Communication Skills That Empower Your Leadership

The Communication Skills That Empower Your Leadership program covers everything you’ll need to make a powerful, persuasive and impactful presentation and to become an expert at leadership communication.

It outlines a step-by-step approach to brainstorming, writing, designing and delivering a talk. This approach is user-friendly and saves time. It contains real-life examples of business communication skills from scenarios that you will encounter on a day-to-day basis: presentations to clients and executive committees, crisis situations, ceremonies, etc.

This program is done in a fun and relaxed manner with the entire group sharing best practices that have worked for them, along with expert advice from the professors. Rather than talking about ephemeral and abstract notions of confidence and persuasion, we focus on practical and tangible communication skills such as how to use your hands (above your waist but not above your shoulders), what order should you introduce your main points (the most important first and last, the weakest in the middle), when to introduce your organization (only after you’ve shown your audience that you know who they are), etc.

Topics covered in the Leadership and Business Communication program include:

1. How to structure interpersonal communication
   Confidence mainly comes from being clear about why you are speaking and how you are helping your audience.

2. How to look confident in front of your audience: voice, body language and eye contact
   People will judge how confident and trustworthy you are based on the way you stand and move. We will explore leadership communication by covering:

• How to stand still.
• How to have a powerful and clear voice.
• Maintaining eye contact with the audience.
• How to move around as you speak to a group.
• How to walk out on stage, say hello and immediately grab the attention of the audience.
• The difference between gesturing when presenting and when in conversation.
• When to move your hands and when to let them rest.
• Gestures to avoid.

3. Managing nerves and rehearsing
   Everyone gets nervous before making a presentation; in fact, if you’re not nervous, there is something wrong.
   However, our nerves shouldn’t negatively impact our performance. In this section, we look at different techniques to manage nerves before and during the presentation. We also look at effective techniques for rehearsing and explode some myths (e.g., don’t rehearse in front of a mirror!).

4. Designing in Microsoft PowerPoint
   Most people design PowerPoint for the completely wrong reasons – instead of designing slides that help the audience understand their message, they make slides to help them remember what they (the presenter) wants to say! In this part of the program we talk about:

• What text and how much text should go on a slide.
• How to write text on slides (e.g., never use ALL CAPITALS as it is difficult to read).
• How and when to use photos (e.g., use B&W images to talk about your competitors, colour to talk about your products).
• When you shouldn’t use PowerPoint and alternatives such as using Whiteboards and flip-charts.

5. Dealing with angry people: speaking in situations of conflict and controversy

• How to understand the other’s position and identifying the common ground.
• What kind of arguments work in those circumstances.
• How to structure arguments in a speech.
• What kind of non-verbal language should be used.

6. Public speaking in emergencies and crises

• What happens in the minds and hearts of people during a crisis or an accident.
• What is the right approach in terms of messaging and emotional connection.
• What are the questions you have to answer while facing an audience hit by a tragedy.

The Communication Skills That Empower Your Leadership Program is designed for managers who aspire to become better communicators and develop a style that fosters commitment among team members and stakeholders. Professionals who lead large teams, manage client relationships or hold customer-facing roles will find this program particularly beneficial.

The Communication Skills program leverages a wide range of highly dynamic and interactive teaching methodologies, including group discussions, class lectures and breakout sessions with a coach, all aimed to hone your skills as an agent of change. This combination of teaching methods has been strategically designed to foster an optimal learning environment.

The on-campus edition takes place on IESE’s Barcelona campus.

To ensure participants get the most out of the program, they will be asked to come to the course with a presentation in mind, one they plan to make in the near future, that they will be asked to work on and then present at the end of the workshop.

The admission process has three steps:

1. Participants complete and submit the online application.
2. The Executive Education Department will email you to acknowledge receipt and provide further details on program dates, pre-program academic materials and bank details to submit payment.
3. Proceed with the payment of the program’s fee. This is an essential requisite to access the pre-readings and participate in the program. Two weeks before the start date, participants receive an email with a user name to access the IESE Virtual Campus and pre-readings

Fees

• General fee: € 4,700
• Alumni fee: € 4,230
• IESE Alumni Association members: € 3,995
• Executive Education Certificate fee: An additional 5% discount on the general or IESE Alumni Association member fee.

The program fee is tax-exempt. Payment is required before the program begins and includes all academic materials and most meals. Please note that travel and accommodation expenses are not included.

Discounts are available for corporate agreements and multiple registrations from the same company. Space is limited and filled on a first come first served basis, so early registration is encouraged.

Payment Details

We accept payments by credit card, check or wire.

Admissions Requirements
The Admissions Committee admits qualified candidates on a rolling basis as places become available. Executive Education Focused Programs have their own requirements, and all admissions are under the supervision of the Admissions Committee. In general, participants should have at least 10 years’ work experience and have held a position of leadership with significant responsibilities within the last 5 years. Although there are no formal educational requirements, admission is based on professional achievement and responsibilities within the organization.

Cancellation Policy
Cancellations received within 20 days of the program’s start date are subject to a payment of 25% of the program tuition. IESE reserves the right to cancel the current edition or modify dates up to 20 days prior to the scheduled start date. Under no circumstances is IESE responsible for any travel expenses incurred. Participants should consider purchasing travel insurance including cancellation coverage to protect against the unlikely event that the program is cancelled or their own inability to attend for personal or professional reasons.
Cancellation requests received within 3 calendar days of the program start date as well as those received during the program are subject to full payment of the program fee.

Companies and teams

• Companies with corporate agreements with IESE: discount of up to 20%.
• Discount on multiple applications, for individuals and teams: up to 25% for groups of four or more people.
• The more focused programs you take, the more benefits you will receive: you may be eligile for discounts of 5% to 15%.

Alumni

• Special price for alumni: 10% discount
• Special price for members of the IESE Alumni Association: 15% discount. Recommend 2 participants and each one will also get 15% off.

Scholarships

• Entrepreneurs
• Executive women
• ONGs

Contact the Focused Program team here for more details.

If interested in obtaining the IESE Executive Education Certificate:

• Complete, at least, 4 Focused Programs, in English or Spanish, within three years. The 4 programs must total a minimum of 12 days of learning.

In addition to earning the IESE Executive Education Certificate, you will enjoy a series of other exclusive benefits:

• Professional guidance with an IESE adviser.

• 5% discount on any future Focused Program.

• Possibility of becoming a Member of the IESE Alumni Association, which delivers a broad array of exclusive benefits. Discover here how to make the most of the membership.

Getting to the Barcelona campus

Barcelona: AC Hotel by Marriott Victoria Suites 4*, Sansi Pedralbes 4*, abba Garden Hotel 4*, Ikonik Anglí 4*.