Areas of Expertise -
Communications PROGRAMS

Rebuilding Team Trust Through Effective Communication ©2007

Facilitator: Sherry Law
3 Hours with optional Communications Audit available

Successful Teams Weather Storms by Building Windmills – Not Fences
Effective communication = successful company

This segment begins with an overview of the current state of communication in the organization, identifying strengths and weaknesses in communication practices and suggests improvements that ensure an effective flow of information. It also illustrates what effective team communication is and how communication at the team level impacts the productivity of the entire organization. This is followed by a discussion of the principles of effective communication. The segment ends with experiential exercises that illustrate how communication is the lifeblood of both teams and organizations, impacting the performance of both.

Learning objectives:

• How individual communication and attitude impact team and organization performance
• Understand obstacles to effective communication
• Understand how to communicate more effectively within a team and between teams
• How much employees understand and believe what management tells them
• What channels of communication employee groups prefer for various types of information
• Whether employees feel they have enough information to do their jobs well
• The extent of gossip and rumors as information sources
• Whether there is an effective communication feedback process
• Whether teams communicate effectively with one another
• Differences in communication effectiveness among your divisions, departments, facilities and locations, as well as other demographics you want to measure
• Communication strategies that are working well in one area and should be replicated throughout the organization

Topics include:

• Information versus communication
• You cannot not communicate
• Trust, security, and politics in team communication
• Communication channels, roadblocks, and regularity
  
• Team hierarchy and its impact on communication
• Who is communicating what to whom?
• Asking questions/getting answers
• “We-they” attitudes and their impact on communication
• Personal comfort levels and mindset on teams
• Dialogue between team members and teams
• Dignity and respect in communication and how it relates to team commitment

Exercises include (depending upon make-up of group):

• What was and is valued pre- and post-merger and what’s valuable now?
• Understanding dialogue and the basics of using dialogue within and between teams