'Communication Skills' Facilitator Guide

‘COMMUNICATION SKILLS’FACILITATOR GUIDEwww.mmmts.com Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

Facilitator starts with a selfintroduction.Ice Breaker – Two Truths and a Lie§ Introduction – Ice BreakerHow it works: Each participant is askedto say three things about themselves,Two Truths and a Lietwo of which are true and one of which isa lie. Other participants will try andguess which among the three things isthe lie.Activity – The Puzzle Use this opening activity to point out to people that it is important to startthinking ‘out of the box’. Reinforce the fact that new learning happens only whenyou see things from a perspective different from what you used prior. This allows you to introduce the fact that the concepts addressed in the trainingneeds to be approached with an open mind. This activity also serves to continue as an energy booster and enables people torelax before the program begins.What is communication? What is the impactof our communication skills on ourMMM TRAINING SOLUTIONSbusiness?Most people are born with the physicalability to talk, but we must learn to speakwell and communicate effectively. We learnbasic communication skills by observingCOMMUNICATIONother people and modeling our behaviorbased on what we see.You have been communicating all your life. Therefore, you are quite justified inwondering “why do you need to study communication?”One answer is that formal study can improve skill. Some people have a natural talentfor singing or playing cricket. Yet they could be even more effective if they took voice Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

lessons or studied theories of offensive or defensive play. Likewise, even if youcommunicate well now, learning more about it can make you more effective.Communication affects all spheres of our lives, and to spend some time perfectingthese skills is an investment that pays dividends throughout our life.Activity:§ Ask participants to draw a pie chart, showing the percentage of time theyspend on Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.§ Ask participants to estimate the amount of time they would have spent onclarifying or verifying information.§ Emphasize that apart from building confidence, good communication skillsactually save time and energy.Activity – FocusObjective – to emphasize the impact ofpressure on basic communication skills.Exercise – FocusInstructions to Facilitator:§ Hand out the exercise, closed or facedown with the instruction that theyare to be opened only after you givethe signal to start.§ Time limit for this exercise is 3 minutes.§ Facilitator should mark the first two minutes and give a 10 second warning forthe last minute.§ At 3 minutes say time is up and insist that participants stop the exercise.You will find that some participants will actually start working on each of theinstructions, ignoring the first instruction which says “Read all that follows withoutdoing anything.”So, you would find that a few act out on the instructions given atthe various steps. Some others would have read the first instruction and acted uponit and would be sitting back having written the name of their organization in thelower left-hand corner of the sheet, which is all that this exercise requires anyone to Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

do. At the end of the exercise, ask those who have completed the exercise, what didthey read? Those who have read and understood the first instruction would happilyexplain what they did and why.Debrief: Theoretically, all of us know what itis to read and understand a set of simpleinstructions. But when under pressure,many of us forget the basics. We need tobecome aware of this fact and be consciousof our own limitations, especially in ourbusiness communications.Focus Was there something wrong with theinstructions or did our pre-conceivednotions and our hastiness cause theerror? Do we always read through instructionsin detail before starting a task,especially when under pressure? Does this not mean that we should bevery careful about the way we structureour information in order forcommunication to be effective?Although the exercise was a piece of clearwritten communication, it was ambiguous in nature. Thus, illustrating that all clear orsimple communication is not effective communication as communication is a 2-wayprocess. To the speaker it might be clear and simple but it might not be the same forthe listener.Lead a short discussion on whatWhat is Communication?communication is. “What do theparticipants want the receiver to do oncethey get the email or phone call?”Most often participants want some action Communication is sending or receivingideas, thoughts or feelings from oneperson to one or more persons in such away that, the person receiving itunderstands it in the same way thesender wants him/her to understand.to be taken by the recipient. Have furtherdiscussion on this point to emphasize theimportance of communicating effectively.Explain the standing of Harvard andStanford Universities among theuniversities in the world. Subscribers to the Harvard BusinessReview rated “the ability tocommunicate” the most important factorin making an executive “promotable”,more important than ambition,education, and capacity for hard work. One 20 year study that followed theprogress of Stanford University MBAsrevealed that most successful graduatesshared personality traits that distinguishgood communicators: ‘A desire topersuade, an interest in talking withother people, and an outgoing,ascendant personality.’ Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

as·cen·dant also as·cen·dentadj.(əә-sěn'dəәnt)Inclining or moving upward; ascending or rising.Dominant in position or influence.Background story for Stanford University.Leland Stanford was born in the East Coast, in the United States and was educatedas a lawyer. In 1852, he moved to California during the California Gold Rush andbegan mining for gold at Michigan Bluff in Placer County, California. He subsequentlywent into business with his three brothers, who had preceded him to the Pacificcoast. During this time he worked with his brothers as keeper of a general store forminers, served as a Justice of the Peace and helped organize the Sacramento LibraryAssociation, which later became the Sacramento Public Library. In 1856 he moved toSan Francisco and engaged in mercantile pursuits on a large scale. With wife Jane,Stanford founded Leland Stanford Junior University as a memorial for their onlychild, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died as a6 Simple Questionsteenager of typhoid in Florence, Italy while1. There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each takeon a trip to Europe.one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in thebasket?2. Some months (like October) have 31 days. OnlyObjective: to underline the impact ofambiguity and perception in communication.February has precisely 28 (except in a leap year). Howmany months have 30 days?3. Divide 50 by 1/3 and add 7. What is theanswer?Ask the participants to quietly note downthe answers in their notebooks. Give them areasonable amount of time per question. Accommodate slow readers.At the end, go through the answers oneafter the other. Participants would havedifferent answers for the questions. Timepermitting, you may choose to take a quicktally of each answer. Some participants will6 Simple Questions What caused you not to follow the directionsgiven? Which of these factors could interfere with theeffectiveness of your own communication? Did the way the questions were framed affect theend result?point out that, the questions do not specifycertain things. For e.g. in question 2, the Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

participants will say that months that have 31 days cannot beincluded as the question refers to months that have only 30 days. It is important topoint out that the word only does not existin the question. With the addition of theword only it changes the answer to includeonly the months with 31 days.Rules for Communication1.2.Ensure it fits the purposeA.B.C:3 K.I.S.S.4. Deliver informationin 3 stages:AccuracyKeepIntroductionDebrief: In business, we require specificBrevityItanswers to questions; therefore we needMain body ofcontentClarityShortSummaryto take time to think about how we frameSimplequestions.The way one perceives a question determines how effectively they answer it. Hence,it is important to make communication specific and accurate.Before moving to this slide, askparticipants to identify the elements ofany communication process.Debrief: emphasize that thecommunication loop closes only whenfeedback is received. This is what makescommunication a 2-way process.What is the effect of verbalcommunication?Skilled communicators enhance thepower of their spoken and writtencommunication by using words thatVerbalCommunicationappeal to all the senses. It helps buildrapport and persuade others.Emphasize points 1 and 4. Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions

Participants need to understand that the most critical points of a conversation/email/meeting need to be highlighted in the Introduction first – as it is the first partthat the receiver will hear/see and will help create an impression, the summarysecond – as it will be the last thing that the receiver will hear/see as it will help inretaining information and the Main body should contain the details of the criticalpoints along with other information.Participants are to be informed thatQuestioning will be covered first and weshall go into listening in a later section ofthe training programWays to Encourage Communication Effective ways to elicit information:– Asking Effective Questions– Intently ListeningActivity – Follow the InstructionObjective: to bring out the importance ofthe receivers’ thought process andperception.‘Follow The Instruction’ ExerciseEquipment: Old newspapers or anystandard sized paper would do.Please ensure that all participants get the same sized sheet of paper.Instruct the participants to tear out ¼ of a double sheet or ½ of a single sheet forthis exercise.Tell the participants that you will give a set of instructions that they should follow.Now, tell the participants that they must strictly follow rules.The rules are: They should keep their eyes closed through out the exercise, until they are askedto open their eyes. The instructions will not be repeated. No questions are allowed. Copyright 2012, MMM Training Solutions