Onsite Workshops By Francois Basili: Transforming People’s Notion of What’s Possible At Work Register now to receive our free award-winning "Thank God It's Monday" newsletter, with ideas for training, communication, teamwork, innovation, culture change and more. Get TGIM Newsletter » REGISTER NOW Send Page To a Friend Call Us at 973-427-3004

Looking for a different kind of training that touches the hearts and minds of participants in a profound way enabling them to break the grip of self-imposed limitations? Searching for learning that leads people to view their work, the organization, and themselves in a new way that enables them to consistently produce extraordinary results? Want an experience that produces a qualitative shift in attitude and performance, and creates a new culture of achievement at work? Then invite Francois Basili to deliver one of the training workshops below..

The Assumptions Behind Our Work Whether you choose our "RelationShifts" for team building and change; "Applying Emotional Intelligence At Work"; "Critical Conversations"; "Diversity / Cross Cultural Communications"; or "Creativity at Work", your team will experience a different kind of training that produces real-world results. That's because we build all our training programs on the following set of fundamental assumptions that produce positive results for participants: What people focus on becomes their reality: We invite people to shift their focus from the problems they want to fix to the bigger picture of the exciting future they want to create. Taking the Best of the Past to the Future: The most confident way for people to move to the future  is to carry forward the best parts of the past. We help people identify what works best for them and take it forward to create larger accomplishments. Change Starts With The Individual We invite participants to adopt Ghandi's principle, "We must become the change we want to see in the world." Commitment to Action One of our key assumptions is that everybody wants to do good work that brings them self-satisfaction and the recognition and appreciation of others. Participants learn how to build upon this to inspire a desire for action and achievement in themselves and others. Because this desire is self-generated, it produces much better results than external incentives and rewards. Our Words Create Our World: The language we use to talk to ourselves and others creates our reality. In all our workshops, we introduce a new "language" that helps people collaborate and achieve resutls.

Our Workshops Help People Break Through the Barriers to Great Achievements Our workshops are powerfully motivating. We bring real-life examples of untraditional thinking and extraordinary accomplishments to observe, absorb, and learn from. Here is an example from a TV commercial for Adidas, whose words say: Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

We Use The Power of Ideas In workshops by Francois Basili, participants are introduced to powerful ideas that stimulate new ways of viewing familiar patterns. Participants then work together to apply the ideas and test their skills in new ways of thinking and working.

Our Training Equips Participants With a New Way of Communicating at Work Because communication is the primary means for humans to interact, our workshops pay a special attention to the language used by people at work. Through real-life exercises, processes and inquiry into the nature of communication, participants discover previously-unexamined relationships between language and action. Rather than communicating in a way that creates conflict and stifles enthusiasm, participants are introduced to a structure of communication that enables them to inspire collaboration and evoke action.

Discovering the Source of Action and Satisfaction In workshops by Francois Basili, participants are coached in the source of their own effectiveness and ability to accomplish. The sense of constraint is lifted in a way that makes action exciting and personally satisfying.

Creating a Personal Vision of Continuous Accomplishments Our workshops are designed with the benefit of the latest research findings in fields such as organizational and personal developments, emotional intelligence (EQ), communication theory, appreciative enquiry, creative thinking, system thinking, culture change, and more. We often help participants understand the essence of their behavior and its sources, using a model that takes them from I Feel, to I Think, to I Say, to I Do. Once the cycle is understood and mastered, moving from intuition to action becomes a more assured and productive process. To bring concepts down to earth, we often provide participants with the physical metaphor of the organization, and the mind, as a Box. Participants learn to understand the Box and how it influences their behavior. They are then shown ways to break through the boundaries of the Box to venture outside it, in a way that enables them to see and create a more satisfying vision of continuous accomplishments.

Our Transformational Workshops Ignite a Passion for Positive Work Our mission is reflected in our work. We are dedicated to helping people change their outlook and create a more positive and productive work culture where people say, Thank God It's Monday! The concepts, techniques, and activities we offer in our workshops are all designed to deliver to participants an exhilarating experience of learning, change, and personal commitment. No wonder this is reflected back to us in the glowing feedback participants write in their evaluation sheets. Here are just a few of them..   What People Said About Our Workshops:   Illuminating, useful, and new. Excellent workshop. Very good workshop. Timing is good at planning cycle. Opens up new thinking and not accepting status quo. Extremely interesting. Would like to pursue further. The Big Idea Game; Excellent. Brought out areas of applications that people would normally overlook. Basili got people involved – made them think – gave them a different perspective on different approaches. Enlightening. You should be the mediator / negotiator for the U.S. in the Middle East. Your (communication) seminar was excellent. Very informative and useful. Group interactions were most illuminating and fun   The Topics Covered In Workshops By Francois Basili..

