Skills of Communication

This session is being offered in collaboration with MITACS Training (formerly Mitacs Step). Mitacs Training provides professional development training to advanced degree graduates, supplementing their education and research experience with the tools necessary to succeed in today’s workforce.

Skills of Communication is a full-day session featuring the tools and tips of better verbal communication. It will test your assumptions and mental models and for many it may be the first time you learn about the Ladder of Inference, the Johari Window and more.  The goal is to make you more aware of the tools available to help you become a better communicator in both your work and personal lives. The mastery of these skills is a long-term process, but by simply becoming more conscious of the various communication styles, including your own, you can approach conversations differently and change conversational direction to achieve better outcomes.

Workshop Objective:

To increase participant awareness and application of tools available to them to become better communicators in work and life.

Learning Outcomes:

Through participating and completing this workshop, participants will: 

• Understand how personal assumptions and mental models adversely influence communication
• Learn how to determine your own personal assumptions and how to avoid them
• Learn to navigate and approach difficult conversations
• Identify and implement communications tools and techniques for team success

Key Topic Areas:

The purpose of communication

• Communication not as simple as it appears
• When bad communication happens to good communicators
• Identifying challenging conversations
• How mental models & personal assumptions influence communication
  • Mental models and The Ladder of Inference
  • 3 Steps: Reflection, Advocacy, Inquiry
  • Culture and communication
  • Gender and communication
  • Unspoken words
  • Johari Window Model

Power of Rapport

• Non-verbal communication
• Closed-ended, open-ended and probing questions
• Listening challenges
• R.E.A.L Communication Model: Research, Engage, Ask Questions, Listen
• Tips on handling difficult conversations
• Communicating like an expert: How to use different communication styles based on different audiences

FACILITATORS

Gayle Hallgren-Rezac

Judy Thomson

Registration

Registration in this workshop is required, and is now open. Those postdocs who are successfully registered will receive a confirmation email within one week of the workshop date.

** Please note that lunch will not be provided as part of this session. **