Half day open training event held in London, Ontario.

1. Communicating more effectively in
your organization
by Toronto Training and HR
May 2012

2. 3-4 Introduction to Toronto Training and HR
5-6 Definition
Contents 7-8
9-12
Systems of communication
Points to think about when communicating
13-15 Nine stages of a message
16-20 Meetings
21-22 Employee voice
23-24 Harmlessness
25-26 Why not tell the truth?
27-28 Communication mistakes made by new supervisors
29-30 Minimizing gender-based communication mishaps
31-39 Age-related considerations
40-41 Communication after a conflict meeting or mediation
42-43 Issues around emails
44-45 4 Cs of intra-company communication
46-48 What does organizational behaviour teach us about
communication?
49-50 Presentations
51-52 Conclusion and questions
Page 2

3. Introduction
Page 3

4. Introduction to Toronto Training
and HR
• Toronto Training and HR is a specialist training and human
resources consultancy headed by Timothy Holden
• 10 years in banking
• 10 years in training and human resources
• Freelance practitioner since 2006
• The core services provided by Toronto Training and HR are:
- Training event design
- Training event delivery
- Reducing costs
- Saving time
- Improving employee engagement & morale
- Services for job seekers
Page 4

5. Definition
Page 5

6. Definition
What is a communication medium?
Page 6

7. Systems of communication
Page 7

8. Systems of communication
TWO ASPECTS
Does it work effectively?
Will people use it?
Consider meetings
Consider how ideas may be generated
Page 8

9. Points to think about
when communicating
Page 9

10. Points to think about when
communicating 1 of 3
Leadership must support the change (even if they
don‟t necessarily agree, they shouldn‟t share that
with subordinates)
Rationale for the change must also be
communicated clearly – help make it make sense
Be sure to ask for questions from those impacted
and listen to what is said – dialogue with the
impacted parties is very important – otherwise the
employee buy in is hampered
Page 10

11. Points to think about when
communicating 2 of 3
Communicate consistent messages – and
communicate them often
Use a number of ways to communicate – speaking,
writing, video, training, focus groups, bulletin
boards, Intranets
Communicate what you know, when you know it –
you may not know everything up front
Page 11

12. Points to think about when
communicating 3 of 3
Be honest about what you don‟t know and above
all – do not make things up – you will destroy trust
Encourage dialogue
Keep everyone in the loop to avoid gossip and fear
mongering
Page 12

13. Nine stages of a message
Page 13

14. Nine stages of a message 1 of 2
A MESSAGE MUST BE:
Sent
Received
Understood
Believed or trusted
Believed to be important to the organization
Felt (more than just believed) to be relevant to the
employee personally
Held at the front of the mind and acted on
continuously (corporate values and goals)
Page 14

15. Nine stages of a message 2 of 2
A MESSAGE MUST BE:
„Stored‟ then retrieved and acted on when
necessary (operational information)
Communicated to teams, customers and other
external contacts
Page 15

16. Meetings
Page 16

17. Meetings 1 of 4
Overt reasons for meetings
Covert reasons for meetings
Page 17

18. Meetings 2 of 4
A MEETINGS CHECKLIST
Who should attend the meeting?
What is the brief or terms of reference of the
meeting?
What should the agenda be?
What about the physical location and
arrangements?
Page 18

19. Meetings 3 of 4
A MEETINGS CHECKLIST
How can contributors be stimulated and
controlled?
Minutes or report of the meeting
Implementation of proposals
Page 19

20. Meetings 4 of 4
VIRTUAL MEETINGS
Build an effective agenda
Choose the right medium
Address time zone barriers
Minimize tangential discussions
Reinforce shared responsibility
Balance tasks and trust
Page 20

21. Employee voice
Page 21

22. Employee voice
Definition
History of employee involvement at work
Mechanisms of employee voice
Upward problem-solving
Representative participation
Benefits for employees
Benefits for employees
Success factors
Page 22

