G095
EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

NOTE: The workshop content described below will be delivered through ZOOM ONLINE on two consecutive half-day sessions. Agendas and other relevant workshop documentation will be sent to you by the workshop instructor at least three days prior to the date of the first session.

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

For you, as for most public servants, effective communications is an important competency and a significant part of your day-to-day activities. Regardless of your position, your communications have an impact on your ability to get the job done, to ensure that your verbal and written messages are well crafted and understood. How you communicate influences your ability to succeed in the workplace and to establish and enhance your relationship with internal and external stakeholders. The impact of your communications is a key ingredient in getting a buy-in for your ideas and your projects and contributes significantly to achieving your business and career objectives. Effective communications make you a credible, trusted and sought after colleague and professional.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

Whatever your specific area of responsibility (Human Resources, Information Technology, Program Management, Finance, Audit and Evaluation , Economic Analysis, Policy or Science) this one-day workshop will:

• help you identify and develop the communications skills, as well as actions and behaviours, that will enhance your capacity to achieve your objectives;
• provide you with practical communications insights, techniques and tools;
• clarify key concepts associated with communicating in the workplace, with clients, partners, colleagues and stakeholders;
• help you formulate solid, and retainable, plain language verbal and written messages; and
• improve your verbal delivery and professional conversations in the workplace.

This will be achieved through interactive presentations, discussions, shared experience and exercises.

WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY?

• Workbook
• Exercises and handouts

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMPETENCIES

• Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
• Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This practical workshop will be most profitable for mid-level and senior officers, technical experts, policy advisors and scientists (e.g. PE 4-5-6, AS 4-5-6, CS 2-3-4, IS 4-5-6, ES 3-4-5, CO 2-3-4, PM 4-5-6, FI 4-5-6, etc.), who need to be clearly understood and whose communications have a direct impact on the achievement of their business objectives.

Agenda
8:45 - 9:15	Introductions and Workshop Overview
9:15 - 10:00	Understanding Effective Communications “The Seven Cs” of good verbal and written communications. Cognitive limits of communications. Differences between written and oral communications. Understanding our audiences. Use of language for audience capture and conversation. Technical language to technical audience/plain language to others. Using plain language. Understanding messaging from our own and our audience’s perspectives. The basic “Rule of Three”.
10:00 - 10:10	Break
10:10 - 10:35	Active Listening Skills Why is this important? Key elements of active listening skills: Paying attention; Withholding judgment; Reflecting; Clarifying; Summarizing; and Sharing. Small Group Exercise: Active Listening Participants will work in small groups to practise active listening skills. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
11:05 - 11:15	Break
11:15 - 12:00	Small Group Exercise: Crafting Key and Specialized Messages Participants will work in small groups to develop Branch-specific messaging. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
12:00 – 12:45	Lunch
12:45 - 13:15	Communicating through Presentations, Briefings and Emails Common reasons why “presentation” go wrong. Differences between presentations, meetings, briefings and conversations. Using a systematic approach to oral and written presentations. Understanding “who am I talking to”, “what’s in it for me” and “what is in it for them”. Rule of Three! Basic principles of effective PowerPoint presentations and briefing. Understanding principles of effective email. Main email elements and how to organize our information from readers’ perspective.
13:15 - 13:45	Small Group Exercise: Developing a Presentation Outline Participants will work in small groups to develop a presentation outline. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
13:45 - 13:55	Break
13:55 - 14:20	Importance of Trust, Assertiveness and Confidence What is trust and why does it matter? How to build and maintain trust within your team and with clients and stakeholders? How to be assertive – 6 key steps. Difference between being assertive and aggressive. Building your self-confidence. Tips for confident behaviours. Personal SWOT analysis. Mini-exercise: Reina Leadership Quiz
14:20 - 15:05	Effective Verbal and Non-verbal Communications mpact of COVID 19 on government communications. Delivering diverse types of presentations of different duration and to varied audiences. Choosing your words and using your voice. Simple and proven techniques for overcoming nervousness and dealing with audience questions. A system and techniques for staying “on the message”. Why are some questions more difficult? Do’s and Don’ts of responding to questions.
15:05 - 15:20	Break
15:20 – 16:00	Small Group Exercise: Anticipating Questions Participants will work in small groups to develop a list of possible questions on the case study subject. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
16:00 - 16:30	Workshop Wrap-up: Qs and As, Takeaways and Evaluation