RelationShifts- A Transformational Experience for Teams RelationShifts is a transformational team experience that goes beyond traditional team building training: It is a highly inspiring, deep discovery, passion-filled half-day or full-day session that goes beyond traditional motivational team buliding. It is an opportunity to understand, accept, and create significant change in the team and the organization. It is an invitation to experience and adopt a different Mental Model for doing business in a Not-As-Usual way to create extraordinary business results. It is an introduction of a new way of communicating and working in a positive, emotionally intelligent manner that creates collaboration and commitment. Click here for more information on this unique team building experience

Manager-Employee Communication: We Offer a Number of Workshops to Meet Your Specific Needs We offer several customizable versions of our powerful communication training workshop. We work with you to understand your specific needs and then design a program that responds specifically to these needs. Our communication training provides participants with a practically new language, new way of talking and relating, that transforms the way they work with others. We can deliver one of the programs described below, or a customized combination of some of them for maximum relevance to your needs. The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished – George Bernard Shaw

Critical Conversations In our Critical Conversatoins workshop, participants will learn to apply specific Talking Tools to a host of challenging communication encounters of particularly high stakes and sensitivity. The Talking, Persuading, and Influencing Tools participants learn and practice in this workshop will enable them to achieve decidedly positive results in working with others as they encounter the following TEN difficult communication situations: Giving Effective Praise that portrays sincerity and generates motivation and enthusiasm. Delivering Criticism without creating confrontation and conflict Conducting or participating in effective Performance Review sessions Conducting or participating in an effective Interview for a new job or promotion Making an Apology that touches the heart and convinces the mind. Asking Effective Questions to probe for facts and provoke for ideas. Arguing without Offending Communicating to Build Rapport and Create Trust Communicating to Create Collaboration and Engagement Communicating to Resolve Conflict and Reach Agreement Click here for more information on Critical Conversations

Listening for Understanding- Communicating for Commitment Workshop At a correction facility in New York a few years ago, this workshop was presented to managers working in perhaps the toughest work culture in the world: delivering health services to the inmates of the jail facility. The dramatic change in attitude and communication practices after the workshop was noticeable to participants and to top leadership that wrote to us in recognition of our work. Click here for more information on Listening for Understanding- Communicating for Commitment Workshop."

The Manager As Communicator Workshop This powerful, flexible training workshop enables managers to: Understand the relationship between communication and performance, and the importance of the manager's role as communicator. Understand the key elements of the organization's strategy and learn the most effective ways to communicate them to employees. Improve the manager's speaking and listening skills Apply these skills to practical day-to-day communication in work situations on the job. Click for more information on Manager As Communicator

Applying Emotional Intelligence At Work Leaders, managers, supervisors, and professionals taking our "Applying EQ at Work"  workshop will: Gain an honest and accurate awareness of themselves Monitor and manage their own emotions and behaviors for their own benefit and that of their team and department Have a positive influence on the emotions and motivation of others Develop cohesive, emotionally intelligent teams that produce breakthrough results Create an atmosphere that fosters emotional intelligence, respect, collaboration, and creativity. Click here for more information on Applying EQ at Work

The Workshop On Change: Changing For Good Our work in major organizational and culture change initiatives in the US and abroad has shown that the way to help people accept and manage change is to involve them in the change experience in a personal way. We found that people will become a champion of organizational change when they feel that they themselves are changing as well. This gives them something personal to cherish. It’s the answer to the unspoken yet ever present question of “What’s In It For Me?” In this workshop, participants get involved in the change process in a way that applies Gandhi’s requirement that “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” The workshop takes participants on an exhilarating journey of personal change, where they experience change in a way that alters it from a danger to an opportunity. Once they adopt the change process as their own, participants forge ahead with great excitement to create the new world that change promises.

Creativity At Work Workshop You must have heard your boss or a colleague or perhaps yourself, at one time or another say, "we must think outside the box." That sounds good. But how exactly can you do that? Is this kind of thinking something you can learn to do? Many experts say yes. In our Creativity At Work training workshops, we use simple ways to measure participants' creativity before and after the training. Just in the course of the workshop itself, we measured a 25% increase in participants' ability to generate ideas and find creative solutions to workplace problems. Training Magazine declared in an article, "Beyond a doubt, creative problem-solving techniques can lead to successful results." Click here for more information on Creativity At Work workshop.

