Clearwater is delighted to announce it acted as sole communication adviser to Royal Vopak on the successful sale of its three chemical terminals in Rotterdam to Infracapital for Euro 407 Million.

The three chemical terminals at Botlek, TTR and Chemiehaven provide storage for vital products for domestic, transport and chemical industries. They provide safe, clean and efficient storage and handling of bulk liquid products and gases.

Under the new ownership Infracapital, these terminals will continue to serve their wide range of customers and help in the shaping a sustainable future.

We wish both parties the best of luck as they enter this new exciting chapter.

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In an era where corporate professionals are often gauged by their capacity to communicate, the art of effective conference speaking emerges as a distinctive edge in a highly competitive landscape. This isn’t merely an embellishment to your personal repertoire but an essential tool that fuels professional growth and organizational success. The best part is, it sets you up to become recognized as a talent and an industry thought leader, creating a virtuous circle that leads to even more invitations and impacts larger audiences.

Why is it a savvy move to become a proficient conference speaker? Let’s explore the benefits:

• Enhanced Reputation: As a corporate professional, your reputation precedes you. It’s the foundation upon which relationships are built, trust is established, and influence is created. Mastery of conference speaking amplifies your reputation, opening avenues to connect with peers, leaders, and potential clients on a broad scale. Commanding the stage at conferences imbues you with authority and credibility, positioning you as a thought leader in your field.
• Business Development: From a business perspective, conference speaking is a high-leverage opportunity to present your company’s offerings, demonstrating the value and uniqueness of your product or service. An articulate presentation can captivate a diverse audience, fostering leads, potential collaborations, or even unexpected partnerships. Simply put, being a competent conference speaker can significantly boost your business development efforts.
• Building Networks: Conferences are potent breeding grounds for networking. By being an effective speaker, you become a magnet that draws other professionals towards you. The network you construct as a result can open doors to opportunities you might otherwise never have encountered. A well-delivered presentation is a springboard for engaging conversations, deeper connections, and mutually beneficial relationships.
• Personal Branding: In the corporate arena, your personal brand is an asset. A unique, compelling brand sets you apart from the crowd, and there’s no better platform to showcase this than on the conference stage. Articulating your ideas and insights effectively cultivates an image of a confident, knowledgeable leader. As you grow as a speaker, so does your personal brand, reinforcing your standing in the corporate ecosystem.
• Professional Growth: Finally, the process of becoming a great conference speaker fuels your professional growth. It demands continuous learning, challenging yourself, and stepping out of your comfort zone. The skills you develop — thorough research, sharp analytical thinking, clear articulation, persuasive argumentation, empathetic audience engagement — not only improve your speaking ability but also have broader applications in your professional life. It sets you up to become a professional speaker, which can become a very lucrative second career.

While the road to becoming a great conference speaker can seem daunting, the rewards reaped far outweigh the initial discomfort and effort. It’s a virtuous circle of recognition, influence, and opportunity. Investing in this skill is more than a savvy move; it’s a strategic decision that can propel your corporate career to new heights.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Clearwater Advisers can help you prepare an engaging speech and show you how to deliver it in such a way that no one knows you are reading it. Click here for more details. Get in touch to find out how we can help you make this switch and unlock the power of effective conference speaking.

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Any change, no matter how well-intentioned or meticulously planned, will fall short if it is not communicated properly. Indeed, communication serves as the bridge between the intention and implementation of change. Yet, there is a remarkable dearth of understanding of what constitutes effective change communication.

What does change communication involve?

At its heart, change communication is about explaining the ‘why,’ ‘what,’ and ‘how’ of the change. This includes elucidating why the change is necessary, what the envisaged outcomes are, and how the change will be implemented. It’s about building a shared understanding and collective commitment to change among all stakeholders. Contrary to the perception that it is a one-way information broadcast, effective change communication is a dialogue. It involves listening to concerns, addressing queries, and fostering an environment where everyone feels part of the change. This notion aligns with the adage, “People support what they help create.” Thus, inclusivity is key to successful change communication.

Moreover, change communication should be consistent and continuous. Consistency breeds trust, and trust is the bedrock of successful change implementation. In the face of change, many employees grapple with uncertainty. Regular updates can assuage these anxieties and foster a sense of security amidst the upheaval.

The best practices of change communication

Now that we have established what change communication entails, let’s delve into some best practices.

