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PARTICIPANT DEMO BOOKLET
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Prepare your team leaders today
for the challenges of tomorrow.
Leaders must be skilled in bringing teams together
to improve productivity, focus on behavior and
not attitude, deal with facts and not opinions, and
create a climate of open communication.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF LEADERSHIP
1. Maintain or enhance team member self-esteem.
This is probably the single most important skill a team leader can possess. It is the ability
to give orders, evaluate performance, correct work habits, deal with complaints and
resolve conflicts while supporting team members’ sense of self-respect and dignity.
2. Focus on behavior.
Problems on the job are solved more effectively and less stressfully when a team leader
deals with what people do rather than with their attitudes or personal characteristics.
3. Encourage team member participation.
Involving team members in decision-making, problem-solving and other nonroutine
on-the-job activities is one of the team leader’s key motivational tools.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING
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1. Create a climate of open communication.
The bedrock of good communication is openness — the extent to which the organization
and its people support the free exchange of open, honest communication.
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2. Design clear, concise messages.
Well-designed Messages are clear and concise. They avoid complex and pompous
language, are logically organized, and are aimed at the receiver’s interests.
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3. Manage nonverbal behaviors effectively.
Voice level, intonation, facial expressions, gestures and posture are some of the nonverbal
factors that team leaders must learn to use and understand in order to communicate
effectively.
4. Listen to communicate.
Effective communication requires active listening, which includes the ability to reflect,
probe, support and advise. These four types of responses are essential elements of
motivation and are critical in effective communication.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Objectives
When you have completed this Essential Skills of
Communicating course, you will be able to perform the following:
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Ensure that communication is a two-way process.
•
Construct clear, concise messages in the interest of the
receiver.
• Manage nonverbal behaviors to reinforce the intent of
your message.
• Listen actively to improve communication.
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• Create a climate of open communication that increases
team members’ motivation and commitment.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
NOTES
Key Terms
Attitude — Mental disposition or feeling with regard to a person
or thing.
Behavior — Manner of acting or conducting oneself.
Credible — Believable, trustworthy.
Frame of Reference — Individual viewpoint or way of looking
at the world based on one’s cultural and personal background. A
structure of concepts, values or views used by a person or group
to evaluate data or communicate ideas.
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Mixed Message — A communication containing more than one
message at the same time. For example, saying you really like
someone and shaking your head “no” at the same time.
Rapport — Relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
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Stereotyping — Making judgments about people solely based
on their class or category. For example, placing individuals into
categories based on their age, gender or race, then holding the
belief that all individuals within that category are identical.
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Two-Way Communication — Communication between two
people where views are exchanged as a dialogue. Effective
listening is essential in good two-way communication in order
to assure clarity of the message and mutual understanding of
respective views.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Exercise 1: Awareness Inventory
Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement by putting a check (4) on each of the
appropriate lines.
1. Because most team leaders’ communication is face-to-face with team members, their skill in oral communication is more important than their skill in written communication.
_____ Agree
_____ Disagree
2. What you say is more important than how you say it. _____ Agree
_____ Disagree
_____ Agree
_____ Disagree
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3. Most team leaders should listen more effectively to a manager than to team members.
4. The best way to ensure that team members understand the directions you give is to ask them to repeat the directions. _____ Agree
_____ Disagree
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5. When an oral message received by one person is transmitted to another person, at least 30 percent of the message is lost. _____ Agree
_____ Disagree
6. If a message is clear and well organized, then the receiver will understand it.
_____ Agree
_____ Disagree
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Exercise 1: Awareness Inventory Review
Circle any feedback item you wish to discuss during the course.
1. Because most team leaders’ communication is face-to-face with team members, their skill in oral communication is more important than their skill in written communication.
Agree. Skill in oral communication is by far the most important. Although effective written communication is important, for the typical team leader, well over 90 percent of his/her communication with team members is spoken.
2. What you say is more important than how you say it. Disagree. Both what you say and how you say it are important. The content of what you say and its clarity will obviously affect the understanding of the person receiving your message. How you say it will affect the receiver’s perception of your meaning.
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3. Most team leaders should listen more effectively to a manager than to team members. Disagree. Team leaders must listen to both their managers and their employees. If they don’t listen to both groups, then they will fail. The team leader is the communication connection between management and the workforce. He/she must be able to effectively listen and communicate with both groups.
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4. The best way to ensure that team members understand the directions you give is to ask them to repeat the directions. Agree. This is the most direct and effective way of obtaining feedback. It is the best way to ensure understanding. Performed correctly and consistently, this technique is in no way demeaning to the team member or the team leader.
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5. When an oral message received by one person is transmitted to another person, at least 30 percent of the message is lost. Agree. Often the loss is even greater. Remember the old game “Telephone” where one person whispered a message to another who, in turn, whispered the message to a third person, and so on down the line until the last person told everyone what the message was? By that time the original message was almost always unrecognizable.
