The Challenge:
The FSA is an organisation with a clear mission, around which the staff and the public can unite and feel reassured by: ‘food you can trust’. There are some clear social, political, and environmental challenges that the team need to face, the implications of the EU transition, COVID and numerous key regulatory issues.
To survive and thrive in such a changing landscape will require people with a strong and persuasive communication style and capability who can win the support of multiple stakeholders – regardless of whether they are naturally introverted or extroverted.
With the challenge of COVID, the programme was effectively pivoted to run entirely online with great results and now we offer a fully online solution for the first three stages – see below.
The Solution:
The FSA Speaker Coaching Programme is aimed at helping individual leaders and key professionals develop enhanced authenticity, presence, and impact when they speak both online and face-to-face, internally, or externally to groups of 5-50+.
The aim of this programme was to provide a 2/3-month action-based coaching process to help participants develop their ability to communicate in a persuasive and effective way when speaking to key stakeholders – online and face-to-face.
The coaching process revolves around helping participants identify, in conjunction with their manager if necessary/desirable, a future opportunity for them to deliver a 10-20-minute keynote presentation to some key stakeholders. A range of e-tools have been developed to help participants research and analyse their audience(s), scope, and create a rough draft of their online keynote with some visual aids which they prepare and bring to the online coaching workshop/rehearsal.
These sessions were designed to identify each person’s individual style and coaching them in building on their natural strengths through a mix of:
- primary level immersive activities – experimenting, doing, feeling
- secondary level feedback – reflection, coaching, and review
Here is our welcome video for attendees of the programme:
Our work in the theatre has demonstrated the value of using primary level rehearsal/coaching activity to help people experiment with and embody new ways of approaching public speaking. During the rehearsal/coaching process, we encourage people to develop their keynotes, by performing short elements of it. We apply a ‘positive psychology’ approach in working from how people naturally express themselves and encourage people to share feedback with each other. In this organic way we highlight and share successful practices, all in the context of real FSA keynote examples.
After the initial coaching process, we invite participants to deliver their keynote to their target audience live in a theatre space. At this stage, we add to all the capabilities they have developed in creating and delivering online communications, coaching them in how to fill a room with their personal presence, control and channel nervous energy and fully engage a live audience.
“I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent training sessions you have provided. I really got so much out of this training and I do love giving presentations; you have made me approach these differently and given me a completely new way of thinking when planning these.” FSA DELEGATE
Delegates from previous programmes:
“I was always very self-conscious and shy in front of crowds which really impacted the communication of my work. After working with Nicholas Brice, I am proud to say, I received a First Class for my third year design project. Along with winning awards for my work and presentation skills.” JENNIFER LODER, ARCHITECTURAL & INTERIOR DESIGNER
“The two-day coaching was a great experience. It was very intensive, very practical and certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone so that I can grow to the next level. I learned new things about me, about public speaking and I took some good practices home. I already tested them in real-life and they did work!” ANELIYA STOYANOVA, HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, PROGRESS IT