1. Early Engagement: It’s important to involve people early in the process. Share information as soon as it’s available and feasible. Early engagement not only helps mitigate resistance but also allows employees to mentally prepare for the change.
2. Clear Messaging: The messaging should be clear, concise, and jargon-free. It should resonate with employees and help them understand the change from a personal and organizational perspective.
3. Multi-channel Approach: Leverage different communication channels to reach every employee. Some might prefer emails, others town hall meetings or online forums. The goal is to ensure no one is left out of the communication loop.
4. Feedback Mechanisms: Encourage feedback and respond to it promptly. This two-way communication helps clarify misunderstandings, address concerns, and makes employees feel heard and valued.
5. Celebrate Milestones: Celebrating progress, no matter how small, motivates employees and reinforces their commitment to the change. It also provides a morale boost during the challenging change journey.
6. Team Alignment and Message Management: Team alignment and message management play crucial roles in effective change communication. Key speakers need to be fully bought-in and aligned with the vision of the change. It is essential for them to consistently convey the same message. When the communication is consistent across the organisation, it enhances the effectiveness and impact of the message.

As the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw famously said, ‘The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.’ It’s important to ensure that communication is not just a one-way delivery of information but a shared understanding and dialogue.

At Clearwater Advisers, we have 20 years of experience in helping businesses increase trust and buy-in to change. If you are going through a gut-wrenching change, get in touch with us to find out how we can help. Click here to contact us.

Remember, it’s not just about managing change, it’s about communicating it. Because communication isn’t just the message delivered — it’s the message received, understood, and acted upon.

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Executive coaching in negotiations is a process of working with a trained coach to improve an executive’s negotiation skills and strategies. This type of coaching can be particularly effective for executives who are new to negotiating or who need to improve their negotiation skills for specific contexts.

Why should you consider negotiation training for yourself or your team?

• Identification of strengths, and weaknesses – Professional coaching will identify their strengths and weaknesses as negotiators. This process often begins with an assessment of the executive’s current negotiation skills and strategies, followed by a deep dive into the executive’s negotiation experiences. Through this process, the coach can identify areas where they may need to improve, as well as areas where they’re already performing well.
• The development of existing negotiation strategies – This can include developing a negotiation plan, identifying negotiation objectives and priorities, and exploring different negotiation tactics and techniques. By working with seasoned professionals, executives can gain a deeper understanding of the different negotiation strategies that can be employed in different contexts, and develop a more nuanced approach to negotiation that takes into account the interests of all parties involved.
• Building confidence – Negotiation can be a high-pressure and stressful activity, and it is not uncommon for those to feel intimidated or overwhelmed in negotiation situations. By working with a coach, executives can learn techniques for managing stress and anxiety and can develop the confidence they need to negotiate effectively.
• Navigation of complex and difficult negotiation situations – Not all negotiations are the same, some will be tough. This can include negotiating with difficult or hostile parties, negotiating in high-stakes situations, or negotiating across cultures or languages. As veterans in negotiation, we can provide guidance and support to help you or your team navigate these types of situations and can help to develop strategies for achieving negotiation objectives while maintaining positive relationships with all those involved.
• Improve strategic communication skills – Communication is a critical aspect of negotiation, and executives who are effective communicators are more likely to achieve successful negotiation outcomes. Our experience means we can work with you or your team to improve active listening skills, develop the ability to articulate interests and priorities and learn how to use strategic communication effectively with different types of negotiators.
• Negotiation skills develop a more collaborative and inclusive leadership style – Negotiation is often about finding solutions that meet the interests of all parties involved, and who are skilled negotiators are often better able to build strong relationships with their stakeholders. Through professional training, those that need it can learn techniques for building consensus, developing effective communication strategies, and promoting a culture of collaboration within their organisations.

Negotiations Coaching with Clearwater Advisers

Our workshops are conducted by seasoned professionals with extensive successful negotiation experience at the highest levels of the industry. We believe in making our workshops highly interactive because we understand that people learn best by doing, a hallmark of Clearwater’s reputation. Individuals and teams participate in negotiation scenarios that are filmed and reviewed to facilitate learning. We cover the entire range of skills, explaining the process and dynamics of negotiation. Our clients leave with the confidence to negotiate under any circumstance.

Our most sought-after offering is our two-day workshop, typically delivered over consecutive days, or it can be facilitated as an online workshop in four three-hour blocks. If your organisation is committed to improving performance and results in negotiations, this workshop is perfect for you.

