s struggling, a client we’re coaching, or a team we’re supporting. There are tons of thought leaders already offering tips and advice on how to navigate or lead change; where we like to focus is on designing meaningful conversations that drive clarity and create forward momentum for teams and individuals moving through change.
Read MoreAs speakers and speaker coaches, we spend a lot of time crafting talks—both for ourselves and with our clients. It’s an obvious exploration, therefore, for us to look into how we can leverage AI to craft these talks more quickly (and ideally, effectively). Recently, Stephanie started giving a talk entitled Stories That Sell. In the past several weeks, Stephanie has delivered this talk three times and here are the things she learned while leaning into AI as a tool to help her.
Read MoreBROCHURE
Our personalized approach to enhancing presentation skills and stage readiness, designed for both individual presenters and organizations.
Read MoreExecutive coaching is a soft skill. Yes, there are some technical frameworks you can be trained on, but at the end of the day, a good executive coach is proficient in what are generally considered soft skills: conversations, intuition, active listening, appreciative inquiry, etc. Soft skills are those less tangible skills that are more dependent on our ability to be human and interact with other humans than hard skills like accounting or even project management.
As AI takes more and more center stage in our collective awareness, and our ability to leverage and access AI-powered tools becomes commonplace, we have begun to wonder, Could AI be an effective executive coach?
Read MoreNine times out of ten, feedback conversations turn into difficult conversations because we build them up in our heads to be way bigger and more complicated than they really have to be. Here’s some of the advice that Stephanie gave Sara. What else would you offer?
Read MoreMaybe it’s cutesy to say that time management is an evergreen challenge… but it’s true. It ebbs and flows as our work lives and personal lives change. The busier we are, or the more important the task in front of us is, the harder it is to successfully and gracefully manage our time. And the crazy thing is, it’s in these moments of high stress and overwhelm where we most need to be able to trust and rely on our time management skills.
Depending on your situation, there are several ways you can better manage your time. Time management is an ongoing and continuous process of assessing, organizing, and executing.
Read MoreQuestions don’t have to be either leading or random. You can ask questions thoughtfully, in a way that encourages open discussion, collaboration AND you can ask questions that move people to action.
Here are some suggestions for questions anyone can use at several key moments within a consultative conversation, from kicking off the conversation to forwarding the action.
Read MoreAround this time of year, people are planning large-scale and high-stakes gatherings, and they want to make sure the time and money invested in these events are well spent. Nine times out of ten, that means folks are putting pen to paper and coming up with an agenda. If you’re in the early stages of doing just that, here are some tips to make sure your agenda (and the resulting gathering) are designed with outcomes, engagement and a thoughtful flow in mind.
Read MoreThe definition of the term “coaching” matters because it’s the substance of the engagement. Inherent in the definition is an understanding of the desired outcome, and a notion of why an executive coach is the right partner to get you there.
At Wolf & Heron, we think of coaching the same way The International Coaching Federation (ICF) does. The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Read MoreREFERENCE
A one-page reference basic story structure with some tips for how to work through mapping your story idea to the structure.
Read MorePresenters want to include stories in their presentation, but have no idea where the stories should go or what they should be about. Here are a few moments in your presentation where leveraging a story is particularly effective.
Read MoreBROCHURE
Read our detailed brochure about our flagship and longest-running program for business leaders.
Read MoreGiving constructive feedback is tough. Once a manager has mustered up the willingness to prepare for and deliver feedback, it requires attention, time and curiosity to work through. For many managers, these difficult conversations cause additional mental load because they are accompanied by fear and anxiety.
Read MoreTOOL
This Google Docs worksheet will help you prepare for a difficult feedback conversation with an employee.
This worksheet includes questions to help you process through the issue and behaviors and provides a template for a feedback conversation.
Read MoreCrafting an influential story is tough. Where do you start? What do you do along the way? How do you know if and when you’re ready to share your story? We thought it would be fun to try to lay out our process from beginning to end. During our Influential Storytelling program, we take participants through the entire process of crafting an influential story, but it’s something else to see it laid out on a page. Let’s see if we can do it!
Read MoreTOOL
Before you jump to building a slide deck for your next presentation, take the time to craft your message and consider what’s most important.
The worksheet includes questions to help you consider the context, audience and messages that will help you design your presentation for success.
Read MoreWe have identified some common mis-steps when it comes to planning interactive sessions, so we thought we’d bring them to you. If you’re looking to leave the presentation behind and design a more engaging session for your audience, here are 5 tips to consider.
Read MoreThis 4-page takeaway accompanies the workshop titled Maximizing the Manager/Employee Check-In, which helps people leaders think about ways to better utilize their one-on-one touch points with team members.
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