“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw
13 Elements helps ensure this doesn't happen in your company.
Good Communication is Good Business
The ability to communicate identity, ideas and information clearly and effectively in business is the ability to sell to others, to educate, inspire and motivate. Put simply, it differentiates a company from its competitors and enhances an individual's impact within the organisation. In fact, it is widely acknowledged as one of the most sought-after skillsets in the business world.
Communicating well is vital for securing business, building relationships, avoiding misunderstandings and maintaining employee morale. In many cases, good communication skills are even more critical than an employee's technical competencies, especially at senior levels.
Yet 75% of employees are afraid of public speaking, few receive effective presentation skills training and fewer still are instructed in the crafting of formal written communications.
How we can help...
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13 Elements partners with companies to develop employees' professional communication skills, focusing on public speaking and written business communications.
We promote a return to the clear, simple and more emotionally persuasive rhetoric which businesses once used to use through a combination of on-site blended learning techniques, tailored to a client's specific needs. These may include instructor-led one-on-one or group sessions, senior manager coaching, role play, interactive discussions and video demonstrations.
13 Elements also works with schools and universities to pre-familiarise students with the more nuanced communications skills required in professional environments.
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Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy
Our Offerings
Good communication skills are not some mysterious, elusive art form which only a few people are born with. But they are a skill and, like all skills, can be learnt, honed and improved upon. At 13 Elements, we tailor our approach to help clients make this process a fun, engaging and insightful journey as they enhance their capabilities in this critical area.
Clarifying Business Communications
Say what you mean, and then mean what you say...
Business communication needs to be persuasive. Yet for many companies theirs has evolved over time, losing character, individuality and emotion. The more corporate language retreats into its own world, the less of a connection it retains with the wider public. Communications with customers, employees and stakeholders now all too often rely on lofty, jargon-heavy aspirations and empty, complex boilerplate language devoid of meaning and emotion.
The results are usually unpersuasive.
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13 Elements helps management audit their communications across the main channels and formats against the balance of underlying components necessary to be persuasive, impactful, trustworthy and effective. Our aim is to help clients rediscover a clear, uncomplicated voice which reflects the genuine purpose and aspirations of the business.
Our offerings include advisory services to boards and leadership to simplify and refine their style of language to produce a simpler, more deliberate messaging which defines their mission, drives alignment within the company, stands out from competitors and provides the inspiration for the organisation to rally around.
We complement this with tailored training solutions, as detailed below, to help your employees enhance their own business communications through programmes designed to develop better written and spoken communications capabilities.
Business Writing Advisory & Training
Within any business it is typically the most important decisions and information which need to be committed to writing. And yet, for most people, the oft verbose writing style developed throughout one's education does not carry well into professional environments. Compounding this is the propensity for employees to adopt a corporate jargon bereft of character or distinguishing features.
The ability to craft clear and intelligently written business communications is essential for the running of an effective business, enabling informed decision making, risk management, business development and intra-company communication.
Often, the more senior an employee the more important a skillset this becomes. In fact, Harvard Business Review deems communication, particularly written communication, as the most important aspect of a manager’s performance.
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We design our written communications training in the knowledge that good written communication often requires a reassessment of one's writing skills to focus on clear, simple and succinct delivery of message and theme.
At 13 Elements, unlike many purveyors of business writing strategies, we stress the importance of intelligent content and promoting the discipline required to translate thoughts into words in an organised and logical manner, while keeping the recipient front and center of consideration.
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Our training therefore focuses on:
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Defining the intention of the message.
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Thinking clearly about the recipient and the need-to-know principle.
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Ensuring simplicity of message.
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Establishing purpose clearly upfront.
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Easy scanability.
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Accurate, relevant and informative content.
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Avoidance of jargon for improved readability.
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Proofreading and editing.
Spoken Business Communication Advisory & Training
Whether it be for client sales, relationship management, internal meetings, training or general intra-team collaboration purposes, the majority of day-to-day business communication is done verbally, either face-to-face or virtually.
A successful speaker doesn't just get through the content in the time allocated, but rather will transfer to the audience’s mind a simple thing: an idea, which if communicated properly, is capable of permanently changing how the audience thinks about the world.
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At 13 Elements, we help our clients by designing our speaker training to:
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Aide presenters in overcoming typical hurdles that inhibit good presentations.
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Focus on the end goal / key message / theme of any presentation.
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Tell the story required to reach the end goal.
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Understand the (often subtle) “art” of presenting.
We focus our training on the key areas necessary in any successful presentation:
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The Message / Idea.
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Speaker's Mindset.
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Appearance and Body Language.
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Attitude.
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Voice and Delivery.
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Materials.
Training Programme Advisory & Review
Training one's employees is critical for many reasons, including ensuring a thorough understanding of organisational policies and objectives, work process uniformity, increased engagement and superior productivity and performance.
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But training is only effective if it is properly designed and impactfully delivered. The alternative simply results in disengaged and uninformed employees, which raises risk in the firm.
13 Elements partners with companies to enhance their internal training programme's efficacy through consultative services, including:
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The review of training goals to align materials and content accordingly with the objectives desired.
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Working with training leads to define the throughline of each training.
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Enhancement / simplification of presentation materials to deliver greater message insight and impact.
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Coaching of presenters to enhance their confidence and delivery capabilities.
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By assessing employees' learning requirements and other factors, including regulatory expectations, we aim to ensure more effective training programme design and appropriate, relevant content for more impactful and effective training.​
