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Communications and Public Relations
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- Defining effective writing
- Characteristics of effective writers
- Understanding the hallmarks of effective communicators
- Elements of written communication
- Writing in a business context
- Understanding your audience
- Setting a purpose for your writing
- Understanding sources of miscommunication
- Tips for business writing
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- The 3 forms of communication
- Using simple and specific language to avoid confusion
- Using positive language
- Applying rules for bullet points
- Maintaining an impersonal style
- Avoiding repetitions
- Using active verbs to promote a response
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- Adding a personal touch to business writing
- Organizing paragraphs effectively
- Using varied sentences
- The 6 Cs of effective writing
- Recognizing clichés and jargon
- Applying the gunning fox index for writing complexity
- Using visual aids to support text
- Going the last inch: proof reading your work
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- Building your key message
- Organizing the introduction, body and ending
- Structuring ideas from the bottom up
- Refining the flow from the top down
- Drawing impeccable conclusions
- Summarizing ideas effectively
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- Building rapport with your audience
- Managing expectations: responding to bad news
- Managing expectations: saying no
- Effectively handing difficult individuals
- Hostile: responding assertively
- Pessimist: sticking to facts
- Nagger: setting the rules
- Mr. Know-it-all: staying focused
- Egoist: getting descriptive
- Manipulator: taking the initiative
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- Business case considerations
- 6 steps to develop a business case via a hypothesis driven approach
- Working with hypothesis trees
- Problem statements and the critical question
- Framing a problem: Situation, Complication, Question and Answer (SCQA)
- The MECE Principle
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- The business case toolbox
- Focus interviews
- Benchmarking
- The opportunity matrix
- Creating visual aids effectively
- Mastering the 5 primary chart types
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- Sketching out a story-line
- Securing stakeholder buy-in
- Managing stakeholder expectations
- Developing and delivering a communications plan
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- Gathering the raw data
- The various sources of data and presentation content
- How much information should you begin with
- Filtering the information
- Triple S rule
- Deciding on time allocation: how will you know how much time you need
- Formula of substance, style and support and its impact on the way you present
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- Opening with a win: how to win audience’s attention
- Preview: what should be mentioned in the outline?
- Key points of a presentation
- The psychological rule of 3
- Recapping before the finish: common tips and pitfalls
- Closing with a bang
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- Use of objects and props for visual impact
- Hand-outs: when and how to circulate them
- Secrets and techniques for using flip charts
- Pictures and images: the trends today
- PowerPoint: what every presenter should know
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- Knowing your outcome
- Building rapport quickly and easily
- Sensory acuity and what it means
- Flexibility being able to change if the communication is not going to plan
- The 3 channels of communication
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- Identifying your own habits and preferred way of communicating
- Identifying the preferred style of others
- Understanding tension between the varying styles
- Knowing how to limit tension by flexing your style
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- Using the ACHE model to diffuse tension
- Giving honest feedback
- Being prepared for typical responses to feedback
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- Passive, assertive and aggressive behaviors
- Being assertive
- Exploring the Life Positions model
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- The 5 key elements
- Problem: what problem?
