topic Archives

Safeguarding positions

9 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

Strength.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Strong and capable teams are made up of strong and capable individuals.

Domino effect.
Being able to robustly defend ideas and positions is not just important to the individual. It challenges the team in a productive way and makes the whole team stronger.

What we do.
RTTA’s ‘soft skills for real results’ workshops promote individual strength because the stronger people are the more they can contribute to the group.

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Catalysing change

8 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

High value decisions.
Persuading someone to spend a lot of money or make a big change or commitment isn’t easy. If it is easy then you are probably not demanding enough and you could be striking a better deal.

The reality.
The techniques that work best for big deals and long-term commitments are different to the usual persuasion techniques of “It is really great, you should buy/do it”. Developing the long-term relationships and trust that big commitments require is a marathon not a sprint. Even small problems can derail the whole process.

Why RTTA?
RTTA’s ‘soft skills for real results’ commitment is to sustainable techniques that work over the long term. This is not a quick fix. This is a commitment to the future.

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Being a decision maker

7 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

Too many options.
Intelligent people often have difficulty making decisions. They usually see more possible consequences of any given choice and that inevitably leads to other choices and then an overwhelming number of possibilities to take into account.

The reality.
However being able to make swift decisions when needed is necessary to capitalise on new opportunities and ideas.

How we help.
RTTA’s ‘soft skills for real results’ training enhances your staff’s ability to focus in what really matters and so make timely decisions that keep your group out in front.

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Sharing feedback

6 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

What’s in a name?
Whether you call it criticism or the slightly more sanitised “feedback”, giving someone the news that you are not happy with their performance has the potential to anger and demotivate them.

The reality.
Criticism is a necessary part of improving and although people know that when talking about criticism, the story is usually different when they are actually receiving it. They usually just defend themselves against the information.

Reframing.
‘Soft skills for real results’ focuses on ways to deliver criticism such that people actually accept the information and are inspired to perform better in the future. These soft skills quickly yield real results.

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Productive teams

5 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

Diversity.
It is often said that trying to get intelligent people to agree is like trying to herd cats. Innovative teams need diversity, disagreement and different skills. However there is a problem, too much disagreement and you go from team to war-zone.

Teamwork.
Achieving the correct balance that drives both innovation and productivity is difficult. Maintaining that balance over an extended period requires constant attention.

What we do.
RTTA’s ‘soft skills for real results’ ensures that individual team members are energised, flexible and aware of their own contributions and skills. Only then can the team as a whole be truly productive.

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Driving innovation

4 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

New ground.
Innovative solutions are essential for success in the modern world. Evolve or die is fine if you are happy just to run with the herd.

Staying ahead.
If you want to accelerate and be ahead of the crowd, you need to actively test new approaches and transform your team’s attitude to innovation. However, finding the right balance between being productive and maintaining innovation can be difficult.

Nurturing.
‘Soft skills for real results’ builds the team’s capacity for innovation in two ways: Increasing the creativity of the individuals and also by developing the team environment. This means the costly ideas get identified early and the most profitable ideas flourish.

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Mastering relationships

3 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

Inevitable.
Encountering difficult people is an unavoidable part of working. Dealing with them within the team or as customers takes up valuable time and energy. It is essential to do this efficiently to minimise the costs.

The right tools.
RTTA boosts your team’s insight into the real motivation behind difficult behaviour and gives them the appropriate tools and confidence to deal with problematic people and situations.

The result.
This enables your team to eliminate unnecessary costs and conflicts. ‘Soft skills for real results’ means a significant reduction in these unnecessary costs.

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Applying leadership

2 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

‘Soft skills for real results’ starts with individuals.
George Carlin said: There may be no “I” in “TEAM” but there definitely is one in “Independent”, “Intelligent” and “Innovative”. Knowing and adapting to the needs of individual team members is essential when leading groups of high achieving people.

Energy is no use if you cannot harness it.
Groups of highly intelligent people are prone to their own set of problems. Teams made up of highly motivated and well qualified men and women (who have strong and well thought out opinions) are powder kegs waiting to go off if not managed skilfully.

Going into over-drive.
RTTA maximises client’s leadership skills so that you can get the best out of your best people. Soft skills that achieve real results.

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Building confidence

1 Januar 2015/in topic/von Robert Thompson

Soft skills for real results in building confidence
Confidence is tremendously important. Low confidence means goals are not set high enough. Over-confidence can lead to not taking sufficient precautions.

Don’t tell people to be more confident.
Simply telling someone to be more confident (or perhaps less confident) doesn’t give them any feeling about where to set challenging but achievable goals.

