Effective communication

Starting point

Effective communication

open questions, paraphrasing, logic of statement, reflection

Context

Whitefox effective communication training is a practical training course in advanced listening and speaking skills. As mentioned before on the main page, everything we do at Whitefox is about communication in any case, regardless of whether we present managers with their favourite words, phrases and grammatical structures, or describe how customer’s facial expressions and the underlying emotions will affect the sale of a new product; everything boils down to the ability to listen and speak carefully.

  • Starting point. We recommend the effective communication training at the beginning of all development programmes: mastering advanced language forms significantly facilitates learning complex communication patterns that appear in complicated B2B sales or multilateral and multi-stage negotiations.
  • Conversations with customers. The training is particularly dedicated to people whose daily work consists of constant listening and speaking to others. The lack of communication skills among employees of customer service departments, telephone sales, receptions, registration desks, technical assistance or technical service offices exposes the company to risks and losses; for the employees, it involves unnecessary stress and leads to burnout.
  • Key people. Communication skills of key people are directly related to company’s financial results. Failing to listen to and lack of understanding of customers, colleagues and employees can be put among lost contracts, incorrectly designed products and services, delays, misunderstandings and conflicts. Knowledge and skills that we master during effective communication classes prepare for conversations in which every word and every sentence can have a strategic meaning for the company (and determine its success or decline).
Programme

Selected issues taught during the effective communication training:

  • Whitefox Statement Coding System. The coding system was created on the basis of an analysis of over 3,000 transcripts recorded during AC/DC sessions, exercises and simulations It includes 152 language forms. During the training, participants will get acquainted with key expressions and grammatical structures that determine the quality of the listening and speaking process. One of the most important goals of our communication classes is to provide participants with the “personal experience” of effects and consequences of abuse of particular language forms.
  • Asking questions. In this part of the training, we teach various forms and types of questions. The purpose at this stage is to acquire the ability to obtain useful and reliable information, even if interlocutors transmit their knowledge reluctantly and with great caution (fear, competition, shame). The focus on asking questions requires “calming down” your own mind and mastering the concentration on facts and needs of the interlocutor.
  • Listening. Analyses of statements of the people who participate in our training and development programmes show that over 60% of people have difficulty carefully listening to others. We are so focused on our own thoughts, aspirations and plans that we often pass over what is most important to the people we talk to. We do not see their needs or emotions; we do not hear their suggestions or recommendations (including those provided directly). An important part of our training is the “silence” of the mind practice: we will not hear others if we do not stop, even for a moment, formulating our own concepts and assumptions, and if we do not control the continuous action of anger or fear.
  • Talking about yourself. Many of us have difficulty talking about our own needs and emotions. When we experience tension, we prefer to suspend the negative emotions associated with it (anger, sadness, fear): we want to wait them out, like bad weather. Others in this situation may argue that we are or become silent, preferring not to speak “just in case”, and then, without consultation, “do our job”. Our opposites are people who cannot stop talking: they constantly express something and impose themselves on others; they skip from one thread to another and cannot stop their own thoughts. An important part of the training involves dealing with these conflicting tendencies. Others, when we hear them, most often need our sensible answers (our speaking) and reasonable actions.
  • Gestures, facial expressions, pantomimic, tone of voice and speech rate. A very important part of the Whitefox communication training is learning Paul Ekman’s facial action coding system. FACS (Facial Action Coding System) was created in the 1970s and revolutionised contemporary thinking about emotions. Regardless of the place on earth, race or culture, all people experience 7 basic emotions that are characterised by similar facial action. Faces of people who are blind from birth, similarly like faces of people from different continents, are arranged in the same way when they express joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust or contempt. Mindfulness training with the focus on face movements significantly increases the speed and accuracy of reading emotions and intentions of our interlocutors, which, in the world of complex business relationships, is of course of strategic importance.
Methods

During the training, we use the following methods and tools:

Analysis of statements

The Whitefox Statement Coding System includes of 152 language forms. All of them affect the effectiveness of communication. The scope and content of practised phrases and grammar structures are adapted to the group we work with. Our experience shows that teams and companies speak in “different” languages: what is a habit and custom for one needs practising and training for other. In principle, Whitefox’s tasks and training materials enable to adapt the scope and content of classes to the needs and expectations of the group.

Analysis of facial expressions

During the training, each participant will receive a manual containing a description of 98 facial actions and movement patterns (action codes) for 7 basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt) and 8 complex emotions (boredom, shyness, desire, embarrassment, interest, pride, shame, guilt). Exercises in recognition of facial expressions will be carried out using computer software that supports the process of learning facial movements characteristic for particular emotions. An important part of the training in this respect is the detection of simulated emotions and lies.

Psychological models of adult human development

Whitefox specialises in analysing the language characteristic for particular stages of adult human development. Following favourite grammatical structures, phrases and words, we describe the logic of action of the person with whom we work. During the training, we help participants discover what they focus their attention, thoughts, emotions and actions most often on. Noticing and naming preferred attitudes and patterns of action is usually the starting point to go beyond the resulting restrictions.

Behaviour training

The training is of a practical nature. The lecture part is restricted to the minimum. We do not use slides. Classes rely almost exclusively on performing exercises and simulations.

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