6. If a message is clear and well organized, then the receiver will understand it.
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Disagree. Even when a message is clear and well organized, many factors could interfere with the receiver’s understanding of it. For example, if the message is of no interest to the receiver, he/she will not pay attention to it and, therefore, will not understand it.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Essential Skills of Communicating
NOTES
Your effectiveness as a team leader stands or falls on your
ability to communicate. This is true no matter what kind of
organization you’re in, department you lead, team members
you have, manager you have or person you are. To manage is to
communicate.
Most of your communication has a purpose:
You tell people what to do.
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You obtain information you need.
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You provide information to someone who needs it.
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You persuade someone to do something.
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You explain how something should be done.
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Becoming a superb communicator is difficult to accomplish. Think
about the people with whom you communicate on a daily basis.
You will notice some people are strong in certain communication
skills but weak in other skills. For instance, someone may be a
good listener, meaning they actively listen to the message given.
However, their feedback skills may need improvement.
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You can improve these numbers dramatically by decreasing
the amount of information that is lost when you transmit your
messages. You can also increase the amount of information
your team members retain. Take a closer look at what happens
when you communicate. Here is a simplified diagram of the
communication process:
FEEDBACK
SENDER
MESSAGE
RECEIVER
FEEDBACK
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Skill Point 1: Create a Climate of Open Communication
The communication climate of any organization, including teams, is a key factor in its success. An
organization is doomed to perish if the climate is characterized by secrecy, stagnation and intolerance of
fresh views. On the other hand, organizations typically thrive where ideas and information flow freely.
The bedrock of good communication is openness — the extent to which an organization and its people
support the free exchange of open, honest communication. Openness contributes more to a positive
communication climate than any other factor. Successful team leaders know this and strive to create an
environment:
Where team members feel free to offer their opinions, ideas and input.
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Where information is exchanged freely.
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Where problems and conflicts are openly discussed and resolved.
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Where team members feel free to take risks and challenge the status quo to improve the way
things are done.
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TEAM MEMBER
TEAM LEADER
TEAM MEMBER
TEAM MEMBER
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The basis of open communication is trust. The team leader, more than anyone else, is responsible for
establishing that trust. Team leaders develop and earn trust over time through their actions. In the
context of communication, good team leaders posess the following qualities:
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Reliable — They follow through on commitments. They attend to the important business of
wanting to hear what others have to say.
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Open — They are honest in what they say. They don’t intentionally cloud issues or lie to avoid
dealing with them.
•
Accepting — They respect team members and their ideas. They avoid defensiveness when ideas
and information presented are different from their own.
•
Congruent — They practice what they preach. Instead of saying they support open
communication, they practice it.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Open vs. Closed Communication Climate Behavior
Open Communication Climate
— The Team Leader:
Closed Communication Climate
— The Team Leader:
Responds negatively to bad news.
Keeps team members informed.
Keeps team members in the dark.
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Acts spontaneously with no
hidden motives.
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Invites feedback and input.
Uses team-based problem-solving
and decision-making.
Uses centralized problem-solving
and decision-making.
Surprises others with previously
undisclosed information.
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Creates relatively few surprises because
people are well informed.
Manipulates others to
achieve goals.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
NOTES
Skill Point 2: Design Clear,
Concise Messages
Most of us communicate face-to-face with relative ease. We speak
with a fair amount of fluency without giving much thought to
how we are going to structure our sentences. The grammar,
vocabulary and style we use are almost totally the products of an
unconscious process.
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This natural production of our normal, everyday speech is, for
most of us, a comfortable process that seems to lead to desired
results. People hear us and appear to understand us, and the
outcome of this process is generally satisfactory. Even when it
doesn’t work so well, you should take comfort in the knowledge
that no one is perfect.
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For most of us, designing clear, concise messages requires
diligent effort. Although some people may appear more
confident or talented at this process, team leaders who make
the effort to develop these skills have taken a major step toward
more effective communication.
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Language is always appropriate when you use short words,
short sentences, specific terms, and commonly understood and
respectful words.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Exercise 4: Creating More Specific Sentences
General Example of Wordiness
per
thus
first
to
because
deny
depends on
must
except
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according to
as a result
first and foremost
in order to
in view of the fact that
not allow
will be able to
will have to
with the exception of
Better Phrase
Rewrite the following sentences using the Keep It Short & Simple (K.I.S.S.) principle.
1. To make certain that the materials you remove from the supply section are fully accounted for in our inventory system, I am requesting that you completely and accurately fill out the standard form provided for that purpose.
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2. Because your lack of punctuality results in a greater burden placed on other team members in this department, who then have to answer the calls coming in to your desk as well as continue to handle their own, I must tell you that no further lateness on your part can be tolerated.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
NOTES
Design Messages in the Interest
of the Receiver
There are a number of ways of obtaining a receiver’s attention.
Saying something unusual, exotic, or unexpected generally
attracts a receiver’s attention, but it won’t necessarily hold it.
What’s more, the technique often distracts attention from the
message itself.