What RTTA does.
RTTA gives understanding about how confidence is built and so gives people the tools to be more confident while retaining a realistic regard for the very real obstacles on the way.

True confidence is not about ignoring the problems. True confidence is knowing that problems exist but also knowing that you can solve those problems. RTTA will uplift your soft skills to enable real results for you personally and your company.

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“It is amazing how much I learned during this two days of workshop! The skills we discussed and developed there will definitively be of great help for me in the future not only for my career path but also in my everyday life. Rob knows how to make the atmosphere pleasant for everyone to feel comfortable, speak and exchange ideas. Thanks a lot!”

PhD. Candidate,

ETH, Zurich.

“Amazingly the workshop was tailored specifically to the needs of the participants, no other workshop I attended managed to have such an immediate impact on my work and career.”

PhD. Candidate,

University of Luebeck.

.
“Excellent! I felt very energetic after the workshop. The workshop made me think about different aspects of leadership and better understanding myself and others in leadership and conflicting types of situations.”

Postdoc,

Max Planck Institute of Brain Research. Frankfurt am Main.

“Really enjoyed the two days and learned a great deal. The red, blue and green liners will remain with me forever!”

Postdoc,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“Just want to let you know that your workshop was the most fun one ever, and I also have the feeling that it will turn out to be the most useful one.”

Postdoc,

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried.

“What impressed me most was Rob’s self-confidence model and how you can overcome low self-confidence. I feel like this is a skill not only useful in job hunting, but also in daily life. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.”

PhD. Candidate,

Cluster of Excellence Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

“The teamleading workshop given by Rob Thompson was one of the best workshops I ever attended. Due to its interactivity and the topics chosen directly by the participants time was flying. I really learned a lot and will probably also make use of this knowledge in my daily life. I am looking forward to the next workshop. Thank you!”

PhD. Candidate,

University of Luebeck.

“I attended Rob’s course several years ago. His advices (and actual insights) regarding leadership and conflict management were extremely valuable to me and have left their footprint in my leadership qualities and thus helped me during my career.”

Professor,

University of Wuerzburg.

“Thanks for your very entertaining and insightful workshop.”

Professor,

University of Luebeck.

“The workshop was brilliant, made me think about different points of views that I have never thought before. It is a great amount of material and information to process, however it opened my mind to different perspectives regarding work strategies and personal communication.”

PhD. Candidate,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“Finally, a program that does not TELL you to be more confident or come with a RECIPE book (neither ever worked anyway), BUT someone who makes you REALIZE confidence and strengths and simply WANT to go after them and enforce them in your everyday behaviour.”

PhD. Candidate,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“I really enjoyed your workshop and your workshop style. There was and still is a lot of stuff to think about and to digest and the workshop definitely made me much more aware of certain points.”

PhD. Candidate,

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig.

“If there is any workshop I would love to attend over and over again or recommend it to anyone, then it must be Rob’s. Thank you so much for the wonderful seminar that left me positively energized and ready for any leadership role.”

PhD. Candidate,

Medizinische Hochschule Hannover / Hannover Medical School.

“Very interesting and inspiring workshop with participants completely in control.”

Professor,

University of Luebeck.

“Rob was very approachable and found a very accessible way to convey useful theoretical concepts in a very digestible form for the typically social science limited natural scientist.”

PhD. Candidate,

Medizinische Hochschule Hannover / Hannover Medical School.

“Thank you again for your wonderful and inspiring course.”

Postdoc,

University of Bayreuth.

“We wanted a Scientific Management workshop and a colleague recommended RTTA – it was a good choice: All participants agreed it was one of the best workshops they ever attended!”

Coordinator of the Integrated Graduate College,

University of Würzburg.

“Thank you for the wonderful workshops, I enjoyed them very much!”

PhD. Candidate.

Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin.

“Thanks for an awesome workshop!”

PhD. Candidate,

Max f. Perutz Laboratories, Vienna.

“Thanks for the great workshop! It really made me see things from a different angle even though it is common sense. The atmosphere was amazing!”

PhD. Candidate,

Max f. Perutz Laboratories, Vienna.

“Thank you very much for your excellent talk in Münster. I gained some new insights which will be very useful in everyday business situations.”

Business Unit Manager,

Management Consultancy, Münster.

“I would like you to know that your workshop had a huge impact on me and I will be forever grateful for that!”

PhD. Candidate.

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried.

“I wanted to thank you again for the course and the extra-material you sent us afterwards. I especially liked your style of moderation – instead of suggesting a fixed schedule you supported the positive dynamics in the group and helped us to reflect and reinvent ourselves. Thank you!”

International Max Planck Research School Coordinator.

“First ever workshop after which I implemented the ideas and noticed some change.”

Postdoc,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“I finally found somebody who could analytically describe many (if not all) of the negative and positive behaviours I see around me almost every day. And I didn’t expect to hear anything like that during the workshop, so I was really positively surprised.”

Postdoc,

University of Basel, Switzerland.

“The whole perspective I had for dealing with people completely changed after this workshop.”

PhD. Candidate,

Max Planck Institute of Iron Research, Düsseldorf.

“It was my first workshop with Rob and the experience was just amazing. Very interactive and dynamic. All the problems presented were attacked from different angles and the solutions were not just presented, he lead us to them through brainstorming and logic. I will definitely attend more workshops from him.”

PhD. Candidate,

International Max Planck Research School for Ultrafast Imaging & Structural Dynamics / DESY, Hamburg.

“The atmosphere in this workshop was one of the best I ever had: Rob was very helpful and flexible in terms of topics, participants could discuss freely about their thoughts and opinions. It was relaxed and open but never boring. Thanks for a very good workshop, the content is useful for everyone!”

PhD. Candidate,

ETH, Zurich.

“Thank you very much for the notes. I am also thankful for the new perspective I got on the workshop, it certainly helps with the handling of some people!”

PhD. Candidate,

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität, Hannover.

“My first intention was to attend the workshop for 1 hour, as I was not actively looking for a new job. However, at the end of the workshop, I did not want to leave, as there is so much more to learn from Rob about ways to excel at work and beyond. Thank you!”

Management Consultant,

Sofia, Bulgaria.

“I have never seen a more engaging and passionate life coach. I am glad I attended. The content was very transformative.”

PhD. Candidate,

European Forest Institute. Joensuu, Finland.

“The course was the one with the most “Aha!” experiences I ever had. Many possibilities for self-reflection. Rob was a great and inspiring teacher.”

Researcher,

University of Luebeck.

“The fact that Rob allows participants to choose their own topics allows him to tackle every issue so that everyone is satisfied.”

PhD. Candidate,

Charité-Universitaetsmedizin, Berlin.

“If I have to describe the workshop in one word, I would say it was fantastic. Great atmosphere, friendly brainstorming about topics that matter not only in your work but also in private life. One of the best workshops I attended so far.”

Postdoc,

University of Luebeck.

“Rob’s workshop provided me with an effective intelligible framework to disentangle my apprehension of tricky professional interactions. If only I had been told all this much earlier! I’m sure I would have spared myself months of listening unavailingly to the wrong persons and trying to follow the wrong advice. I feel better armed now.”

Postdoc group leader.

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“Thank you for your workshop, it was resourceful, entertaining and refreshing all at the same time. I feel more confident, even my colleagues (!!!) noticed that.”

Postdoc,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“We appreciate the reliable and engaging cooperation with Rob. He is a very professional and experienced trainer. His workshops regularly receive very good reviews by participants. Our doctoral candidates and postdocs cherish especially the open structure and the fact that they decide on the topics dealt with in the workshops.”

Coordinator,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“The workshop was indeed remarkable.”

PhD. Candidate,

University Caen Basse-Normandie, France.

“It was indeed one of the most helpful and motivating workshops I’ve ever attended.”

Postdoc,

University of Würzburg.

“I want to thank you Rob, because every single advice you gave during your workshop was important, especially those about the things that are between the lines.”

Dr. Inga Oberpichler, Managing director,

Center for Doctoral Studies Lübeck (CDSL), Universität zu Lübeck.

“One of the best workshops ever!”

Postdoc,

University of Würzburg.

“Thank you again for the seminar. I liked the day. And I was already able to make use of some of the things we talked about.”

Professor,

University of Frankfurt.

“Thanks again for the best ever workshop we had this week. I’m already implementing the ideas we discussed and have a positive outcome.”

Postdoc,

Dahlem Research School, Freie Universität, Berlin.

“I would strongly recommend people to go to Rob’s workshops which are really tailored for your specific needs and wishes with a really non-traditional point of view.”

Postdoc,

Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich.

“I was very glad to join in your perfect workshop.”

PhD. Candidate,

Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) - Centre for Materials and Coastal Research.

“If you look back at your life and try to identify the moments that influenced your career, your workshop would be one of them.”

Postdoc,

Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.

“I have attended many workshops of this kind over the past years, but this was by far the best one, mainly because of all the easy-to-follow daily-life advices. I also liked that we covered so many different aspects, that are or will become essential for our future career planning.”

PhD. Candidate,

Medizinische Hochschule Hannover / Hannover Medical School.