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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
Indigo Business Services Named Exclusive UK Distributor for Think on Your Feet®
RICHMOND, UK, 30 August 2018: McLuhan & Davies Communications, Inc. has appointed their exclusive UK distributor, Indigo Business Services Limited. Indigo will be the sole provider of their suite of business-communication workshops in the UK. “From September 2018 our 17-year relationship … Continue reading
Getting your message across when writing
By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. We’ve all been writing for most of our lives and have developed our own style and method. Most of us probably haven’t questioned … Continue reading
Changing the way you do things
By Richard White – de Bono Accredited Trainer. Change for the better is always good but we have to make it happen, we can’t sit back and wait for it. Adding to that, the old adage “nothing is perfect” suggests … Continue reading
Making your words effective and dynamic
We all know that time is money: constructing documents, presenting or in dialogue. And the time it commands from your recipient to read, attend or listen. Whatever we write and say has to hit the mark. It doesn’t matter how … Continue reading
Making communication style work for you
By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. When we talk about communication style we are referring to the expression of ideas. Whatever you have to say, expressing it well will … Continue reading
Getting complex and technical information across
By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™, The Skilled Presenter™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. Communicating complex or technical information to an audience that has no special knowledge of the subject is always challenging. We recently … Continue reading
Making emails work
By Richard White – Writing Dynamics™ Master Trainer When you glance down the list of senders in your email inbox, do different names create different expectations? Some people’s emails are a pleasure to read: you know they’ll be clear; to … Continue reading
The (ugly) truth about workplace communication.
Excellent verbal and written communication-skills is a standard requirement in today’s workplace. Communication plays a vital role in your company’s success and productivity. And ignoring it can be dangerous. Download our FREE infographic: The (ugly) truth about workplace communication. It reveals the … Continue reading
My Writing Dynamics™ experience
Having recently started at Indigo Training, part of my induction programme was to attend the two-day Writing Dynamics™. I was really excited about the opportunity to develop my professional writing style. Not only was it an insightful learning opportunity, the … Continue reading
Good writing leads…
I had a discussion recently with someone who didn’t think writing was a leadership skill, rather, something to be learned by new hires versus the old hands. I found this interesting. Only recently I’d heard of a senior executive being … Continue reading
Improving how your graduates write
Madison Abernethy recently graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada, where she developed strong interests in marketing, media and corporate communications. Throughout University she was plagued by writer’s block. She admits that 95% of her designated writing … Continue reading
Selling your ideas – stakeholder communication
Our blended, computer simulation based, Stakeholder Engagement (including Simulation)™ defines a stakeholder as ‘anyone that can affect what you are trying to achieve.’ Engaging and communicating with these groups is core to business and project success. These include colleagues, customers, … Continue reading
Selling your ideas – cutting though the noise…
Guaranteeing clarity of your message is becoming harder because of increasing disruption and distraction in today’s business environment. You still need to get people to read, see, listen and understand what you are trying to say. How can you be … Continue reading
Is your writing ruining your reputation?
Six mistakes that could cost you customers. Adapted from the original article by Joyce Restaino. There is no sale until you sell yourself. Every business professional knows that. Whether you are selling your ideas to your boss, selling yourself to … Continue reading
Stand out reports
Do you hate writing reports, yet find you are writing more and more of them? We’ve been working with business professionals to improve their written communication skills for nearly 15 years. By listening to the challenges and objectives of our … Continue reading
Breakthrough in communication DNA
Think on Your Feet International, Inc. have recently announced some interesting findings from the results of their study about how the left- and the right-side of the brain influences communication. The brain is an amazing organ that we still need to … Continue reading
Calculate the readability of your documents.
Everyone loves a clear and concise document. What’s more, the easier your document is to read, the more likely your message will be understood and actioned. The Fog Index is a simple way you can assess how accessible your writing is. Follow these simple steps to calculate you readability statistics. Continue reading
Presenting boring facts and figures in an interesting way…
One of our recent Skilled Presenter delegates (thanks John Shaw) saw this pretty impressive way of communicating those dull statistics and sent it to us. Take a few moments to view this and tell me your not impressed with Stockholm… Continue reading
Love from Indigo – your Valentine gift from us…
With love in the air, and as Valentine’s Day approaches, we at Indigo would like to share the love by giving you a heart warming 20% off selected open workshops – but only for the next 48 hours. There are 27 open … Continue reading
Did you miss the Skilled Presenter webinar today?
If you missed the Skilled Presenter webinar, or would like to forward it to a friend to listen / watch, simply go to this link: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/430260254 Continue reading
Think on Your Feet: 3 Steps to Success – Top Tip No. 3 – Remember the rule of threes to stay on track.
Our final ‘Top Tip’ is this series looks at when we are subject matter experts and get wrapped up in too much detail. If we are passionate, our emotions override our logic and we ramble. Continue reading
Think on Your Feet: 3 Steps to Success – Tip No.2 – Identify triggers to know how to respond.
In our last blog of this series, (see http://www.indigobusiness.co.uk/blog/?p=1108), we discussed listening skills, to gain understanding before reacting. The example we used was when you are talking to your team about implementing a new process and you hear “Why is this company always making things more complicated”. A good listener will acknowledge that change can be challenging. If spoken with sincerity it will help move the conversation in the right direction. Continue reading
How to master the art of thinking quickly on your feet.
Caught off guard by a question at work, do you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind? Or do you take a moment to marshal your thoughts? Continue reading
Customer service – the make, or break, of your brand.
“Their Customer Service was awful, I’m never using that company again!” – how many times have you heard people say that? Companies spend thousands of pounds every year on their marketing budget ensuring they portray a positive image of their … Continue reading
Evaluation – just an add-on?
You have probably done it yourself. It’s the end of the course, people are starting to think about the train home or tomorrow’s meeting, and the trainer smiles and gives you an A4 sheet asking for your feedback.The course was … Continue reading
What makes a Best Man?
I made some pretty big decisions around that time. One such decision was ‘who to have as my Best Man’. So what are the criteria for a good ‘Best Man’? Well, my Best Man, Andy, was first and foremost a great friend. He was (and still is!) liked by many for being trustworthy, great fun and a witty. Continue reading
Think on Your Feet – Tell ’em, tell ’em and tell ’em again!
What if your sound bite is only a minute? Isn’t this too much ‘telling ‘em’? If so, try what we call the ‘informal’ standard format. Continue reading