Diversity at Work Onsite Workshop We take diversity personally. Our twenty years of experience in diversity programs has shown that it's only when people take diversity personally that they are able to turn it into a practice at work. In our nationally recognized diversity training, we do make the business case for diversity. But the way we make this last is by inspiring people to develop a personal commitment to diversity that enables them to manage it effectively everyday on the job. Click here for more information on Diversity At Work Training Workshop

Cross Cultural Communication and Global Skills Upon completing this workshop, and depending on their needs, participants will be able to: Understand and develop the key competencies that they need to work and interact effectively with people of different cultural backgrounds in general. Understand the specific culture they will be living and working with in a way that enables them to function effectively and succeed in it. Understand the cultural patterns, styles of thinking and communicating, and norms of behaviors of the people they will work with. Understand the particular work culture of the organization they will work with in a way that helps them succeed in it. Address any individual needs or challenges participants have as it relates to working effectively in the culture of interest. Click here for more information on Cross Cultural Skills Training

The American Way: Understanding And Working With Americans The American Way Workshop is a must for anyone seriously committed to interacting effectively with Americans in the US or abroad. The workshop provides participants with deeper understanding of what made America what it's today, while giving them ways to apply that understanding in dealing with Americans in various encounters, from socializing, learning, and communicating, to doing business, negotiating and building relationships.

Unveiling Arab Culture: Understanding And Working With the Arabs Are you about to work with the Arabs, or already working with them, in the US or in the Middle East, and need to understand their ways of thinking and working ? Whether your relationship with the Arabs is commercial, cultural, educational, or political, better understanding leads to better results. Our onsite workshop will give you deeper insight into the Arab mind, culture, religion and currents of thinking. "Francois, I want you to know that your 'Arab Culture' was the most popular class...and was completely filled one-half hour after registration began. At people's insistence, I have a very long waiting list..." - From a letter from the administrator of the Community Education Program, Bechtel International.

Your Training Facilitator: Francois Basili Francois Basili, founder of New Training Ideas and its parent company, Communication Ideas, has more than twenty years experience as a corporate training/ HRD and communication executive and consultant. He led a number of major cultural transformations for organizations in the US and abroad. He developed nationally recognized multi-cultural communication and diversity programs, and led workshops attended by executives from American, European, and Asian corporations. Basili's workshops helped to dramatically change participants' performance at some of the toughest work cultures in the world, such as Bechtel's projects in Saudi Arabia, and a correction facility (jail) system in New York. Mr. Basili has given speeches to national and international audiences in major training conferences for the Strategic Research Institute and others, and has given interviews to several national publications on critical workplace issues. He has developed nationally distributed training programs on diversity, communication skills, creativity, emotional intelligence, and others. Basili's corporate experience included heading the training/HRD and communication departments for a $1.2 billion, 12000 employee healthcare organization in New York. Before that he headed the community services and commercial operations functions for Bechtel Group at the largest project in the world at the time, the $20 Billion Jubail Project in Saudi Arabia. His writings on communication and training topics appeared in publications in the US and abroad. He is the editor of TGIM newsletter read by thousands of training and communication professionals around the world. He holds a B.S. in Engineering, and a Masters in Public Administration from New York University. Contact Communication Ideas at info@communicationideas.com Or call: 1-973-427-3004

We Use Blended Media / Experiential Training Approach for Best Results Our continuously interactive onsite training is a multi-sensory, multi-style experience that stimulates and appeals to participants' various learning styles. Our workshops use a Blended Media / Experiential learning approach for maximum learning impact. We use music, language, images, stories, activities, role-plays, and self-discovery tools to meet a variety of learning styles. We use stimulating quizzes, powerful role plays, mind-expanding activities, videos, music, and slides, all working together to deliver an exhilarating, passionately positive learning experience. Contact Communication Ideas at info@communicationideas.com Or call: 1-973-427-3004