Contact Clearwater Advisers today via the “Contact Us” page.

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The Picturephone from AT&T was launched as a commercial video conferencing solution at the World’s Fair in New York in 1968, allowing users to communicate via video with someone on the other end for 10-minute intervals. However, its high cost, size, and complexity limited its adoption. It wasn’t until the 1980s that video conferencing began to gain traction with the introduction of systems from Compression Labs and PictureTel. Prices dropped significantly, making them more accessible to larger corporations.

IBM dropped the price of their systems to $20,000, and CU-See Me from Macintosh made video collaboration more feasible for consumers and businesses. Polycom played a crucial role in the evolution of video conferencing in the late 1990s and early 2000s with its ViewStation and Via Video solutions.

While enterprise adoption continued to grow, video conferencing use cases also expanded outside of businesses. Courts, law firms, and the military started using video conferencing, as did higher education distance learning and telehealth in healthcare. Large global enterprises also began to embrace video conferencing to reduce travel, improve collaboration, and increase product time to market. The widespread availability of Wi-Fi and HD video camera technology in smart devices made video collaboration accessible to workers across organisations.

The Impact of the Pandemic

The pandemic created a whole new world of interaction where everything was carried out online. As the threat of COVID has receded we are left with the benefits of this experience to weigh up against the face-to-face approach of a pre-pandemic world. When it comes to how we interact with each other, is it time to go back to the face-to-face approach?

Pros

• Convenience – Virtual meetings allow participants to attend from anywhere with an internet connection, eliminating the need for travel and saving time.
• Flexibility – Participants can join meetings from their home, office, or any other location they choose, providing flexibility in their work schedule.
• Cost savings – Virtual meetings eliminate the need for travel, accommodation, and other expenses associated with in-person meetings, making them a cost-effective option.
• Accessibility – Virtual meetings can be more accessible to people with disabilities, as they can join from a location that is comfortable and convenient for them.

Cons

• Technical difficulties – Technical issues such as poor internet connectivity, audio or video quality problems, and difficulties with screen sharing or other collaboration tools can make virtual meetings frustrating and ineffective.
• Lack of personal connection – Virtual meetings can lack the personal connection and engagement that comes with in-person meetings, making it more difficult to build relationships and trust among participants.
• Distractions – Participants in virtual meetings may be more prone to distractions, such as checking email, taking phone calls, or multitasking, which can lead to reduced engagement and productivity.
• Fatigue – Virtual meetings can be tiring for participants, especially if they are back-to-back or if the meeting involves prolonged staring at a screen.
• Reduced body language and nonverbal cues – Virtual meetings can make it more difficult to read body language and nonverbal cues, which can hinder effective communication and collaboration.

George Bernard Shaw said, “The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”

We couldn’t agree more. Time and time again, video conferencing solutions allow for teams to have 8 meetings a day, but these meetings will rarely all be productive.

So, is a hybrid approach the way forward?

The pandemic opened up the potential for using technology to improve efficiency and make better use of time. However, it’s also important not to forget that humans thrive – and are driven by – connection. A hybrid approach to meetings would mean a combined strategy that provides for face-to-face contact in situations that would be best served by connection and virtual meetings where the benefits of efficiency and accessibility can be enjoyed. Combining the two could be an effective way forward for many.

Virtual Presence Coaching with Clearwater Advisers

Clearwater Advisers are strategic communication coaches, we specialise in showing leaders and their teams how to increase trust and buy-in when they communicate. Part of that process includes coaching in virtual presence, which has become increasingly necessary in recent times.

Want learn more about our virtual presence coaching? Get in touch with us via “Contact Us” page.

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Getting someone to buy into your ideas is vital in business. Of course, it’s also something that many people find challenging to do. Creating an effective pitch and having expert presentation skills are huge advantages.

However, there are some common mistakes that many people make when it comes to getting this right. If you want to avoid errors and win the pitch, then these are the essential skills that you need to develop.

