The Customer Facing Skills Initiative (CFSI) is a series of four soft skills courses for Microsoft employees to help them excel in their role and operate as a trusted advisor with customers and colleagues.
As of October 29th, 2021, I am one of the first dozen at Microsoft to complete all four of the skill areas (Strategic Communication, Stakeholder Management, Influence, and Creative Thinking) and accomplish the CFSI: Mastery program badge.
The Four Skill Areas
Strategic Communication skills help prepare you for any situation you may face in your day-to-day work. Being able to craft and deliver a compelling message is a critical skill. Whether you’re building rapport with a new customer, leading a meeting, facilitating a whiteboard discussion, or delivering a formal presentation, the same key principles apply.
![CFSI: Strategic Communication](https://john.deardurff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CFSI_Badge_Strategic_Communication-400x400.png)
Stakeholder Management skills are crucial to your success for both customer & internal relations. Engaging in difficult conversations with confidence and empathy is not a walk in the park. This skill assists in learning how to mitigate project risk and calm unhappy customers through timely and clear communication, while managing expectations and setting boundaries.
![CFSI: Stakeholder Management](https://john.deardurff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CFSI_Badge_Stakeholder_Management-400x400.png)
Influence skills allow the ability to compel colleague and customer action. This is done through persuasive conversations delivered with confidence to affect positive change in the workplace.
![CFSI: Influence](https://john.deardurff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CFSI_Badge_Influence-400x400.png)
Creative Thinking skills exercise the ability to uncover hidden insights into customer and stakeholder issues by generating novel ideas, evaluate and prioritize those ideas to determine a correct solution and gain buy-in from the entire team.
![CFSI: Creative Thinking](https://john.deardurff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CFSI_Badge_Creative_Thinking-400x400.png)
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