Bridging the communication gap: How Think on Your Feet® transforms technical experts As a technical expert, I’ve often found myself in the challenging position of explaining complex solutions to non-technical audiences. Whether it’s during a meeting with stakeholders, a presentation … Continue reading
Combat information overload and unlock your team’s potential
Get your message across, supercharge productivity and spend less time in meetings Information overload is a significant and growing challenge, impacting both individuals and organisations. It slows down cognitive functions, affects mental health, disrupts decision-making and reduces productivity. The constant … Continue reading
Miscommunication – how much is it costing you?
Do you ever feel like miscommunication is slowing down progress or causing unnecessary complications in your business? You need to be able to Think on Your Feet® and master clear, confident communication. Think on Your Feet® is a proven program designed … Continue reading
Effective stakeholder communication and engagement
Effective stakeholder communication is the backbone of business success, but it comes with hurdles that can derail projects, strain relationships and jeopardise long-term goals. When they attend the Stakeholder Engagement™ and Think on Your Feet® workshops, our clients tell us … Continue reading
The rise of communication overload in the modern workplace
In today’s hyper-connected work environment, communication is at an all-time high. According to the latest State of Business Communication Report, the volume, pace and channels of communication are increasing, making work synonymous with constant communication. The report reveals that: 88% … Continue reading
Did your team really understand what you just said – and what you expected?
We’ve all been there – in a discussion with your team – you were sure you were being clear, yet they heard something else? They either didn’t get it or didn’t want to get it! One way to deal with … Continue reading
Transform your graduates into effective communicators, get their documents seen, read and remembered.
Experts often describe graduates’ written work as clunky and long-winded, lacking clarity. The excessive back-and-forth on what to edit, change or remove between graduates and their senior colleagues wastes valuable company time. This poor writing not only confuses peers but … Continue reading
Talk less, say more. Why business globalisation means clear verbal communication is critical to your success.
Effective communication is the bedrock of successful professional relationships in the globalised business world. For business professionals working with English as their second language (ESL), mastering clear verbal communication is not just an asset – it’s a necessity. Being able … Continue reading
Charity Challenge (May 2024 – London) – Think on Your Feet®
We had a fantastic Think on Your Feet® workshop in London this week. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to making it a fun and engaging couple of days! Picture this A room filled with eager minds, each armed … Continue reading
How Willy Wonka showed us that AI can’t always get it ‘write’!
On the 24th February this year, hundreds of excited children queued up waiting to see a spectacularly advertised ‘Willy Wonka Experience’ in Glasgow, Scotland. Their parents had paid the princely sum of £35 per ticket and all were expecting great … Continue reading
CASE STUDY – The Skilled Presenter™ – Controlling Nerves in a Challenging Environment
John experienced significant challenges in communicating as he transitioned from the military to civilian life. For many years, he struggled to communicate effectively and confidently in face-to-face interactions, often feeling extremely nervous and emotional, even to the point of tears … Continue reading
Presenting to an audience that is not an expert like you
Gilly Meek, Accredited The Skilled Presenter™ Trainer You’ve been invited to present to a non-technical audience. Excited to share your expertise and insight, you open PowerPoint® and start building your slides. You include lots of information and data, as you … Continue reading
When you need to get technical – do people really understand you?
In every industry, there are technical teams with specific skills. These teams have various internal stakeholders, (executive teams, managers and other employees) and external stakeholders (customers, providers and the public)… …success or failure hinges on the team’s ability to clearly … Continue reading
Think on Your Feet® when storytelling – utilising the Think on Your Feet® techniques to tell a story
People are more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped in a story. The flow of your narrative and the strength of the images you position, will help your listener recall what has been said and remember it. As humans … Continue reading
Ensure your sales team can confidently think on their feet
Sales can be a challenging profession and the way businesses sell is constantly changing. Effective communication is a cornerstone of success for sales professionals. Our clients tell us their sales teams consistently face communication challenges that impact their ability to … Continue reading
How to engage your audience and perform with impact whether online or in-person!