The best way to gain the receiver’s attention is to design the
message so it appeals to the receiver’s interests.
How do you construct a message that will be understood by the
receiver?
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1. What will strike his/her interest or what will benefit the
receiver?
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2. What does the receiver need to know about the subject?
3. What does the receiver want to know?
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We are not suggesting that you analyze each team member’s selfinterest in every message; however, try to keep in mind his/her
interests during day-to-day communication.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Skill Point 3: Manage Nonverbal
Behaviors Effectively
NOTES
We are always communicating — whether we want to or not.
Even when we don’t say a word, we communicate because
an important part of our communication involves the use of
nonverbal behaviors, such as facial expressions, posture, gestures
and tone of voice. These nonverbal behaviors can have a powerful
influence on what and how we communicate.
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Verbal factors are the words someone uses to communicate.
Besides the words we use, things such as verbal intonation, pitch
and emphasis affect the communication process. Nonverbal
behaviors determine how our message is received. We all
know that the way in which something is said can be more
important than what is said. We can take the same simple
sentence and repeat it several different ways using identical
words, yet it can mean several different things.
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Most of us are largely unaware of our use of these nonverbal
behaviors when we communicate. We are often oblivious to how
our gestures, intonation, body language and facial expressions
are received by others.
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Our words convey the content of our message, and our nonverbal
behaviors convey the intent. Both must be aligned in order to
effectively communicate the desired message.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Video Segment 7: Nonverbal Behaviors I
Record the team leader’s verbal message, nonverbal behaviors and your perception of the message.
Verbal Message:
Nonverbal Behaviors:
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Perceived Message:
Video Segment 8: Nonverbal Behaviors II
Verbal Message:
Nonverbal Behaviors:
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Perceived Message:
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Record the team leader’s verbal message, nonverbal behaviors and your perception of the message.
Video Segment 9: Nonverbal Behaviors III
Record the team leader’s verbal message, nonverbal behaviors and your perception of the message.
Verbal Message:
Nonverbal Behaviors:
Perceived Message:
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Skill Point 4: Listen to Communicate
Many people confuse listening with hearing. You can’t listen
without hearing, but you can hear without listening. Hearing is a
passive process. Usually it’s hard for us to turn off our hearing. We
hear whether we want to or not. Listening, on the other hand, is
an active process. We can turn our listening on or off very easily
by not giving attention to the speaker’s message. We listen only
when we want to.
NOTES
Because listening is an active process, it involves more than
receiving sounds and processing them so that we understand
the message. Listening also requires that we react to the speaker.
Therefore, listening is also an interactive process.
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Reflecting, probing, supporting and advising are four basic kinds
of responses we make to a speaker that constitute the verbal
aspect of listening. These verbal listening responses are essential
elements of effective motivation, and they are critical behaviors in
effective communication.
Reflecting — When you respond to what you heard the speaker
say to verify what he/she is saying. It is essential to verify and
clarify what you think you heard.
Probing — When you question for more information or clarity:
who, what, when, where, why and how.
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Supporting — Showing empathy or understanding for another
person’s situation. For example, you can say “I understand how
you could feel that way.”
Advising — Offering responses that provide new information to
reinforce or change the other person’s perception. You should
provide facts in your advising statements.
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Exercise 7: Listen to Communicate Examples
1. “I’m fed up with this assignment.”
Reflecting — “You don’t like this kind of work.”
Probing — “What is it you don’t like about it?”
Supporting — “I can’t say that I blame you. Some assignments are less appealing than others.”
Advising — “Try to hang in there, you’ll only be on it two more days.”
2. “It’s driving me up the wall.”
Reflecting — “You find it hard to take.”
Probing — “What makes it so difficult?”
Supporting — “I know what you mean. I had the same problem when I had to do it.”
Advising — “Try looking at it this way ...”
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
Exercise 7: Listen to Communicate
1. “I think this quota is unrealistic.”
a. Reflecting:
b. Probing:
c. Supporting:
d. Advising:
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a. Reflecting:
b. Probing:
c. Supporting:
d. Advising:
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2. “Someone will have to show me how it can be done.”
3. “How come I get all the dog work in this section?”
a. Reflecting:
b. Probing:
c. Supporting:
d. Advising:
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ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COMMUNICATING DEMONSTRATION BOOKLET
•
Essentail Skills of Leadership
•
Essentail Skills of Communicating
•
Coaching Job Skills
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Communicating Up
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Delegating
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Developing Performance Goals and Standards
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Effective Discipline
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Improving Work Habits
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Managing change
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Providing Performance Feedback
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Resolving Conflict
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Supporting Change
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Vital Leadership Essential Skills
Vital Leadership Team Development
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Developing and Coaching Others
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Leading Successful Projects
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Motivating Team Members
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Solving Workplace Problems
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Vital Leadership Talent Management
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Hiring Winning TalentTM
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Retaining Winning TalentTM
Please refer to the Vital Learning Product Matrix for the objectives and skill points for all of the Vital
Learning courses.
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