- PowerPoint Its uses and flaws
- Other methods of presenting
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- The 3 channels of communication and presenting
- Posture
- Legs and feet
- Arms and hands
- Gestures
- Delivering without notes or props
- Use of the voice
- Facial expressions
- The words used
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- Planning and preparation
- Rehearsal
- Top tips for calming nerves
- Visualizing success
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- Understanding perceptions and how we create them
- Knowing how to make small adjustments for big changes
- Realizing the power of confident communication
- Staying calm in a crisis
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- Difference between presenting and PowerPoint clicking
- Why most presentations fail to leave an impact
- Attributes of an effective presentation
- Importance of preparation
- Ms. Clicker and why you should be aware of her presence
- Mr. Murphy and how he can ruin your presentation
- Overcoming boring pitches and presentations
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- Gathering the raw data
- The various sources of data and presentation content
- How much information should you begin with
- Filtering the information
- Triple S rule
- Deciding on time allocation: how will you know how much time you need
- Formula of substance, style and support and its impact on the way you present
- The hamburger analogy: why content of substance should not be expanded
- When to focus on style and when to enhance support
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- Opening with a win: how to win audience’s attention
- Preview: what should be mentioned in the outline
- Key points of a presentation
- The psychological rule of 3
- Recapping before the finish: common tips and pitfalls
- Closing with a bang
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- The hands, legs and the eyes
- To move or to stay put
- Tips for effective body positioning
- Guidelines for animating the legs and hands
- Characteristics of captivating verbal delivery
- Avoiding clichés and euphemisms
- The dangers of smart casual
- Dress and appearance: what are the rules
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- Reasons why most people get nervous
- Adrenalin and its effect on presentations
- Dealing with PSA: short and long term solutions
- What do great presenters do
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- Use of objects and props for visual impact
- Hand-outs: when and how to circulate them
- Secrets and techniques for using flip charts
- Pictures and images: the trends today
- PowerPoint: what every presenter should know
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- Definition of interdepartmental communication
- Direction of communication within an organization
- Formal versus informal communication
- The organizational grapevine
- Organizational culture and its effect on performance
- Levels of company culture
- Determining the strength of company culture
- Organizational values and attitudes
- Communication blockers
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- Internal customer service definition
- Importance of excellent internal customer service
- The service profit chain
- Silo mentality
- Breaking down the silo
- The service quality factors
- Building rapport with internal customers
- Handling customer complaints
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- Signs of complicated or inefficient processes
- Simplifying work processes
- Work simplification stages
- Data analysis and evaluation
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
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- Building an interdepartmental team
- Characteristics of successful teams
- Team cohesiveness
- Team building models and applications
- Creating alignment between different units
- The power of synergy
- From working alone to working in teams
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- Identifying departmental problems
- Problem solving techniques
- Resolving interdepartmental conflict
- The positive side of conflict
- Conflict and team performance
- Conflict management styles
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- Effective organizational communication
- Choosing the right communication medium
- Information richness of different channels
- Eliminating communication overload
- Signs of inefficient communication
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- Nature and scope of conflict management
- Misconceptions about conflict
- Sources of conflict
- Positive and negative factors of conflict
- When conflict comes between you and your desired results
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- Scoring and interpretation
- Ways of coping with conflict
- Assumptions and outcome of conflict
- Managing conflict and using an appropriate style for more effective outcomes
- Approaches to conflict resolution
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Assumptions in disagreement
- Creating a collaborative work environment for faster and better results
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- The use of emotional intelligence in conflict management
- Working effectively with team members
- Managing emotions, information and problems
- Tips for effective day to day conflict management
- Resolving conflict before it gets out of hand
- Managing conflict with superiors and subordinates
- Getting better results through negotiation
- Establishing or regaining credibility so you can begin to influence people
- Achieving trust down and across the organization
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- Managing conflict in teams
- Dealing with dysfunctional team roles
- Enhancing communication in a team
- Effective team problem solving
- Approaches to conflict and pattern of escalation
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- Definitions of influence and the bases of power
- Changing the bases of power
- Persuading others by using your power bases
- Identifying ways to build relationships upward, downward and laterally within your organization
- Understanding the person you are trying to influence and persuading them through give and take
- Selling your ideas and implementing change successfully
- Influencing people while projecting self-confidence without being pushy
- Strategies for developing charismatic qualities
- Leadership training for influence and power
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- Influence and the psychology of persuasion
- The power to change anything
- Action plan for developing your conflict resolution skills and influence from anywhere in the organization
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- Introduction to communication
- Communication levels and definitions
- Communication functions
- The 4 principles of interpersonal communication
- Elements of the communication process
- Communication delivery aspects
- Non-verbal communication
- Building rapport
- Where can miscommunication occur?
