A worshop for facilitators

Study Circles were developed in 1870 at Chautauqua Assembly in New York to provide higher education opportunities to people who didn't have access to college.

Today, Study Circles are widely used as a technique for small groups to examine an issue from many perspectives and to solve related problems. The process is aided by an impartial facilitator who creates a safe environment, manages expectations, models desired behaviors and keeps the discussion "on purpose.

This workshop trains those facilitators.

This workshop is designed to provide managers with the information and hands-on skills training they need ─ in only three to five hours of total training time ─ to facilitate Study Circles successfully.

The workshop uses coaching and training techniques that give participants an opportunity to interact with the information presented in ways that help drive it home. Subjects are covered, through presentations, games, competitions and other exercises.

For additional information or to schedule a workshop, please contact me.

Planning a communication program or campaign is an art and a science.

The science is in the planning process, the art is in the content.  It's impossible to find the art without the science.  Yet so many communication "planning" processes start with a clever tactical idea and some vague goals or, worse, they're cobbled together in response to a management directive such as "get our name out there to the public."

As a public relations educator and judge of countless regional and national public relations programs, I've evaluated far too many communication "plans" that set-out to "educate the public," "generate excitement," and "position the client as a leading provider of solutions in the insert-your-product-here space."

There's no shortage of communication planning models in the public relations literature.  Yet for many reasons (that could be the subject of another workshop) many organizations seem unaware that they exist.  So I've developed a structured workshop that provides a communication planning team with the science they need to discover the art.

Through a straightforward, rigorous, facilitated structure, the workshop drives the communication team through a step-by-step process that starts with defining the problem or opportunity the plan is supposed to address. Depending on the core competencies of the participants, the extent to which the actual communication plan is developed during the workshop itself will vary.  In every case, the participants leave the program with a "ready to go" framework to complete a specific communication plan with the appropriate communication professionals in the organization.

Contents of the Workshop

• Define and prioritize the issues
• Analyze Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). 
• Identify, segment, profile and prioritize audiences. 
• Develop message platform(s).
• Set goals and (if appropriate and possible) objectives.
• Develop strategies. 
• Develop tactics and evaluation methods.*
• Identify partnerships and alliances.
• Identify staffing and resources.

*Rarely developed in the workshop itself because additional research is almost always required. However, participants are provided with tools for use after the workshop.

Q: What's the first thing you learn in Employee Communication 101?

A: Managers and supervisors are the most effective and most credible source of information for employees.

Q:  So, what's are the mainstays of every employee communication program?

A: Newsletters, E-mail and the company intranet.

What's missing in this equation? How about the idea that most managers aren't naturally good at communication! These skills can be acquired through coaching and training.

Yet, for the serious employee communication professional, simply finding an affordable, effective training program for managers has been next to impossible. (That is, of course, until you found this Web site!)

As a companion to Managing Change: How to Plan and Implement an Effective Employee Communication Program. A Step-by-Step Guide for Managers I have developed an effective, involving ― and fun! ― all-day workshop for managers, Communication Skills for Leaders.

The workshop uses effective coaching and training techniques that give participants an opportunity to interact with the information presented in ways that help drive it home.

Subjects are covered, through presentations, games, competitions and other exercises ― one involves mirrors, but not smoke.
 
Depending on your specific needs, the workshop can be modified to provide hands-on experience and coaching on specific needs your managers have ― for example, preparing them to handle employee communication during a re-engineering program or handling employee communication when your company is involved in a crisis.

History  of the Workshop

I originally developed the Communication Skills for Leaders workshop in the early 1990’s for CoreStates Financial Corp during a corporate re-engineering program.  Employee survey research I conducted at the time demonstrated the timeless fact that employees’ immediate supervisors are the most credible and trusted sources of information about the company and the roles they play in its success.  Yet, as in many companies then and still now, little was or is done to provide the training and support supervisors require to be effective as communicators.  Fewer link effective communication to evaluation or compensation of supervisors.

I searched for an existing training program to fill this gap.  When I was unable to find one, CoreStates asked me to develop this program.  Over the years, I have modified and improved it.  In the most recent program I conducted, 100% of the participants reported that they achieved the purpose of the workshop and every component of the workshop scored 8.25 or higher on a scale of 10.

Purpose of the Workshop

The purpose of the workshop is “to provide information and hands-on experience with communication skills that are important in your role as a leader.  The intended result of the workshop is to improve immediately your understanding of and comfort with using the skills covered in the workshop.”

Within that context, using information, games, exercises, demonstrations, simulations and coaching, I drive home a number of points:

• Communication is the single most important factor that affects company loyalty and job satisfaction;
   
• Communication skills are critical to successful management and these skills can be learned and improved;
   
• There are no “tricks” or “techniques” that are effective in and of themselves.  In fact, most people come to the program with a list of pop-psychology tips and rules they’ve learned that I need to reveal and peel away;
   
• The communication “techniques” that work best are those that “come from” the idea of building relationships of trust, respect and honesty.  

Process of the Workshop

Because the success of the workshop depends on giving each participant multiple opportunities to participate in exercises and demonstrations and to receive individual coaching, I limit the number of participants in each program 25 people.

The workshop takes place in a conference room facility, from 9:00 a.m. to as late as 4:00 p.m.  Typically, the sponsor provides continental breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack.  Comfort and meal breaks are scheduled throughout the day. Set-up and equipment requirements are minimal and include a computer projector, flip charts and so forth.  Most clients prefer to handle all logistical arrangements such as room set-up, scheduling participants, nametags, copying handouts and so forth to take advantage of lower internal costs and existing staff.

You may have it backwards.

The highly evolved skills that most successful executives use in their work often are not the skills they need to be successful at media relations. In fact, they're most likely backwards. This intensive four- to six-hour workshop shows high-level corporate executives what's missing in their current approach to interacting with news media and gives them hands-on experience with building authentic relationships with members of the Fifth (and, now, the Sixth) Estate.

If you're looking for just another set of tips, tricks, techniques and other means of manipulating relationships with news media, this is not the program for you. This workshop is grounded in the fundamentals of building successful relationships such as cultural awareness, listening, respect, responsibility and empathy.

The program is customized for the specific requirements of each client organization. Using demonstrations, exercises, video examples and, as required, videotaping, participants learn about the culture of news media, principles of media relations, surefire tips for aggravating reporters, David Kirk's Seven Commandments for answering questions and even the Zen principles that apply to answering questions. Then, using specific models and examples specific to their current challenges, participants practice the principles they've learned.

For additional information or to schedule a workshop, please contact me.