Whatever your job, you will usually need to:

• Communicate both verbally and in writing
• Prepare for and attend meetings
• Manage the communications associated with your job.

This course will give you the knowledge and skills to handle these aspects of your job.

This course is approved by the independent Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). The ILM is the UK’s leading awarding body for management and leadership training. Delegates can receive an ILM award certificate after completing this course.

Course Aims

This course will help you :

• Be more aware of your own communication style
• Identify in your situation the barriers to effective communication
• Plan and prepare for communications that are -
  • Clear
  • Accurate
  • Sensitive to others
• Write well structured coherent documents

Course Content

Day 1

• Session 1 - Reviewing your communications
• Session 2 - Understanding the communication process
• Session 3 - Barriers to communication
• Session 4 - Understanding ourselves and others

Day 2

• Session 5 - Getting our message across in writing
• Session 6 - Writing e-mails, reports and minutes
• Session 7 - Effective communication in meetings
• Session 8 - Giving and receiving feedback

Preparing for the course

Before the course we will send you :

• A pre course questionnaire
  • To help us make sure you get what you need from the day
• A communication styles questionnaire
  • We explain on the course how these will help you communicate more effectively

We would also like you to bring to the course your current job description (if you have one)

Course Schedule

Day 1

Session 1 - Reviewing your communications

Your job you will probably involve responsibilities and tasks that require good communication skills.

This session will look at all the communication that you have to undertake in your job.

The session will include a review of your communications

• To identify the type of communication that is needed for different responsibilities and tasks

We will look at

• What you communicate
• Who you communicate with
• How you should communicate to achieve the best results

 

Session 2 - Understanding the communication process

Although effective communication is a 'hands on' practical part of working in a business, it can be helpful to know how it happens.

So, we will:

• Examine the stages of communication
  • Sender
  • Transmission
  • Decoding
• Review the impact that the stages have on individual and organisational communication
• Begin to understand the way we and others communicate

 

Session 3 - Barriers to communication

Even when communication is well thought out, things sometimes go wrong. So an essential skill is being able to recognise potential communication barriers and how to avoid them.

This includes:

• Recognising the barriers to communication
  • Personal
  • Organisational
  • Process
• Developing strategies to overcome barriers
• Increasing self awareness
• Being able to put in place processes to improve communication
  

 

Session 4 - Understanding ourselves and others

The most common reason why communication fails is that people misunderstand and misinterpret each other. Understanding ourselves and what motivates us and understanding others and what motivates them is crucial in effective communication. This understanding can help us to choose verbal and non verbal language that will enable effective communication.

This session looks at:

• Models that help us understand behaviour so that we can:
  • Recognise how we are behaving
  • Choose to change
  • Know what to do to make the changes
• Review past communication using models to identify what happened.

 

Day 2

Session 5 - Getting our message across in writing

Do you sometimes know what you want to say but don't always know how to 'say it' in writing? This session is aimed at helping you get your message across clearly and succinctly.

Session topics include

• Knowing your purpose and your audience
• Composing your content
• Structuring your writing
• Making sure it is readable
• Ensuring grammar and punctuation are correct

 

Session 6 - Writing e-mails, reports, and minutes

In this session we look at the conventions of particular types of writing. We will provide tips and tools to help your effectiveness.

We will include:

• Email etiquette
• What to include in a report
• How to make sure your minutes convey the correct information

 

Session 7 - Effective communication in meetings

Do you ever attend meetings and wonder why you are there or why the meeting is taking place? Meetings can be vital and productive and add value to your organisation but they can also be frustrating, time consuming and produce no apparent benefits for anyone.

We will look at how you can help ensure your meetings:

• Have a clear purpose
• Keep to time
• Have clear outcomes and actions

 

Session 8 - Giving and receiving feedback

As part of your job you may need to give feedback to others on things that they have done or said. You will also probably receive feedback on your own performance, particularly at appraisal time.

This session deals with how to give feedback in a way that is:

• Positive
• Objective
• Appropriate

It also looks at how to respond to both positive and negative feedback in a way that will help personal development.