Communication and Interpersonal Skills: A Seminar for IT and Technical Professionals

To achieve success, technical professionals must have strong and flexible interpersonal and communication skills in addition to their technical abilities. Whether you’re an IT professional, engineer, scientist or researcher, communicating with others—both technical and nontechnical professionals—is an essential part of the job. This seminar will give you the interpersonal and communication tools you need to ensure mutual clarity and understanding when dealing with others, so you can maximize all your business interactions and achieve your critical goals.

Also Available as:

• Live Online
• Onsite

How You Will Benefit

• Recognize and manage differences between you and nontechnical professionals
• Deliver clear messages to nontechnical professionals
• Apply verbal and nonverbal techniques to build shared understanding
• Strategically apply a communication system to enhance relationships and achieve performance goals
• Develop active listening skills that promote better work relationships
• Get your points across in diverse communication contexts
• Use influencing skills to complete projects faster and grow your reputation
• Be able to productively manage conflict

What You Will Cover

Identifying differences between technical and nontechnical professionals

• Recognizing the differences in communication needs/expectations of technical vs. nontechnical professionals
• Understanding the impact of generational characteristics on communication within and outside of technical areas
• Analyzing your own work situation based on communication needs and expectations

Interpersonal Strategies to Help You Get Your Points Across in Diverse Circumstances

• Distinguishing communication style preferences to better understand and influence others
• Determining your personal communication styles with the DiSC® profile
• Identifying the strengths and limitations of your DiSC® profile
• Using behavioral clues to determine others’ personal styles
• Describing how to more effectively work with other styles

Strategically Applying a Communication System to Enhance Relationships

• Differentiating between verbal and nonverbal communications
• Assessing your own nonverbal traits and developing an improvement plan
• Identifying criteria for establishing trust and building credibility
• Using a communication model to conduct more effective conversations

Developing Active Listening Skills to Promote Better Work Relationships

• Recognizing the role of listening in effective communications
• Knowing when and how to acknowledge emotions and ideas
• Applying effective listening techniques to own work situations

Communication Strategies to Help You Achieve Your Goals

• Determining when to use open and closed-ended questions
• Demonstrating and applying the effective use of informing, directing and criticizing

Productively Managing Conflict

• Using and applying the AEIOU model to assertively build shared expectations
• Determining your own conflict style using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument
• Developing an action plan to apply these techniques to your own work situations

Extended Seminar Outline

Print this page Extended Seminar Outline Seminar #2576 Learning Objectives

• Find Solutions to "People Problems"
• Project a Presence That Attracts the Right Kind of Attention
• Develop "Active Listening" Skills to Really Tune in to Co-workers and Cultivate Productive Relationships
• Improve Communication to Get the Response You Want
• Be Assertive without Being Intimidating
• Overcome "Automatic Resistance" to New Ideas and Get Your Proposals Approved
• Build a Team Approach to Motivate Others and Facilitate Change
• Gain Other Departments’ Cooperation to Implement Ideas
• Uncover the Root Causes of Conflict and Achieve Resolution
• Deal with Company Politics
• Sell Your Ideas to the Group

Communication in Today’s Workplace: Difference between Task and Relationship

• Identify the Importance of Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Today’s Workplace
• Distinguish the Relevant Differences in Communication Needs and Expectations among Technical and Nontechnical Professionals
• Identify at Least Three Valuable Interpersonal Skills for Improving Communication in the Workplace
• Demonstrate the Difference between Task and Relationship and the Necessity of Attention to Both in the Workplace
• List Valuable Relationship Skills Connected to Success in the Workplace

The Basic Elements of Communication

• Define and Examine Elements of Communication That Are Pertinent to Interpersonal Skills in Order to Promote Effective Interactions with Others
• Assess the Impact of Verbal and Nonverbal Elements on Communication Effectiveness to Better Meet the Demands of an Electronically Connected Global Workplace
• Interpret People’s Verbal and Nonverbal Communication to Improve Shared Understandings
• Develop a List of Considerations for Selecting the Appropriate Transmission Medium to Assure a Message’s Intended Content and Feeling(s) Are Preserved and Received
• Identify Personal Applications of the 5 Factors That Promote Success with Co-workers to Improve Workplace Relationships
• Recognize and Identify Strategies to Overcome Each of the 5 Common Barriers to Effective Use of Interpersonal Skills to Promote Achievement of Tasks
• Interpret the 5 Common Truths of Communication and Interpersonal Skills to Improve Overall Communication Competence in the Workplace
• Be Aware of Your "Style" Preferences and How They Differ from Others’ in Order to Better Manage Interpersonal Interactions with Technical and Nontechnical Professionals

