Programme overview
Introduction:
Weak workplace communication skills cost organisations time every day: requests are misread, feedback is avoided or delivered badly, handovers between departments lose information and emails create more questions than they answer. This Core Concept course builds the everyday interpersonal and written communication that professionals use with colleagues, internal customers and other teams. Participants practise active listening, assertive requests, peer feedback, structured handovers, difficult conversations, clear emails and virtual meetings through rehearsed role-play with observer feedback. Each participant leaves with a Personal Communication Toolkit of scripts, templates and checklists tested during the week.
Course Objectives:
- Assess personal communication habits and identify the barriers that cause misunderstanding in daily work exchanges
- Apply active listening, questioning and paraphrasing techniques to confirm understanding before acting on a request
- State needs, disagree and decline requests assertively using the DESC script without damaging working relationships
- Give and receive peer feedback using the Situation-Behavior-Impact model and turn it into agreed follow-up actions
- Structure cross-functional requests, handovers and escalations with SBAR, and write clear professional emails and short reports
- Conduct difficult conversations with colleagues and communicate effectively in virtual meetings and chat channels
Target Audience:
- Professionals and specialists who coordinate work daily with colleagues in their own and other departments
- Administrative and support staff who handle requests, correspondence and information flow for internal customers
- Technical staff who must explain their work, status and issues to non-specialist colleagues
- First-line supervisors and senior team members responsible for day-to-day coordination within a team
- Project and operations staff who pass work, information and issues between shifts, teams or functions
Course Outline:
Day 1: Communication Foundations and Personal Style
- Workplace Communication Process Model: Sender, Message, Channel, Receiver and Feedback Loop
- Communication Barriers Audit for Daily Work Exchanges
- Personal Communication Style Self-Assessment
- Verbal, Vocal and Nonverbal Signals Observation Checklist
- Channel Selection Matrix: Face-to-Face, Phone, Email and Chat
Day 2: Listening, Questioning and Assertive Communication Models
- Active Listening Levels and Paraphrasing Technique
- Open, Probing and Clarifying Question Sequences
- Passive, Aggressive and Assertive Behaviour Comparison Grid
- DESC Script: Describe, Express, Specify, Consequences
- Saying No and Negotiating Deadlines with Colleagues Using Assertive Scripts
Day 3: Feedback, Handovers and Cross-Functional Communication
- Situation-Behavior-Impact Model for Peer Feedback
- Receiving Feedback: Clarify, Acknowledge and Agree Actions Routine
- SBAR Structure for Requests, Handovers and Escalations
- Internal Customer Request Brief and Acceptance Checklist
- Cross-Department Meeting Summary and Action Log Template
Day 4: Difficult Conversations, Professional Writing and Virtual Communication
- Difficult Conversation Preparation Sheet: Facts, Feelings and Desired Outcome
- Managing Emotional Reactions and De-Escalation Phrases in Peer Disagreements
- Professional Email Structure: Subject Line, Purpose First and Clear Ask
- Short Report and Status Update Template with Bottom Line Up Front
- Virtual Meeting Etiquette and Chat Channel Norms Charter
Day 5: Role-Play Practice and the Personal Communication Toolkit
- Role-Play Rotation: Assertive Request and Refusal Scenarios with Observer Sheet
- Role-Play: Peer Feedback Conversation Using SBI
- Role-Play: Cross-Functional Handover and Escalation Using SBAR
- Email Rewrite Clinic with Peer Review Rubric
- Personal Communication Toolkit Assembly and Thirty-Day Practice Plan
Skills You Will Gain:
- Active Listening
- Assertive Communication
- Constructive Peer Feedback
- Structured Handover Communication
- Conflict De-Escalation
- Professional Email Writing
- Virtual Collaboration Etiquette
Why Attend This Course:
- Spend less time correcting misunderstandings, chasing unclear requests and rewriting emails that went wrong
- Raise concerns and disagree with colleagues calmly, with rehearsed phrasing you can use the next working day
- Practise real conversations from your own job in role-plays scored by peers and trained observers
- Return with a Personal Communication Toolkit of scripts, templates and checklists ready to use with your team
Conclusion:
Communication at work succeeds when the listener understands, the request is clear and the relationship survives the disagreement. This course moves from personal habits and barriers, through listening, assertiveness and feedback models, to handovers, difficult conversations, emails and virtual meetings. The final day puts each method into rehearsed role-play with observer feedback, and the Personal Communication Toolkit completed there gives participants tested scripts and templates for the conversations and messages they handle every day.