Introducing Commercial Skills
The Client
A leading scientific journal publisher.
The Aims
The mission was to develop and enhance a set of skills amongst journal editors to ensure that they were able to manage their business and deal with customers in a variety of situations.
Issues
The competencies used to recruit this group were built around specific scientific knowledge and journal management skills. A range of external factors including the Open Access debate, competitor activity and academic funding restrictions meant that editors increasingly found themselves in customer facing roles. While the organisation did not wish to turn editors into salespeople, it did wish to equip the group with a set of commercial skills.
The Solution
As a first step we conducted an analysis of they the key business issues faced by editors and prioritised them according to the actual impact these issues have on customer relationships. With the client we then developed a series of scenarios that editors were likely to encounter.
We then facilitated a series of two-day workshops where participants were encouraged to develop skills in assertiveness, adapting the social style, managing potential conflict, understanding business drivers and creating proposals that meet customer needs. During these workshops we worked through the prepared scenarios using discussion and role-play to reinforce key learning.
Feedback Evaluation
The workshops received excellent feedback. Participants felt that the focus on real life issues meant that they could immediately apply any soft skills they had learned.