Understanding and Using Communication Styles

• Identify and Appraise Your Style Preferences for Communication to Gain Insights into Improving Interpersonal Relationships
• Identify and Appraise the Style Preferences of Others to Develop Awareness and Tolerance of Diverse Ways of Working, Thinking, and Communicating
• Assess How Differences in These Style Preferences Can Lead to Unproductive Conflicts and Misunderstandings
• Apply Style Flexibility in Your Communication to Achieve Tasks, Improve Relationships and Enhance Technical/Nontechnical Interactions

Active Listening Skills

• Employ a Model of Communication to Systematically Improve Your Interpersonal Communication Skills at Work
• Define What Listening Is to Broaden the Ways in Which You Go about Using Interpersonal Skills
• Demonstrate Useful versus Non-useful Responses to Information Gained through Active Listening to Adapt and Enhance Workplace Communication
• Confirm the Necessity of Acknowledging Both Emotions and Ideas When Listening and Responding to Others in Order to Build Fuller Shared Meaning
• Use an Extended Vocabulary to Help Acknowledge the Presence of Emotions in Messages to More Fully Clarify the Intent of Those Messages
• Practice Acknowledging Emotions and Ideas in Conversation to Better Accomplish Tasks and Build Productive Relationships
• Apply Empathic Listening in Conversation to Show Sincerity, Trust and Concern and to Develop Deeper Shared Meaning

Asking Questions—Transition Skill

• Assess the Value and Purpose of Using Questioning Strategies to Build Shared Information and Better Manage Relationships and Productivity
• Identify Valuable Differences between Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions That Will Guide You in Selecting Appropriate Questions to Achieve Your Communication Goals
• Apply Skills in Composing and Delivering Diagnostic and Intervention Types of Questions to Enhance Overall Communication Flexibility

Emotional Control

• Appraise the Physiology of Emotions So as to Value Its Impact on and Importance in the Communication Process
• Assess the Consequences of Unpleasant Emotions on Thinking, Interpersonal Behaviors, and Achievement of Tasks
• Identify Your Own Emotional Physical Triggers and Recognize the Need for Exercising Emotional Control So as to Preserve Healthy Interpersonal Relationships
• Recall and Apply the EC Formula of Gaining Emotional Control to Improve Consistency When Working with Others

Assertively Responding

• Assess When and How to Use Informing and Directing Communication to Allow Others to Work Productively with You and Achieve Shared Goals
• Recognize When and How to Use "Style Preferences" to Shape Your Messages So That Others Can Give You What You Need
• Identify and Use the Four Profiles of Assertiveness Behaviors to Build Communication Flexibility and to Complement Use of "Style Preferences"
• Interpret and Use the A.E.I.O.U. Model for Assertively and Effectively Criticizing Someone’s Performance in the Workplace to Build Shared Performance Expectations and Productivity
• Design and Deliver Effective Messages That Consistently Say What You Need from Others in Order to Complete Tasks

Managing and Responding to Conflict

• List Some Common Myths and Truths about Conflict to Determine How to Use Conflict Productively in Your Interpersonal Relationships
• Identify and Assess the Role of Perception in Conflict in Order to Reduce Perception-based Misunderstandings When Working with Others
• Examine Motivation and Negotiation Strategies to Use in Dealing with Problematic Conflicts That Are Based on "Style," and/or "Position" Differences
• Appraise the Five Approaches to the Management of Conflicts in Order to Create a More Flexible and Productive Communication Environment
• Practice and Apply Communication Strategies for Better Conflict Management

Putting It All Together—Focusing on the Blind Spot

• List the Differences between Your Intended and Your Perceived Communication Style in Order to Build High Levels of Shared Information with Co-workers
• Develop a Plan for Closing Your Own Style Differences So That Others See You as Consistent and Trustworthy
• Review and Apply Seven Strategies to Close Your Style Difference to Achieve Stronger Work Relationships and Productivity
• Create a Personalized Interpersonal Skills Development Plan to Continue the Communication Change Process You Have Begun during this Program

Who Should Attend

All technical and IT professionals who need to develop the interpersonal and communication skills necessary to effectively convey their knowledge to those around them.

Special Feature

This Seminar Features Blended Learning

AMA Blended Learning combines instructor-led training with online pre- and post-seminar assessments, tune-up courses and other resources to maximize the participant's training goals. Through a blend of proven instructor-led seminars and powerful online technology, AMA Blended Learning provides a compelling and more comprehensive experience for the learner - producing a greater return-on-investment for the employer and the seminar participant.