Say the right thing

The aim
Real assertiveness involves clear yet respectful communication, particularly in the face of stress and conflict. By behaving more assertively your staff can be more positive, more creative and better equipped to get their job done effectively.

About the program
Say the right thing teaches the techniques of assertiveness and focuses on assertiveness as a skill to improve individual performance. It will train your staff to identify:

-Aggressive, passive and assertive behaviors
-What assertiveness is
-The skills of assertiveness
-The benefits of assertiveness and appropriate situations for its use.

The videos present you with a variety of difficult situations to show how individuals can develop assertive behavior by following a simple three-step model. They identify scenarios that will especially benefit from an assertive approach including:

-Disagreeing with colleagues
-Making your point in meetings
-Making and refusing requests
-Handling and giving criticism

Say the right thing is presented by Hugh Dennis and combines illustrative drama sequences and expert comment. The first video looks at aggressive and passive behaviors, which are natural human reactions when faced with a difficult problem. It discusses the advantages of a considered, assertive approach that your staff can deal with each potentially difficult scenario to the satisfaction of everyone involved. It also shows you how to:

-Think right - realize that aggressive and passive reactions are not the only options and decide on the right course of action in any particular instance
-Behave right - understand the importance of correct body language and tone of voice
-Say it right - listen and understand, state feelings and thoughts, state what you want

The second video introduces additional techniques and demonstrates how you can combine these with skills shown in the first video. It covers:
-Probing - questions that reveal more
-Replay - the repetition of words and phrases to restate and maintain your position

The benefits
-The pack emphasizes that you should only use assertiveness to reach a win-win outcome and not to manipulate or score points.
-The trainers guide contains very detailed advice on how to run an assertiveness workshop for your staff in six sessions.
-There are full OHT handouts and a very clear plan of action for each session, including practical tips on how to overcome problem areas.



Information:
Produced by BBC Worldwide Ltd 1995 © Video Arts