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Beyond the Umbrella
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Each Beyond the Umbrella seminar series is divided into four sections, one for each skill that is being taught: active listening, advanced communication, negotiation and persuasion. Each of the four sections consist of lectures, exercises that will be preformed in group situations, role plays and homework all of which help demonstrate the points being taught. Below is an overview of each of the sections.
Active Listening
Students who want to graduate in the top third of their college class will need to actively listen at least 14 hours a day! What’s the difference between hearing and listening? When your ears detect sound you are hearing. Listening is taking that sound and using logic, analytical and cognitive reasoning skills to understand what you’ve heard. Active listening goes one step further in that the listener has a responsibility to participate in the conversation and must weigh what the speaker is saying against his/her own judgement and determine the best course of action even if that action is asking questions deliberately constructed to elicit more information from the speaker. Active listening is not an innate skill and must be taught. Similar to any other learned skill, active listening takes time to learn and requires an investment of time. The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching active listening will help students begin to master the following skills:
• How to listen when you don’t want to
• Focusing on content and not delivery
• Making listening a mental task not an arduous chore
• Constructing active listening questions
• Crafting mental questions: Staying focused
• Avoiding distractions
• The pitfalls of emotional involvement
• Brain Training: Using the gap between the rate of speech and thought to your advantage
Advanced Communication
Success is a goal every student is encouraged to achieve but too often communication stands in the way. Reduced to its simplest form communication is the vehicle used to convey information. Communication cannot be confined to a single form. With verbal communication being the most frequently used, non-verbal comes in second place with written being a close third. Like active listening, the skills of non-verbal and written communication are not innate and must be taught. The skill of communication, perhaps above all others, is the most valued skill in business and the one skill that is often lacking in candidates who interview for jobs. The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching communication will help students begin to master the following skills:
• Recognizing all the forms of communication
• The power of an informed vocabulary
• Verbal communication: The stumbling blocks of tone and inflection
• How to avoid “stupidisms” of communications - “ums”, “ahs” and “huhs”
• Slang and colloquialisms: Communicating outside your comfort zone
• Learning to communicate to be understood
• Public speaking: Being fearless!
• Dangerous communication: Inadvertent non-verbal “slip-ups”
Negotiation
Known as an elite skill, negotiation is a tool few people use but is considered to be a necessary to succeed in business, regardless of the field. When dissected to its most basic part, a negotiator is a person who is an expert at interpreting, anticipating and influencing conversation dynamics. Becoming an expert in the field of negotiation gives a student a clear advantage over other college students. The skill of conversation dynamics is the cornerstone of learning to negotiate. The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching negotiation will help students begin to master the following skills:
• Noticing versus Observing
• Developing a rapport: The Most important first step you’ll ever take!
• Conversation dynamics: Having conversations instead of just talking
• Becoming your own decision maker
• Recognizing the dynamics of compromise: Giving what others need while getting what you want!
• Notes: The most important skill you’ll ever learn.
• Becoming your own best advocate
• Perception versus Stereotypes: Getting one and avoiding the other
• If versus then
Persuasion
As students begin to master the other skills taught in the Beyond the Umbrella seminar series the natural result is the ability to be persuasive. Perhaps the most valuable skill a successful college student possesses is the ability to think critically and accurately interpret events that occur in rapid succession such as those in a classroom lecture, a study group session or a lab to name a few and then use what is learned to persuade others to understand his/her point of view. Students who are able to expertly respond to any of the above listed situations set the standards others work to achieve. Persuasion requires that an individual be able to expertly use both sides of their brains - a task that is hard for everyone! The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching persuasion will help students begin to master the following skills:
• Persuasion versus Manipulation
• Influence: The power of example
• Time: A commodity no one wants to waste
• Master Detectives: Get the clues on the best way to persuade your listeners
• Overcoming the five emotions that destroy your ability to persuade: Anger, impatience, disrespect,
conceit and self-importance.
• 25 Habits designed to increase persuasiveness
Active Listening
Students who want to graduate in the top third of their college class will need to actively listen at least 14 hours a day! What’s the difference between hearing and listening? When your ears detect sound you are hearing. Listening is taking that sound and using logic, analytical and cognitive reasoning skills to understand what you’ve heard. Active listening goes one step further in that the listener has a responsibility to participate in the conversation and must weigh what the speaker is saying against his/her own judgement and determine the best course of action even if that action is asking questions deliberately constructed to elicit more information from the speaker. Active listening is not an innate skill and must be taught. Similar to any other learned skill, active listening takes time to learn and requires an investment of time. The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching active listening will help students begin to master the following skills:
• How to listen when you don’t want to
• Focusing on content and not delivery
• Making listening a mental task not an arduous chore
• Constructing active listening questions
• Crafting mental questions: Staying focused
• Avoiding distractions
• The pitfalls of emotional involvement
• Brain Training: Using the gap between the rate of speech and thought to your advantage
Advanced Communication
Success is a goal every student is encouraged to achieve but too often communication stands in the way. Reduced to its simplest form communication is the vehicle used to convey information. Communication cannot be confined to a single form. With verbal communication being the most frequently used, non-
• Recognizing all the forms of communication
• The power of an informed vocabulary
• Verbal communication: The stumbling blocks of tone and inflection
• How to avoid “stupidisms” of communications -
• Slang and colloquialisms: Communicating outside your comfort zone
• Learning to communicate to be understood
• Public speaking: Being fearless!
• Dangerous communication: Inadvertent non-
Negotiation
Known as an elite skill, negotiation is a tool few people use but is considered to be a necessary to succeed in business, regardless of the field. When dissected to its most basic part, a negotiator is a person who is an expert at interpreting, anticipating and influencing conversation dynamics. Becoming an expert in the field of negotiation gives a student a clear advantage over other college students. The skill of conversation dynamics is the cornerstone of learning to negotiate. The Beyond the Umbrella seminar section dedicated to teaching negotiation will help students begin to master the following skills:
• Noticing versus Observing
• Developing a rapport: The Most important first step you’ll ever take!
• Conversation dynamics: Having conversations instead of just talking
• Becoming your own decision maker
• Recognizing the dynamics of compromise: Giving what others need while getting what you want!
• Notes: The most important skill you’ll ever learn.
• Becoming your own best advocate
• Perception versus Stereotypes: Getting one and avoiding the other
• If versus then
Persuasion
As students begin to master the other skills taught in the Beyond the Umbrella seminar series the natural result is the ability to be persuasive. Perhaps the most valuable skill a successful college student possesses is the ability to think critically and accurately interpret events that occur in rapid succession such as those in a classroom lecture, a study group session or a lab to name a few and then use what is learned to persuade others to understand his/her point of view. Students who are able to expertly respond to any of the above listed situations set the standards others work to achieve. Persuasion requires that an individual be able to expertly use both sides of their brains -
• Persuasion versus Manipulation
• Influence: The power of example
• Time: A commodity no one wants to waste
• Master Detectives: Get the clues on the best way to persuade your listeners
• Overcoming the five emotions that destroy your ability to persuade: Anger, impatience, disrespect,
conceit and self-
• 25 Habits designed to increase persuasiveness
Seminar Series
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