Our Training Works: How We Measured the Impact of Our Training, and How You Can Measure Yours Don't believe those who try to tell you that we just cannot know whether a training on soft skills yields results or not. A communication training program I delivered to the health care service staff at a New York correction facility is a case in point. The impact of the training was measured in four different ways, all easy to administer and can be used for most soft skills training. First, I designed a role-play that participants do at the beginning of the workshop, and then again at the end of the workshop, revealing whether they know how to use the skills they have just learned. The second way was the written evaluation sheets participants completed at the end of the training. The third was an evaluation form the supervisor completed 3 to 6 months after the training. And the fourth way was using key organizational indicators. Here is a summary of the results of our training at the correction facility: 1- Pre and Post Workshop Role-Plays: In simple, yet powerfully revealing role-plays, participants work on a problem of their choosing – one they encounter frequently at work. Working in groups, they are left to try to solve the problem on their own, using their current communication styles. At the end of the workshop, participants are again asked to try to solve the same work problem they faced before, this time by applying the new communication approaches they have learned. Here are the results from a workshop given at a correction facility in New York, a tough correction facility environment: Before: five out of seven groups could not reach an agreement on how to solve the problem they have chosen. Only two succeeded in reaching an agreement. After the Workshop; All seven groups were able to reach an agreement on solving the problem, proving that the new communication skills they acquired made a real difference in the way they work together. 2- Written Evaluations At the End of the Workshop: - I wish I had heard this before my secretary quit. - Caused me to rethink my own style with people I supervise and my bosses. - I think this is a very positive way to fix the communication problems. - Very enlightening. Very helpful to problems we have here. - Excellent – Gave me new approaches to solve problems. - I considered myself a good communicator. I realize I was doing some things wrong. It will help me now to deal with coworkers and supervisors better. 3- Three To Six Months Later: Working with the HR department who checked with line managers three to six months after the training provided us with a third way of measuring the impact of training. Using a simple form the supervisor completes about the performance of the trainee, we got another series of validations that people were still using the skills and tools months after learning them in the workshop. 4- Key Organizational Indicators: In the correction facility case, we used the number of union-filed grievances as one of the measures of the impact of the overall change effort, of which training was a key component. The number indeed dropped down significantly the year after. Other possible key indicators to use are results of employee opinion surveys, customer surveys, employee turn over rates, employee exit interviews, and similar culture and performance indicators. Get the Thank God It's Monday Newsletter Email: Send Page To a Friend

3 in 1 EQ Certification: An Innovative Program for Trainers, Consultants, and Managers Do you want to be trained and certified to deliver some of our powerful workshops to your internal or external clients in the US or abroad? If so, we have a great opportunity for you: A 3 day certification that gives you 3 workshops in one process. You will be trained and certified to deliver our three popular workshops; Applying EQ At Work; Creativity At Work, and RelationShifts for team building and transformation. And you get $2000 worth of materials, resources, and tools with your certification, in addition to your affiliation with a fast growing training company, HumaNext (Communication Ideas / New Training Ideas) offering every kind of training tool for all key skills in all media. You cannot ask for a better partner. Click here for our Certification page

On My Way to Jail, I Thought of Communication Training.. The intimidating, tough-looking warden pushed the large round key into the key-hole of the solid steel door, turned the key several times, then pulled the door very slowly, making a terrible shrieking sound, to let me into the large jail compound. He then closed the door behind me, turned around and walked and I followed him silently. It was the first time of my life to enter a jail. The reason: To deliver a training workshop on communication skills! Even though this happened about fifteen years ago, I still vividly remember this unique experience. Read the rest of this unusual training experience by Francois Basili at the bottom of the page.. Get the Thank God It's Monday Newsletter Email: Send Page To a Friend

On My Way to Jail, I Thought of Communication Training.. The intimidating, tough-looking warden pushed the large round key into the key-hole of the solid steel door, turned the key several times, then pulled the door very slowly, making a terrible shrieking sound, to let me into the large jail compound. He then closed the door behind me, turned around and walked and I followed him silently. It was the first time of my life to enter a jail. The reason: To deliver a training workshop on communication skills! Even though this happened about fifteen years ago, I still vividly remember this unique experience. The Situation: I was asked to design and deliver a communication workshop to a group of physicians, social workers, psychologists, counselors, nurses, managers, and other professionals who were working at perhaps the toughest work environment you can imagine. This was a group of about 900 professionals delivering preliminary health care services to over 100,000 inmates in one of New York’s correction facilities (jails.) These professionals were delivering services to the toughest “customers” anybody can have: men and women accused of crimes such as murder, rape, assault, armed robbery, drug smuggling, loan sharking, and others. The organization was experiencing several employee relation problems, including high grievances from the union, and was taking a number of initiatives to change the culture of work. One of these initiatives was a training program on communicating and working together, which I was asked to design and deliver. The work environment was, to say the least, oppressive. To just enter the place of work (the jail compound) employees had to go through several guarded gates and check points, showing IDs and getting searched. Going from one office to another, they had to go through locked steel doors that a guard must open for them. Then of course they had to deal with the inmates for most of their work-day. But interestingly enough, most employees were not complaining about how the inmates treated them. Their grievances as filed by the union were related to the way the managers treated them. I accepted this challenging assignment with great enthusiasm because one of my key missions was, and still is, to help people experience a real transformation in the way they communicate and work together, leading to extraordinary results. And the results were indeed extraordinary. The first pilot session caused a kind of a “culture shock” to participants, who discovered that there was a much more effective, and more exciting, way to communicate and work together. They started to use this new way with their colleagues and staff. Over the next several months, I was asked to come back to deliver more sessions to the rest of the 120 or so leadership and professional staff. Some union delegates attended and they loved the new way of communicating the managers were learning. In addition, we used four ways to measure the impact of the training. See below.