23. Harmlessness
Page 23

24. Harmlessness
Acknowledging the truth as you see it
Being honest about your intentions
Looking at the truth from the other person‟s
perspective
Looking forward to see what must happen to
ensure that each person feels respected and that
the outcome is most effective for the people and
for the organization
Re-examining your original truth
Page 24

25. Why not tell the truth?
Page 25

26. Why not tell the truth?
Fear of the unknown
Fear of the tough situations
Loss of power
Page 26

27. Communication mistakes
made by new supervisors
Page 27

28. Communication mistakes made
by new supervisors
Lack of focus on the team
Failing to offer and solicit feedback
Delegating without authorizing
Reprimanding employees in the presence of others
Supervising everyone in the same way
Page 28

29. Minimizing gender-based
communication mishaps
Page 29

30. Minimizing gender-based
communication mishaps
Facial expressions
Body language
Speech patterns
Behaviour
Page 30

31. Age-related considerations
Page 31

32. Age-related considerations
1 of 8
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS AND SOLUTIONS
Outdated assumptions about seniors‟ lifestyles,
interests, capacities
Physical changes of aging
Communication materials and media not suited to
audience
Page 32

33. Age-related considerations
2 of 8
SENSORY CHANGES
Visual acuity
Hearing acuity
Agility and mobility
Social/emotional changes
Page 33

34. Age-related considerations
3 of 8
COMMUNICATING WITH ABORIGINAL SENIORS
Multi-level communications
Personal contact
Community support
Language accessibility
Minimize print use
Page 34

35. Age-related considerations
4 of 8
Verbal communication
Non-verbal communication
Page 35

36. Age-related considerations
5 of 8
FORMULATING THE MESSAGE
Communication concept
Message concept
Communication concept
Using print
Effective design
Page 36

37. Age-related considerations
6 of 8
WEBSITES
Typeface
Writing style
Other media
Navigation
Page 37

38. Age-related considerations
7 of 8
KEY MEDIA
Personal communication
Telephone
Meetings
Print
Online
Forms
Page 38

39. Age-related considerations
8 of 8
KEY MEDIA
Signage
Radio
Television and video
Public address systems
Publicity and packaging
Automated communication
Page 39

40. Communication after a
conflict meeting or
mediation
Page 40

41. Communication after a conflict
meeting or mediation
Pay attention to content
Distinguish tone of voice
Observe body language
Watch reactions to difficult conversations
Monitor gossip levels
Page 41

42. Issues around emails
Page 42

43. Issues around emails
When you‟re having an email exchange with a co-
worker, and he or she escalates the conversation
by sneakily cc‟ing a more senior colleague
Preemptive auto-responses such as “Thank you for
your email. I get an overwhelming amount of
email, but I care about each one of them! I will
respond as soon as it‟s convenient”
The instant follow-up
Page 43

44. 4 Cs of intra-company
communication
Page 44

45. 4Cs of intra-company
communication
Clear
Concise
Consistent
Continual
Page 45

46. What does organizational
behaviour teach us about
communication?
Page 46

47. What does organizational
behaviour teach us about
communication? 1 of 2
Communicating in organizations is a two-way
process-there‟s both upward and downward
communications
Effective listening skills are just as important as
strong writing or verbal communications skills
Groupthink (the tendency not to question or
critically examine decisions made by highly
cohesive teams) can be avoided at least partially
through effective communications
Page 47

48. What does organizational
behaviour teach us about
communication? 2 of 2
In order to communicate, organizations need to
understand and deal with some of the barriers to
effective communication such as “noise,”
distractions, poor choice of words, cultural
differences, linguistic background, status and
power differentials and lack of time
Page 48

49. Presentations
Page 49

50. Presentations
Own the space
Don‟t hold your breath
Relax your feet
Softly softly
You‟re never alone
Page 50

51. Conclusion and questions
Page 51

52. Conclusion and questions
Summary
Videos
Questions
Page 52