Whether communication is being addressed directly or indirectly in your training program, lay the groundwork for skill development with SkillBuilders: 50 Communication Skills Activities. This collection of activities addresses all 3 learning domains (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) and involves participants directly in the learning process through its interactive approach.

Uses for SkillBuilders: 50 Communication Skills Activities

The exercises are basic enough to include in any training program that incorporates communication skills, including those for customer service, sales training, and supervisory skills. A handy applications matrix matches the activities with 8 important communication topics. Many activities have more than one application:

• Communication Awareness
• Delivering Your Message
• Nonverbal Communication
• Communication Conflicts
• Active Listening
• Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Written Communication
• Presentation Skills

Format

Includes the complete collection in a 3-ring binder format. Also available as a PDF. Please contact Helen Airitam at helen@leadershipsystemsonline.com for more information on purchasing the PDF version.

Product Contents

• Facilitator guidelines
• Applications Matrix to pinpoint the best activities for training needs
• Reproducible participant materials

Activities include:

Communication Awareness:
• Get to Know Your Apple
• Packaging is Important
• Picture This
• Walk the Talk
• Role Models
• Rotating Trio Exchange

Delivering Your Message:
• Assessing Your Speech Habits
• It’s How you Say It
• Avoiding Killer Phrases
• What Do You Mean?
• Paper-Tearing Exercise
• Jumbled Messages
• Drawing Conclusions

Nonverbal Communication:
• At Arm’s Length
• Reading People
• Mixed Messages
• Body Language
• Active Observation

Communication Conflicts:
• Dealing with Conflicts
• Distinguishing Behaviors
• Preventing Conflict
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Applying Assertive Behavior
• Expressing Different Viewpoints

Active Listening:
• How Well Do You Listen?
• What Do You Know about Active Listening?
• Rotating Trio Role Play
• Listening for Key Points
• Listening Types Card Match
• Poor Listener on Trial
• The Art of Asking Questions

Giving and Receiving Feedback:
• The Power of Feedback
• Applying the Feedback Model
• Describing Behavior
• Using “I” Statements
• Feedback Criteria
• Receiving Negative Feedback

Written Communication:
• Creating Sentence Variety
• Eliminating Hackneyed Expressions
• Writing Effective Memos
• Writing Directions
• Writing Customer-Focused Letters
• Writing a Request Proposal

Presentation Skills:
• Assessing Your Presentation Style
• Overcoming Stage Fright
• Assessing Your Audience
• Getting Your Audience’s Attention
• Dealing with Semantics
• Dealing with Difficult Audience Members
• Thinking on Your Feet

What makes a person accountable? These days, when everyone seems to have a different idea of what “accountability” means, it’s hard to know. But when you simply look at it from the perspective of what it takes to be a person others can count on, certain specific behaviors emerge. This Toolkit contains video clips that illustrate these behaviors in a variety of workplace settings. They can be shown to make key points in meetings and presentations, or used as content for internal courses you are building.
Price: $695

Benefits:
• Supports staff development initiatives by modeling 9 principles of personal responsibility
• Improves efficiency by emphasizing the importance of clear communication, goal setting and follow through
• Maximizes training budgets by providing a library of video clips that can be used in a variety of applications

Developed and produced in-house by CRM Learning, this title is among the industry’s best–reflecting our tradition of excellence and effectiveness. All CRM Learning discounts apply.
Run time: 56 Minutes total running time
The 38 video clips contained in this Toolkit fall within 9 categories of personal responsibility and accountability. They are diverse in setting — many take place in a generic work environment, some occur in a manufacturing or hospitality environment and others feature healthcare or education workers. The clips are provided on DVD and CD-Rom so that you can play them right off the DVD or embed them into a PowerPoint presentation.

The clips fall under these categories and can be used to make the following points:

~ Take Ownership & Keep Commitments – When accepting responsibility for a task or project, take full ownership and do what you say you’re going to do. For clarity, set deadlines – then keep them. When necessary, communicate and renegotiate commitments that cannot be met.

