Services

Tell us your challenge and we'll find a solution.   We offer hybrids, cross-breeds and new species of team building, communications, and professional development. If you don't see it, just ask us.  

Communications Training
Executive and Professional Development
Team Building

Communications Training

"Every exchange is an opportunity for another exchange."

No theory here. We've stood in your shoes at the podium, talking to the press and delivering difficult news. Entering into an exchange - the kind relationships are built on -- takes more than great delivery; it takes authentic content and the ability to "keep it real."  

Presentation Skills: Our perspective is there are no bad presenters, just bad content. Iron out the content and half the delivery problems disappear. That's why we focus on owning the information and bringing it to life based on individual experience and expertise. We've covered a lot of territory from preparing Orkin's bug-men for road shows to one-on-one sessions priming Turner Network GMs for critical Upfront appearances.

Media Skills: Three key messages won't hold up with today's skeptical media. Well-prepared spokespeople need to recognize each situation and learn to talk to the press, not at them. Anticipating and knowing how to respond is a lot like skiing. Our job is to guide you down the black diamond run making sure you don't smack into the tree. Our experience here ranges from prepping CEO's for CNBC to slalom runs through television, tech and other vertical trade publications.

Building Professional Presence: Poor positioning skills or words and behavior that under position professionals are hazards to avoid. By learning the language and actions to support natural professional strengths, a Chatty Cathy becomes a team motivator; the detail sergeant transforms into the project manager. This course has become a professional development staple at companies such as Atlanta Gas Light, the Turner Networks and AT&T.

Message Development: What differentiates two companies to the world is what those companies say in collateral, online and in person. Our message development sessions focus on helping people tell a real-world story in an organized and energized way across multiple formats. The information is then distilled into top line, repeatable and memorable messages. We've successfully used the method of developing messages from "the inside out" for Big Sky Communications, AIIM Marketing and Worldspan.  

Train the Trainer: A good presenter doth not a facilitator make. If your workshops feel like "sensitivity training" (sitting so long your backside goes numb), we'll share our know-how on sparking content and moving audiences to their feet. We teach internal teams our rope tricks for lassoing a naysayer and corralling agenda highjackers. Not only have we transformed facilitators from clients like PRG Schultz but we're members too.

Executive and Professional Development

"It's not what you do, but how you do it."

The difference between you and the last person who did your job isn't just a matter of positioning skills and meeting milestones.  Demonstrating expertise and building sustainable resources sets you apart.

1:1 Executive Development: When you're not invited to the senior staff meetings, blow the big visibility moment or land a nickname like "Hurricane Hildy" you've lost your leadership mojo. Our pulse audit moves faster than a 360 and zeros in on communications breakdowns and management misses so we can quickly create individual strategies and skills to unlock a stuck professional. From struggling CEO's to directors on the rise, we've coached it all. Unfortunately, we can't reveal sources here and must plead the fifth.    

Team Leadership: Our leadership development program comes in two flavors.

In Activating Leadership for managers, we look at what it means to be a manager with a relational bent or a project leader who thrives on logistical planning. Next we apply this newfound insight to putting the right person in the right role and calling on the bench strength as needed. As a result, the Chatty Cathy becomes the team motivator and Deadline Droppin' Dan is able to bask in the creative light. Situations cover real-world obstacles like breaking down silos and gaining team recognition.  

If your team is waiting to be spoon fed development opportunities, Igniting Leadership lights the initiative fire. Through a visit to the Island of Conocos, team members discover their individual strengths and how these line up with senior management expectations. Our philosophy of teach a man/woman to fish is realized through a resource tackle box to help individual team members own their professional development instead of waiting for managers to create an action plan.

Among the teams who've learned to cast a leadership line are Turner Classic Movies, Emory University and the board members of Women in Sports and Events.

Challenge/Solutions Roundtables: Keep managers in conversation with these down and dirty, strategy-building sessions. Our clients have rallied around topics like Strategic Visibility, Polished Leadership Presence, Resource Mining (the new networking) and other timely issues. Like New York Life Investment Management, you can build rapport within a specific group or serve up cross-departmental resource sharing like AT&T.

Executive Mentoring: Executive mentoring is more than matchmaking; it's about professional connections that count. With a guided workbook that drives agendas and questions for each meeting, mentors and mentees move beyond small talk to meaningful resource conversations on strategies for building visibility and connections. Our launch, mid-point and finale check-in ensure each exchange hits the spot for the mid-level executive who needs entrée to the next level and for a senior manager who wants to learn from those in the trenches. Women in Cable's New York flagship chapter went on this mentoring journey and made significant professional strides.

Team Building

"A good team building session is like a great party where everyone buzzes about it afterwards."

Creating team synergy takes more than braving a ropes course together. Beyond the congratulatory and Kumbaya moments must be a real-world application of insights and skills. Our full-day team building adventures go there.

A Rare Blend: A Day of Brand Discovery: A distinct organizational brand is based on the blended flavor and contributions of each person within the group. In this winemakers day of brand discovery, the same principles that elevate one wine from the Cost-Plus shelves to collector status are applied to gaining recognition for the collective work of an entire team. You can expect to identify your team's vintage, ferment brand concepts into everyday projects and end with a celebratory wine sampling led by a Sommelier.

An Island Adventure in Leadership: On this adventure through the Island of Conocos, team members discover their own and other's instinctive leadership strengths and learn to speak operational, relational, analytical and visionary language to strengthen inter-team communications. The day culminates in a survivor challenge where each team bands together to solve real-world predicaments by relying on the strengths and resources of the collective group. An island-style luau wraps the day and gives participants a chance to dance to the beat of their leadership drum.  

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At Thumbprint, we take
your leadership and
communications from
aha! to action.