Effective interaction plays a pivotal role in nearly every aspect of business development. Skilled interaction and communication impresses clients and customers, promotes the effective flow of information, and creates a more harmonious and productive business environment. Poor interaction skills can cause confusion, frustration, misinterpretation, inefficiency, and lost business. Moreover, ineffective interaction can limit a technical professional’s potential growth and value to the organization.

Fortunately, personal interaction and communication skills are as rational as technical skills and can be systematically learned and applied. This course focuses on the fundamental skills that are required to interface successfully with customers and colleagues and presents methods to deal with the diverse interaction challenges faced by technical professionals today.

Format

The material is presented in a manner to facilitate the process of learning, from the initial phase of understanding (knowing) a concept, to the advanced phase of applying (owning) it. Much interaction is encouraged, with participants having an opportunity to discuss and practice specific techniques as well as strategize their own specific situations.

Materials

A professionally bound workbook and set of detailed lecture notes are distributed on the first day of the course. These materials are for your use as a seminar participant only and are not for sale.

This course is designed for technical professionals who want to increase their interaction and communication skills and achieve excellence in performance. Job titles include:

• Technical Professional
• Engineering Manager
• Business Development Manager
• Engineering Scientist (Application, Design, Software, etc)
• Sales Engineer
• Customer Service Representative
• Customer Service Engineer
• Project Manager
• Group Leader

Tools, Techniques, Strategies and Concepts…

• How to better manage colleague/customer/manager expectations and keep them happy
• How to effectively follow-up with a colleague/customer
• How to avoid assumptions and confusion
• How to listen more effectively and talk less
• How to deal with confrontational/upset/demanding customers (internal or external)
• How to deal effectively with questions and objections
• A two-part process to clarify work requests and eliminate wasted effort
• How to deliver “bad news” or discuss sensitive topics
• Changing a colleague or customer’s negative perception

This course is available in a customized version for on-site, corporate training. Customization is accomplished through meetings/discussions with several of the participants as well as some of management. Participants’ expectations of the course along with their specific issues, concerns and objectives are incorporated into the course content.

This increases the relevancy and effectiveness of the training as well as the buy-in of the participants. Benefits of customization include…

• incorporating specific challenges and issues of the customer’s industry.
• addressing important company issues.
• building teams that share a common language.
• sharing company stories.
• utilizing company specific scenarios for role plays.

In addition, on-site programs can be offered at or near your location and scheduled at your convenience. This can save travel time and expense as well as provide flexibility in your scheduling process.

This course is available as one of the 28 courses offered as part of UCLA Extension’s Technical Management Program every March and September at UCLA in Los Angeles, California.

The program is a personalized 5-day, 4-course program of study for engineering, science, and other professionals, offering a practical balance between the technical and managerial aspects of individual and organizational performance. To view more information about UCLA's Technical Management program click here: http://www.uclaextension.edu/tmp.

This program has limited enrollment and courses close as early as 2 months prior to the program start date. Early enrollment is advised. Click here for general program information and registration details. http://www.uclaextension.edu/tmp.

Click here to download UCLA's Technical Management Program brochure in pdf format (724KB).