- Barriers to effective communication
- Overcoming communication barriers
- The communication funnel
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- Improving cross-cultural communication: guidelines
- \’DiSC\’ personal development profile
- Stages of team development
- The arts of persuasion
- Areas of growing your sphere of influence
- Communicating within multi-cultural teams
- Stages of team growth
- Universal laws of persuasion: process
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- Hearing versus listening
- Active versus passive listening
- Tips to improve active listening skills
- 3 aspects of active listening
- Active listening skills inventory
- Using different questioning techniques
- Closed and open questions
- Probing types questions
- Pitfalls of leading questions
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- Assertive, passive and aggressive behaviors
- Verbal and non-verbal components of communication behaviors
- Conflict management
- Types of conflicts
- Sources of conflicts
- Conflict management styles
- Essential conflict management skills
- Learning to say \’no\’
- Guidelines for applying \’no\’
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- The value of feedback
- Positive versus negative feedback
- Giving constructive criticism
- Receiving criticism
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- Report writing overview
- 5 easy steps to report writing
- Understanding your audience
- Articulating intended purpose
- Planning content and style
- Employing essential writing building blocks
- Business writing: express or impress?
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- Structuring tools
- Arranging different sections of a report
- Writing captivating introductions
- Conducting research and analysis
- Delivering evidence-backed findings
- Deriving unbiased conclusions
- Tools and methodologies for deriving recommendations
- Bringing it all together: a cohesive and coherent report
- Story telling elements
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- Recognizing different reporting structures
- Matching reports to situations
- 6 reporting types
- Investigative reports
- Progress and status reports
- Periodic reports
- Instructional reports
- Proposals
- Financial reports
- Reporting templates
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- Using visual aids
- Principles for designing visual aids
- Recognizing different visual aids
- The role of visual aids
- Applying principles of design
- Using images, diagrams, graphs, charts and tables for impact
- Integrating visual aids into a report
- Essential visual aid checklist
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- Elements of winning reports
- Using writing tone effectively
- Applying scientific tools and methodologies
- Mastering the \’so what?\’
- Building rapport
- Mastering editing techniques
Course Outline
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- Definition of a crisis
- Overview of communication
- Various types of crises
- Key aspects of a crisis
- Evolution of a crisis
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- Setting your clear objective
- Responding quickly
- Accepting responsibility
- Appropriate messaging
- Profiling your audience
- Showing and maintaining credibility
- Coordinating with others
- Continuous monitoring
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- Pre-crisis phase
- Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
- Crisis Management Team (CMT)
- The spokesperson\’s role
- Crisis event phase
- Initial response
- Reputation repair
- Post crisis phase
- Lessons learned
- Follow up with communication
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- Media and communication
- Media as a partner in crisis response
- Social media and crisis communication
- Social media as a beneficial tool or a challenge
- Dynamic use of social media in crisis communication
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- Standard operating decisions dimension
- Victims management dimension
- Trust and credibility dimension
- Behavior dimension
- Professional expectations dimension
- Ethical dimension
- Lessons learned
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- Measuring outputs
- Measuring impact
- Measuring outcomes
- Steps for a measurement program
- Defining your objectives
- Defining your audience
- Defining your criteria and benchmarks
- Deciding upon your timing, budget and measurements tools
- Analyzing results for conclusions and recommendations
Course Outline
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- Definition of corporate communication
- Define and explore the concept and history of corporate communication
- Differentiation between vision, mission and objectives
- Corporate communication in a changing environment
- The new media landscape: challenges and opportunities
- Stakeholder management and communication
- Stakeholder engagement
- Definitions of corporate Identity
- Branding
- Reputation
- Importance of corporate identity and reputation
- Aligning identity, image and reputation
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- Corporate communication strategy and strategic planning
- Global aspects of corporate communication
- High and low-context culture
- Cross-cultural aspects of audiences
- Planning and executing communication programs and campaigns
- Research, measurement and evaluation
- Measuring corporate reputation
- Theories on measuring the effects of communication
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- Media relations
- Journalism and news outlets
- Detect what constitutes news
- The various effects of news coverage on corporate communication
- Employee communication and organizational identification
- New media, new communication
- Benefits and challenges using social media
- Issues management
- Communication in times of crisis
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- Leadership and change communication
- Effective leadership communication
- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community relations
- The case for CSR
- Communicating about CSR
- The 8 areas of focus for CSR
- CSR and PR
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- Corporate communication
- Marketing communication
- Internal communication
- Organizing communication
