Getting the message across
Featured in the Managing Conflict training manual
By Caroline Love
Category: Conflict Resolution
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
How often have you wondered why your message is not getting across? If you sense that the listener is not attending or understanding, what do you do? Repeat yourself? Try a different tactic? Give up? And how do you feel? Almost certainly not pleased. This training activity demonstrates the importance of paying attention to the body language of the listener and provides a chance for the participants to consider tactics for getting their message across.
This training activity starts off with a brief introduction to its purpose. Then the participants form groups of four for a three-part exercise. In part one, they experience and observe the impact of helpful body language; in part two, they experience and observe the impact of unhelpful body language; and in part three, the participants review the body language that helped or hindered effective communication, and then identify strategies used to ensure that the listener is attending to and understanding the message. During the feedback session, the participants clarify and confirm helpful body language and tactics to use to engage or re-engage listeners. This is followed by a discussion about the extent to which we can interpret a person’s feelings or thoughts from their body language. The training activity concludes with a discussion on minimising the potential for conflict, and the participants identify their next steps for developing their skills in reading non-verbal behaviour, with a view to minimising conflict.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to enable participants to focus on the music and dance of communication, the importance of reading the signals from others, tactics to use to engage or re-engage the listener, to help to reduce conflict.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:40:00 |
| No of Pages: | 32 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers in a programme on managing conflict. It can also be used in programmes on team building, key skills for managing, customer care, and staff support and supervision.
Download the training activity, Getting the message across as featured in the Fenman training manual; Managing Conflict