Why would you spend time with Accent On Business?
Meet Ellen
Ellen Dunnigan founded Accent On Business in 2001 specializing in public speaking, communication skills, and leadership presence for leaders in business. She has 25 years of experience with professional and nonprofessional speakers in healthcare, media, politics, engineering, sports, and other industries. Ellen’s coaching in speaking skills gives established and emerging leaders greater confidence and credibility. Her leadership programs in accountability, alignment, difficult conversations, and organizational communication have helped leaders expand their influence. Ellen is known for her practical “how to” style.
Ellen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Speech Pathology with an emphasis in voice and brain science — and further post-graduate training in organizational development, leadership, and public speaking. She believes firmly that it’s not just what you say; it’s how you say it that makes the winning difference. To that end, she helps businesses and leaders communicate well and be influencers in their companies and communities.
Accent On Business is a leadership presence and professional communication advisory firm for people who want to be of greater influence. Ellen works with competitive professionals who want to project a confident and competent image and be better influencers. She shows people how to say what it is that they need or want to say, in a way that demonstrates they know to whom they are speaking and why. And she equips them with techniques to look and sound and feel their confident and influential best.
Knowledge is power. Knowing your strengths and your potential blind spots equips you with ready-to-use tools to be your best, for yourself and your organization. Coupling this knowledge with evidence-based techniques and deliberate practice in how to use your tools can elevate your performance and your influence.
Think about it…this is what well-coached athletes do. They have their skills assessed along with their potential and capacity to learn and develop, then they engage in specific and substantive feedback, they flex their muscles and adapt based on the feedback, they get back in the game and try it again with adapted technique, they get more feedback and adapt again, and they continue on this development path to extraordinary performance.
That’s what we do here. It’s not about tennis or golf; it’s about your leadership, influence, and communication. Essential skills to use every day personally and professionally.
What can you expect?
Ellen will listen well to what you’d like to achieve. She’ll ask several questions to get to the root causes of your performance-to-date. She’ll even listen to your superiors if you’d like her to do so. Her listening skills and diagnostic skills are extraordinary.
Ellen will ask you to take a couple of assessments, probably a DiSC default communication style assessment, perhaps the EQ-i for determination of your strengths in emotional intelligence, maybe one or two others. If you’ve already taken any assessments, she’ll review those reports. She’ll do this so you can be highly aware of your strengths and blind spots. After all, we should focus on your strengths and make sure you know when to access them and how to use them for optimal performance and a strong sense of well-being.
Once you understand your strengths, you and Ellen will start working on ways for you to access and use those strengths. Ellen is all about making sure you are well-equipped with practical techniques to perform at your best and be the influencer you were meant to be.
This coaching is not about hoping you do better. It’s about making sure you are aware of the techniques you can use to be your best and guiding you with direct feedback and ways to “flex your muscles” as you step through the processes of building better habits in performance.
This is not a canned training series. Each and every aspect is completely customized specifically to you.
How do we do this?
Logistically, you will meet with Ellen every week or 10 days (typically) for an hour each time, in-person or via video conferencing. You will also have access to Ellen in between sessions by phone or text in the event you have an interim meeting or event for which you’d like to plan with Ellen or debrief with Ellen. She’s very accessible. Most people work with Ellen for about a quarter, that’s 12-14 in-person or video sessions usually. And you will be able to track your goals and measure your progress all the way through your engagement. Some continue on when they experience the advantages of working with an advisor who has their best interests at heart. Some come back to us for specific events in which they want to excel and know the benefits of working with Ellen on special projects. That’s all to be determined later. Let’s start with what’s important for the near term.
Do we only work with individuals?
We work with both individuals and groups. Sometimes that means an entire executive team, or an entire department. Other times it means the “high potential” associates from many departments in a company. Our work is not a canned approach for a company … each step is customized for you and the goals of your business. Ellen will learn your company’s goals and business value quickly, and want to be a part of your company’s financial success. Ask her for references from other companies with whom she has become a trusted advisor.