Why should your presentations be more dynamic, engaging and persuasive? Whether you’re giving sales pitches, leading meetings or presenting research findings – the ability to present dynamically can set you apart and open up opportunities for growth. Dynamic presentation skills … Continue reading
Collaborative Writing
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer With the introduction of hybrid working, we are spending less time in face-to-face conversations. So when you send that business report – you may not have a chance to talk someone through it. Having great writing … Continue reading
Allowing people’s creativity to flow when writing for business
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Creativity in business enhances success. It fosters engagement, teamwork, innovative ideas, product and service enhancements. Breaking old thinking habits and work patterns. But how often do businesses actually promote creativity in their business writing? In creative … Continue reading
Plan, Perform, Practice – the three P’s of dynamic and persuasive presentations
Many psychological surveys rank public speaking as a greater fear for us than death. Rather than run from our presentations – we need to harness those fears. Here’s our three P’s of dynamic, persuasive presentations: Plan Probably the most important step, … Continue reading
Overcoming the most common regulatory writing issues
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Regulatory writing is essential in ensuring compliance and safety, but it comes with its own set of challenges! We spoke to Richard Morris, a Writing Dynamics™ trainer at Indigo, about some of the common regulatory writing issues … Continue reading
Overcoming writers block
We’ve all been there, that moment when you need to finish off a report, but for some reason tidying your office or making that cup of tea seems to take precedent. Anything to put off getting the writing done! Writer’s … Continue reading
The do’s and don’ts of presenting
The pandemic presented many challenges to the way we live and work. The birth of the beloved online meeting meant that a lot of the skills we had honed and perfected before, were simply lost or substituted for other skills. … Continue reading
Indigo is proud to sponsor the YES22 People Choice award – but who will win?
“We are proud to have sponsored the YES People’s Choice award for over a decade now.” said Robert Fisher of Indigo. ”Having a brilliant mind and amazing ideas is at the heart of this competition – translating ideas into something … Continue reading
Be more John Wayne – the lost art of brevity.
I have always talked about clarity and conciseness as an entry point into good, professional communication. Lots of management books tell us that managers with good communications skills, are often more effective leaders. ‘John Wayne in pinstripes’ was a term … Continue reading
Converting from academic to business writing
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Remember those good ‘ole university dissertations when you were 150 words short of the minimum word count? What did you do? You added in words to extend sentences and paragraphs to get you over the line! … Continue reading
Are all graduates masters of verbal communication?
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer When organisations develop Graduate Recruitment Days, you can almost guarantee that at the top of the assessment criteria is ‘communication’! Naturally, all employers are looking for an intake of new talent who can ‘hit the ground … Continue reading
Forget the “Big Resignation” – what about “the Big Presentation”?
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer When taking on a new role, client or job, you will likely be asked to make “that big presentation!” You know the one… the career-defining introduction, the presentation that ties your stomach … Continue reading
Hybrid meeting challenges and how to overcome them
The pandemic changed the way we work and changed it fast. After that initial scramble to source the tech and make sure everyone is supported to work remotely, we are now looking at ways to integrate hybrid working into the … Continue reading
Virtual selling – the new sales disruptor
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer The world of the sales professional has changed. Consideration needs to be given to the skills that are now needed. The COVID pandemic has meant virtual selling has become the new reality of the sales function … Continue reading
Impactful and effective virtual communication
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer 2020 made businesses adapt their channels of communication. Lockdown meant a focus on virtual platforms, with internal and external stakeholders working remotely. The emphasis for many was ‘Do we have the right platforms in place?’ Perhaps … Continue reading
The big presentation
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer We all have that presentation, whether it’s online or face-to-face, the one that we really want to go well – the big presentation! Maybe it’s presenting our new strategy to the board, … Continue reading
Giving a project update
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer Project updates are a key part of landing projects successfully – it’s really important to keep stakeholders updated on progress. The way you deliver your updates can be the difference between your … Continue reading
Deal with tough questions that make you feel nervous
