A while ago, I was approached by Grace, who is heading up Sales Solutions for LinkedIn. They had just added a whole new product to their offering, and her sales reps have only ever sold one of these.
Leading a regional team scattered from India to Australia, she wanted to find a way to help her leadership team and sales managers to successfully pass on the message from the top about the latest company shift in sales strategy, as well as the addition of a second product.
In their team meetings and 1:1 catch ups these folks need to achieve the following:
Ensure understanding of new strategies
Share the purpose and gain buy-in to this change
Get commitment and ignite motivation in their sales reps to do things differently (even if “it ain’t broke”)
How could the leaders communicate in such a way that would provide clarity, reassurance, positivity and drive momentum?
After an in-depth chat with Grace about the team and the context, I was engaged to create a combined programme of group and 1:1 training sessions that would help to inspire, educate and energise these leaders in order for them to make a positive impact on their people throughout a challenging change.
We started out with groups of ten exploring the communication fundamentals. It was important for participants to become aware of their style, their choice of words and the energy they give off to their audience.
An outside eye and new perspective was crucial here, as the group were stuck trying the same things over and over without seeing much change. In these sessions, we worked on how to communicate with more impact:
Using relatable language
Matching expression and tone to our script
How to more effectively define our intentions in communication
The basics of storytelling and why it works.
“Victoria has been amazing to work with, she makes you think differently and helps you lead with stories. Victoria has helped guide me on how to be the best possible manager and one key takeaway, was her strategy on controlling your emotions in difficult situations.” - J.D, participant
Next, we created smaller working groups for participants to consult each other on content. Sharing (stealing!) ideas for how to tell the story of “Very Big Change”.
These sessions not only provided valuable workshopping time but also empowered the group to seek and provide feedback to their peers on content and delivery style. Having internal feedback from your peers is really important, and building a culture that enables and encourages that will take teams far.
Finally, I coached each participant 1 to 1 to target their unique style, team nuances and experience. These sessions were tailored exclusively for each person to get the best out of them and the time together.
Across the board we saw a rise in creative communication, confident voices and body language, positive language, human connection and a renewed belief in the power of stories and dynamic delivery.
“I began to get compliments for my presentations the same week as my sessions with Victoria. I found her engaging, direct, and tailored approach very enjoyable and impactful and can highly recommend Victoria as a communications coach for both workshops and 1-1 sessions.” - L.S