• Practice (but don’t memorise) – The more you can practice your presentation, the more comfortable you’ll be with it when the day comes to do it. It will give you the confidence that you know what you’re doing and the chance to refine the content, removing anything extraneous or repeated. However, avoid learning the presentation by heart and repeating it when you get up to do it – it’s much more important to come across as natural than to avoid all mistakes.
• Who is your audience? – This will influence how you structure the presentation and the content you offer for people to take away from the pitch. Remember that most people will decide in the first few minutes of listening to you, so this is the most important part.
• Use your storytelling skills – Winning a pitch is as much an emotional battle as anything else – most of us make decisions based on our emotional reactions whether we realise it or not so it’s vital to factor this in. Create a story around your core message that engages and entertains. Use it to illustrate important details for the audience and make them memorable, whether that’s how you came up with your idea or what the market opportunities are.
• Make it visual – Complement your storytelling skills with visuals that emphasise and enhance where you want people to focus. The slides should be there, not to prompt you, but to support what you’re saying, so don’t fill them with bullet points and too many words.
• Keep it simple – No matter how complex the subject matter, being able to keep the explanation of it simply is a real skill – and one that your audience will value highly. If you’re talking about something complicated or intense, then present it in manageable chunks so that it can be easily processed. If someone doesn’t understand what you’re talking about, then the pitch is unlikely to be a success.
• The numbers are key – In fact, whether or not you’re able to win the pitch can stand or fall on how good you are with the numbers. This is the one part of the pitch you must not compromise on.
• Create a strong ending – A powerful sign-off or a concise statement of your pitch – or something equally impactful – is vital so that you leave your audience with an understanding of exactly why you’re here and what they need to do next.

Winning a pitch isn’t rocket science – these steps will take you to that positive place.

Clearwater Advisers are a leading firm of strategic communicators, teaching leaders and executives how to win the hearts and minds of teams and clients. Learn more about how we help leaders, executives, and teams win negotiations and develop their pitching skills through our workshops.

You can contact us at 020 7831 8700 or email us at enquiries@clearwateradvisers.com

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How to Thrive in the 21st Century: Upgrade your soft skills

As the curtain falls on yet another World Economic Forum, discussion naturally goes to the future of the world economy and its concomitant risks. A crucial risk that wasn’t discussed in Davos this year was the future of work.

According to a landmark McKinsey report on the future of work published in 2017, automation could displace as much as 30% of work globally by 2030. Activities most susceptible to automation include physical ones that rely heavily on routinized behavior, such as operating machinery and preparing fast food, as well as collecting and processing data in professions such as accounting and paralegal work.

How all of this ultimately plays out in terms of employment is still unclear. Some jobs will disappear. Some new positions will emerge. And rather than lose their jobs, some workers will simply re-tool. But three important trends are already identifiable.

First, over time, jobs titles will matter less than skills. This is the conclusion of another landmark study on the future of work, this one conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The upshot of the WEF report is that jobs may come and go, but skills are actionable. Put another way, you can choose which skills you develop in order to compete in this rapidly evolving environment. It’s not the most talented who survives, but the most versatile.

Skills can determine a worker’s unique value, where they are deficient, and what they want to learn. Which brings us to the second trend. Both of these reports emphasise that so-called soft skills – things like collaboration, persuasion, influencing, problem-solving and creativity – will be ever more important in this new work climate. That’s because these “21st century skills” are precisely the type of skills that robots can’t emulate. According to LinkedIn Learning Editor Paul Petrone, “Strengthening a soft skill is one of the best investments you can make in your career, as they never go out of style.”

Which brings us to the third trend: life-long learning. A 2016 Pew Research Center survey, “The State of American Jobs,” found that 87% of workers in the United States alone believe it will be essential to develop new job skills throughout their work life in order to keep up with changes in the workplace. Simply put, mid-career job training is now perceived as a must in order to future-proof one’s professional security.

To put some numbers on this new reality, the WEF report predicts that employees will need, on average, 101 days of retraining and up-skilling in the period up to 2022 to address emerging skills gaps. If not addressed, these gaps  — both among companies’ senior leadership and individual workers — may significantly obstruct an organisation’s transformation management. The WEF recommends that employers get ahead of this trend by developing a comprehensive approach to workforce planning, re-skilling and up-skilling.

Clearwater Advisers is perfectly positioned to help companies adapt to the challenges of the changing world of work. In the area of presentation skills, we provide sophisticated, bespoke analysis to help identify how and where your voice and body language are impeding effective communication. We also provide hands-on, tailored coaching to help you improve your message, delivery and inter-personal interactions. We also offer coaching in written skills and media handling .

Self-presentation, being able to connect to others and being able to sell and persuade are not (at least yet!) things we can outsource to machines. Don’t get caught behind the curve. Having probably already broken your New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it time you invested in making yourself future-proof?

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