Communicating Your Business Successes

Course Overview
"Elevator speeches," job interviews, personnel evaluations, and conversing with others who can influence your professional future all entail the introduction of positive facts about your productivity and interaction with workplace associates. How can you best present this information in a concise, persuasive manner without sounding boastful? How do you select the key issues which will most influence the creation of a positive impression? How can such nonverbal factors as timing, place and cultural values affect the transaction's outcome? These key issues, along with considerations of (1) utilizing personal credibility factors and (2) influencing others over whom we do not have authority, provide this course's foundation.

This six-week course will be of interest to individuals pursuing career advancement or change, participating in mentoring programs, and those wishing to build capacities and comfort in presenting a positive self-image.

 Course Structure
Each week will concentrate on a specific aspect of positive self-presentation. Discussion will be followed by opportunities for application of the new material. Individuals will have ample opportunities to practice newly acquired approaches in a comprehensive manner bringing all previous information into use in real and simulated situations. Reports on weekly field assignments based on personal interests will round out lively, confidence-building, informative sessions.

Online discussion, checklists, and timely research based information will be available throughout the course.

Course Materials
Telling the Success Story
by Pamela J. Benoit
(1997) Albany : State University of New York Press, Albany
Paperback
ISBN: 0-7914-3318-8
$13.95

 Influence without Authority
by Allan R. Cohen, David L. Bradford
(2005) Second Edition, New York : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hardback
ISBN: 0-4714-6330-2
$29.95

Grading Criteria, Assessments and Evaluations
Students are expected to complete five of six two-hour class sessions.

In addition, students are expected to participate in large and small group discussions, present samples of "talking about successes," based on current class information, and read two to three chapters of the assigned materials per week.

Registration Information
Communicating Your Business Successes, taught by Virginia Jones, is an elective course offering in the Business Communication Program.

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