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer Nobody likes tough questions. Especially when you aren’t prepared for them! The feeling of a loss of control, that we might not be able to answer the question or that we can’t … Continue reading
Supporting Young Scientists – Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019
Indigo are proud to champion university teams through our ongoing Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019. Jack Fleet was a member of the University of Manchester’s winning YES19 team, Larvita. ‘Our business idea was a vertical insect farm producing … Continue reading
Writing virtually: collaboration and clarity make for great documents that get results
This is a critical time for most organisations and more than ever, documents and communications need to be clear, understandable, and to the point. Have you thought about how you are helping the people on your teams to achieve this? … Continue reading
Navigating the new normal: getting your message across
Imagine that you have just concluded an online meeting or briefing. Everyone who was in that virtual space heads to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Their partner joins them. “What was your meeting about?” they ask. Are … Continue reading
Crucial conversations
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer There are times in our career when we all have to have difficult conversations. As Managers, we may need to have a conversation with a team member to discuss a required behavioural … Continue reading
Getting your point across to a difficult stakeholder
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer We all have those colleagues and customers that we find difficult. More often than not, it’s one of our important stakeholders. They might be demanding. They might talk over us or appear … Continue reading
Think on Your Feet® Charity Challenge 2020 – March update.
The Think on Your Feet® charity challenge is a new initiative for 2020. We first ran the competition in December 2019, it was so successful we’ve decided to keep running it. The challenge gives delegates the opportunity to practise their … Continue reading
Think before you speak
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer How often do you find yourself launching into answering a question – then part way through you realise you’re not saying what you wanted to say? Worse still, you’ve said something that … Continue reading
Charity Challenge (February 2020 – Manchester) – Think on Your Feet®
We delivered another great Think on Your Feet® workshop in Manchester this week. Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. Due to its success we ran our third charity challenge. … Continue reading
Charity Challenge (January 2020 – London) – Think on Your Feet®
Here at Indigo we’ve had a busy start to 2020. We delivered another busy Think on Your Feet® workshop in London. Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. The charity … Continue reading
Sponsoring The Engineers And Scientists Of The Future (YES19)
The final of the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES19) global competition was held on Tuesday 10 December at the Royal Society, London. Teams of postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers went head-to-head to compete for a prize fund of £15K. Every year … Continue reading
Charity Challenge (December 2019 – London) – Think on Your Feet®
Congratulations to Charlotte Cullen from Wolff Olins for winning the London Think on Your Feet® Charity Challenge last week. Charlotte delivered a passionate, informative and heartfelt pitch telling us why her chosen charity should get a £100 donation. Voted the … Continue reading
Anxiety when communicating, can cloud your thinking
You’ve been expecting that really tricky, difficult conversation with a key stakeholder. Within the first few minutes you get a response, a question that you didn’t anticipate and the rest of the conversation goes a bit wrong. You’ve spent days … Continue reading
Soft skills are essential for strong business growth
As a seasoned communications professional with experience spanning four decades working with a variety of large and small organisations, I feel I have built up a powerful armoury of soft skills. Which is comforting, especially in light of the fact … Continue reading
A mum’s tale – Thinking on your feet after a career break.
After a career break to raise two boys, the day finally came to wave my youngest off to school. The time was right for me to return to work. I’ll be honest, although I was excited about the prospect of … Continue reading
Essential soft skills for graduates
Most newly employed graduates have the sector-specific knowledge required to hit the ground running, yet many lack the fundamental practical core skills that prevent them actually doing the job and reaching their full potential. These transferable skills, used across the … Continue reading
When you need to answer quickly and persuasively…
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet®, Six Thinking Hats® and Skilled Presenter™ trainer. Imagine you’re asked to present at a really important meeting. You’re ok with the presentation itself but the questions and answers section fills you with dread! … Continue reading
When your mind goes blank, when writing…
You’ve got a great idea. You need to sell your idea. Your fingers hit the keyboard. Your mind goes blank? Absolutely nothing! Your mind goes blank. You’ve got writer’s block. This happens to all of us at times. So how … Continue reading