~ Be Proactive – Take the initiative in seeking improvements to processes and practices. Work to improve your own skills, and influence others toward improvement.

~ Communicate With Clarity & Set Measurable Goals – Getting to the right result requires clear agreements and an understanding of expectations and instructions. Accountability for results begins with clear directions, and places responsibility on both parties for clarification.

~ Be Ethical – Know what’s right-by law, by policy, by procedure, by best professional practice-and act accordingly. Make decisions for the best outcome when two “rights” conflict. Speak out when someone acts unethically.

~ Be a Problem Solver – Apply your own experience and knowledge to every problem. With this problem-solving mindset, you’ll plan and take action towards a solution, rather than waiting for others to get things started.

~ Serve Customers Professionally – Every person you serve and work with deserves your best effort, whether it’s a problem to be solved or a transaction to complete. Know the technical and procedural aspects of your work and bring a positive attitude to the service you provide-customers expect competence and are paying to receive it.

~ Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up – Know what you need and what you deserve. In a professional manner, let others know it too. Those you work with and for may not realize when their actions are getting in the way. Claim what you need to do your best work.

~ Accept Feedback and Learn From Mistakes – Learning and changing direction happen quickly and frequently in an accountable environment. Listen non-defensively, give proper consideration to what’s being said, choose to adjust, and move on.

~ Supervising and Managing an Accountable Workforce – Often held accountable for the work of others, managers and supervisors must first model accountable behaviors, then learn to require this type of personal responsibility from those who report to them. The manager’s tone of voice, choice of words and standard-setting behaviors can make or break an accountable workteam!

The Toolkit package includes a Leader’s Guide with discussion questions for each clip that will help stimulate further discussion and learning.

So you’ve been asked to facilitate a training session, but you don’t know where to start? Reach for The Facilitator’s Toolkit! This collection of over 40 tools, discussions, and case studies is the perfect resource for inexperienced facilitators or employees who are being asked to put together or facilitate a training session.

Straightforward and practical, The Facilitator’s Toolkit is divided into 3 sections:

Part I: Facilitation
Part I answers the question “What is a Facilitator?” and identifies what facilitators are not. It also discusses the different styles available to facilitators as well as the basic skills necessary for effective facilitation – listening and questioning.

Part II: The Toolkit
The Toolkit contains over 40 techniques and approaches (“Tools”) facilitators can use to put together a successful learning experience from start to finish. Part II includes Organizing Tools, Tools for Diagnosis and Discussion, Deciding Tools, Tools for Planning, and Tools to Deal with Problems and Sabotage. With experience, facilitators will be able to choose and adapt the Tools they need to meet their training objectives.

Part III: The Toolkit in Action
See how to put the toolkit into action to prepare for and design workshops in Part III. This section also includes three cases studies as examples of how the toolkit was used successfully.

This activity collection is available as a digital download in Adobe Acrobat PDF or the traditional 3-ring binder version. Both formats are fully reproducible. Please contact Helen Airitam at helen@leadershipsystemsonline.com for more information on purchasing the PDF version.

Includes the complete collection in a 3-ring binder format.

Product Contents
Straightforward and practical, The Facilitator’s Toolkit is divided into 3 sections:

Part I: Facilitation
Part I answers the question “What is a Facilitator?” and identifies what facilitators are not. It also discusses the different styles available to facilitators as well as the basic skills necessary for effective facilitation – listening and questioning.

Part II: The Toolkit
The Toolkit contains over 40 techniques and approaches (“Tools”) facilitators can use to put together a successful learning experience from start to finish. Part II includes Organizing Tools, Tools for Diagnosis and Discussion, Deciding Tools, Tools for Planning, and Tools to Deal with Problems and Sabotage. With experience, facilitators will be able to choose and adapt the Tools they need to meet their training objectives.

Part III: The Toolkit in Action
See how to put the toolkit into action to prepare for and design workshops in Part III. This section also includes three cases studies as examples of how the toolkit was used successfully.