Mastering Communication and Collaboration

Prerequisite knowledge and skills
There are no specific prerequisites for attendees, although some professional experience would be useful - in any discipline

Attendees

Attendees would normally be professionals with a few years experience - but the course contents are essentially universal and can be applied to most disciplines. It is likely to be useful to specialists who may be required to explain complex and uncommon concepts to lay audiences.

Purpose

The need for individuals with strong business acumen, interpersonal skills, and leadership capabilities has never been greater. This course aims to equip professionals from all specialisms with the knowledge and skills needed to collaborate and communicate effectively.

Mastering Communication and Collaboration aims find common ground between specialist, and non-specialist individuals to improve communication in all areas of the business. It incorporates actionable strategies and real-world examples and tips, and will help you improve your skills and become a more effective communicator and collaborator - whether you're an aspiring leader or an experienced professional.

The purpose of the course is to help attendees become more effective in their professional lives by supplementing technical 'hard skills' with essential 'soft skills'. Attendees will

• be better able to integrate themselves into organisations through understanding the dynamics of organisations outside specialist functions
• learn how to best to collaborate and communicate technical issues to the mutual benefit of speaker and listener
• Be better able to deliver specialist information to lay audiences

Format of the Course

• Interactive lecture and discussion.
• Interactive problem-solving sessions.

Course Customisation Options

• To request a customised training for this course, please contact us to arrange.

Day 1

INTRODUCTION

• Background
• Role definition
• Soft skills
• Perception, innumeracy and human nature
• Money, metrics and markets

1.        COMMUNICATION – PARADOX, PURPOSE, AND INTENTION

• The purpose and intention of communication
  • To educate
  • To inform
  • To persuade
• Conclusions

2.        KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

• Who are you talking to?
• World views, lenses and schemas
• Jargon and mixed audiences
• Location and nation
• Level and abstraction

3.        COMMUNICATION METHODS AND TOOLS

• Tools
• Screen-based text and precis
• The rule of three
• Examples and analogies

4.        STORYTELLING

• Ubiquity, cycles and hardwired for children
• How can we use stories in the workplace?
• How to tell a story
• Non-verbal communication
• The longevity and power of stories

Day 2

5.        PRESENTING DATA AND INFORMATION

• Data and information – what’s the difference?
• Detail – how much?
• Trusted sources
• Data and information visualisation

6.        INTERPRETATION OF DATA

• Confirmation bias
• Communication intention
• Communication status

7.        FEEDBACK

• Feedback models
  • Situation, behaviour and impact (SBI) model
  • Sandwich feedback model
  • Pendleton feedback model
  • Situation, task, action and result (STAR) feedback model
  • SAID feedback model
• How to GET good feedback
• Active listening
• How to GIVE good feedback
• Constructive feedback
• Conclusions

Day 3

8.        COLLABORATION

• Why collaborate?
• What is collaboration?
• Collaboration culture
• Conclusions

9.        COLLABORATION TOOLS

• Common collaboration tools and suites
  • MS SharePoint
  • Google Workspace
  • Atlassian
  • Kahootz
  • HighQ
• How to choose a collaboration tool

10.        ANALYSING YOUR COLLABORATION SKILLS

• Johari model
• Conciseness        
• Assertiveness
• Basic assertion
• Empathic assertion
• Consequence assertion
• Discrepancy technique
• Repetition technique
• Fogging technique

11.        EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND COLLABORATION

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship management

12.        PERSONAL BRANDING

• Disclosure and intent
• How to build your personal brand
  • Step 1: what do you want to do?
  • Step 2: goal alignment
  • Step 3: who are you talking to – and why?
  • Step 4: engage
• Brand characteristics

13.        POSITIVE ATTITUDE

• The history of PMA
• ‘Can-do’ and faith
• How to develop and maintain a PMA
• Distilled positivity
• Conclusion

14.        NETWORKING

15.        SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS