The 3 Levels of Communication Skills Training

Updated

All strategic, operational, and financial success hinges on clear, effective communication. Can I get an amen, anyone who’s ever worked on a team? Even the most cutting-edge business strategy is meaningless if you can’t communicate it in a way that will generate buy-in and action. Hence, the need for communication skills training.

Filtering through “noise” (anything that interrupts the original intent of what is being communicated) is one of the most critical soft skill gaps existing in business today.

Case in point? Searching online for effective communication skills training will generate pages upon pages of search engine results. That’s plenty of noise already to sift through and find something to apply to your organization. Well congratulations – you’ve successfully done that and found a practical guide to effective communication skills training, written by folks who have been there and done that with global Fortune 500 partners.

 

Effective Communication Skills Training

3 Levels of Communication Skills Training

There are three core concepts that organizations need to focus on when it comes to effective communication skills training. To get the best ROI out of those training dollars, here’s where to focus:

  • Supervisor Communication Skills Training
  • Written Communication Skills Training
  • Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Skills Training

  1. Supervisor Communication Skills Training

A culture of clear communication really does start at the top. Being able to convey overall organizational vision and strategy to ensure that teams not only complete the task at hand, but in a way that is quick, efficient, and thorough, is a skill that every supervisor needs to have. This is only possible when a supervisor delineates workstreams clearly and gives team members a vision of the final goal or deliverable. Supervisor communication skills training can cover an array of topics, but here are the most critical:

    • Conflict Resolution
    • Emotional Intelligence
    • Interpersonal Communication
    • Group Dynamics

  1. Written Communication Skills Training

In a world of email and Slack, clear written communication is critical – and rare. Whether it’s update communication for a supervisor, clarifying next steps, or external communication with clients/partners, clear written communication will directly lead to stronger relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Here’s our recommendation on where you should focus your written communication skills training:

    • Storytelling (Pyramid Principle & MECE)
    • Creating Engaging Content (Sales/Marketing)
    • Structure for Update Emails
    • Technical Writing

  1. Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication Skills Training

The ability to communicate clearly and concisely is the major point of this article. Most people will shoot from the hip when communicating. They say or write what is on their mind and unknowingly convey how they feel with their body language (nonverbal). This is especially true when having to work through conflict. Unhealthy organizations will try to mitigate conflict by attempting to keep harmony within the organization. A healthy organization will see the benefit of ideological conflict as a means to pull out creative solutions. This is also true in client engagements. How you communicate, whether verbal or nonverbal, can make or break a relationship. We see the biggest gaps in:

    • Active Listening (synthesizing what you hear to pull out the main point)
    • Articulation for Presentations
    • Body Language for Presentations

Okay, okay, now that we’ve made the case for the importance of having effective communication skills, you may be wondering where to start and how readily available this kind of training is to you.

Communication Skills Training Companies

There are many companies around the globe that offer on-site and online training courses. That includes us! We’ve taken consulting best-practices and distilled them into online and onsite training offerings to help teams upskill quickly.

Yes, the MC Team conducts 100+ training events per year. We serve executive teams, sales teams, and operational teams across the Fortune 500.

Each attendee of an in-person training receives a follow-up, 1:1 training session as well to ensure the training has sunk in and is being implemented.

Make Your Investment Work

So how do you ensure that organizational training dollars aren’t wasted? An article entitled “The Cost of Communication” posted on The Society Human Resource Management website shows that it costs an organization more to have staff that communicate poorly than allocating money for communication training. Knowing is half the battle. Implementing what is learned is the other half.

Imparting the benefits of effective communication skills training is best done in a group setting for multiple reasons. Then, follow-up with individuals one-on-one to ensure implementation. Two great benefits:

  1. Return on Investment: Effective communication increases retention and strengthens client relationships.
  2. Team Building: The ability for teams to get together and decide upon a common language, as well as the ability for leaders to assess team strengths in real-time.

There are several websites that provide free exercises that touch on our three core concepts for effective communication. Here are several group exercises that hit on those core concept topics:

Supervisor Communication Skills Training Resources

Written Communication Skills Training

Verbal & Nonverbal Communication Skills Training

For more group exercise ideas, check out the links below:

Final Thought

Healthy and effective communication skills are a large part of an organization’s success. Therefore, the investment in providing training for folks at all levels makes a direct impact on the bottom line.

 

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Filed Under: Consulting skills, Corporate Training