[00:00:00]

Mel: Ever heard the phrase, "We need more effective communication," or words to that effect? Maybe it's been said in an engagement survey, a feedback conversation, a project meeting, maybe even at home. In a business, this often leads to somebody jumping onto Google and searching for effective communication training or business communication skills training.

And that person usually isn't the one who has raised the issue or even has control of the budget. They're the executive assistant or the junior HR person who has been thrown a task of organising training for the team, and herein lies the issue. What is really going on that's been identified as a business communication issue?

What do people really mean by effective communication? And how do we get really clear on what a team actually needs? That's what today's episode is all about. Hello, friend, and welcome to another episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, the communications podcast. I'm your [00:01:00] host, Mel Loy, and I'm recording this episode on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here in Meanjin, also known as Brisbane.

And on today's show, we're going to tackle a common scenario in teams. What do they really mean when they say effective communication? And the reason I raise this is because I've seen it so often over the course of my career. In-house as a comms professional, people saying, "The communication isn't effective across the group."

And as a trainer and business owner, people saying to me, "We need to organise communication training for our team." It's a very, very broad and vague statement, and what I've discovered is that oftentimes it isn't actually a communication issue. It's another issue entirely. So let's start there. If someone approaches you and says, "We need to get communication training for our team," or, "The communication isn't effective," what do you do?

Well, step one is [00:02:00] identify the problem they're really trying to solve, and that starts with making sure you're talking to the right person. If it's the learning and development officer who's received an email from a team leader asking them to organise training, you're talking to the wrong person. I've had that conversation, and when I tried to get more information about what they really needed, that person had absolutely no idea.

They're just the messenger. So first, you need to ask to talk to the person who's made the request, so you can make sure you're providing a solution that will actually work. And then when you are talking to that person, there's a few key questions that I like to ask. One is: What do you mean by communication in your team?

So are they talking about emails? Are they talking about challenging conversations? What is it they're really talking about when they think they're talking about communication? What's the problem you want this training to help solve? So this is really important because then you can narrow this down.

Again, is this about challenging conversations? Is this about their written communication? Is this [00:03:00] about their body language? Is it the fact that they are a hybrid team and they don't see each other very often in person and that's having some issues, et cetera, et cetera. And then the next question is: Why is that a problem right now and what has been the impact?

So this helps you get really deep on where their real issue lies and what the real outcome is that they're driving for. And then the fourth question I'll ask is: What else have you tried? So I'd really love to know, have they done other training? Have they, uh, had conversations about this? How much are the team aware that there's an issue?

Because if they don't think there's an issue, then that's the first problem you have to solve, is helping them recognise there's an issue. Now, in response to these sorts of questions, you will start to get a much better understanding of, is this indeed a communication issue or is it another issue like poor leadership, poor channel management, poor interpersonal relationships, poor planning, and so on and so on.

And you'll also start to understand if [00:04:00] the issue is systemic or cultural rather than isolated to a few key individuals. And both of these factors are critical because if it is something like poor leadership or toxic personalities or crappy planning, communication is not the magic wand they can wave to fix it.

And if it's an issue that's widespread throughout the organisation or if it's a cultural issue in the team, then that again is a broader issue than just communication. Similarly, if it's just a few individuals, then maybe they need coaching more than training. So that's when they don't need communication training.

When do they? Well, there's a few key factors that tell me when a team really does need communication training. Number one, there's a lot of misunderstandings, especially in a team that relies heavily on emails or written comms, like Teams, for example. And that tells me, A, they may be relying on too few channels, or they're not great writers.

It also tells me that they are probably communicating from their perspective rather than [00:05:00] thinking about who's on the receiving end. So they need to be taught about different communication styles, et cetera The second reason might be that people feel unheard, undervalued, and under-informed. And this tells me there are comms rhythms that could be co-designed with the team, and they need to think about the purpose of different types of communication.

So, for example, when do they recognise and celebrate people? When do they collaborate? All those sorts of things. The third is that there's a lot of change and uncertainty in the business, and people are constantly wondering what's going on, what they should and shouldn't be doing. And the fourth is usually there's a new organisational strategy or new vision and values, and they've been rolled out, but nobody actually really understands them, or they can't even remember them.

So that's step one, is identify what is the real issue they're trying to solve, and is it actually communication or is it a bigger issue? Now, step two is to look at the data. It's one thing to have one's person-- one person's [00:06:00] opinions or observations about the problems. It's another to have the data to back that up.

So this is where we need to dig into those numbers. And the great part is most organisations, there's a lot of data you can access. All you have to do is ask. So, you know, I will ask to see the most recent engagement survey or pulse survey, whatever they call it. Uh, I'll be asking: Have they done the three-sixty degree process recently, or have they gone through their annual performance reviews?

What came out of that? What types of issues are constantly being raised with their manager or with HR? Someone may have even done a listening tour recently, and you can ask them about key themes that arose in those interviews. And before the training I run for teams, I always send out a pre-workshop survey to get more information about what they think the issues are, what they feel like they need to learn or improve on, what they want to see come out of the workshop, and also how they rate themselves and their team in terms of their communication ability across a few different categories.

[00:07:00] That type of information helps me understand if there is a disconnect between what the leader is saying and what the team is actually experiencing. It also helps me understand where the levels of confidence are with communication. Because if confidence is low, we start with the basics, and we help to highlight where things are going well.

If confidence is high, I will probably challenge them on that and ask, "If that is the case, then why do you need this workshop?" I'll also ask for examples of where things have gone great and where they've fallen flat. And so this helps me understand the issues, the opportunities. It helps me design hypothetical scenarios that we can explore in the training.

Another library of data you should look at is external sources. So for example, what international benchmarks are there that you can compare with the team's data? So for example, on engagement or use of communication tools, et cetera, because this can also provide some avenues for exploration and discussion during the workshop So that's step number two is look at the data.

And then step three is [00:08:00] about planning the right intervention. So it always starts with the outcomes you need to achieve. What do you need people to know, feel, and do at the end of this workshop? I also like to s- set expectations here that one workshop is not going to change things. It will start the thinking.

It will provide some tools and some knowledge, but it's just the starting point for this learning journey. So I always talk to people about, "Okay, so what are you gonna do after this?" And it might be things like, okay, you'll have a team meeting in a couple of weeks, and you'll revisit what are some of the key points that have really stuck with people, what things have they tried?

Uh, maybe you'll invest in some one-on-one coaching for the team, et cetera. But really think about what are the outcomes? What part does this workshop play in addressing those outcomes? And then also, what else might be needed to make sure the learning sticks? So that starts with that sort of broader piece.

What's the f- what's the outcomes and what's the, the plan of attack? Now, when I am planning an intervention, [00:09:00] again, it comes back to, well, what's the problem we're trying to solve? What are the outcomes we want? And the first one is usually just getting the basics right. So this can be things we cover, like being able to communicate clearly and concisely to share information.

So think about the fact that the basics of a good email are now really covered by AI. People don't really need that kind of training anymore. It's probably more on the basics around interpersonal conversations. Um, Teams, you know, when you're writing on Teams, the tone in your messages. It might be more around understanding different communication styles and the fact that not everybody communicates the same as you.

So you have to think about how this sounds to the person on the receiving end, what you could do to adapt the way you're communicating. I always-- in these sorts of the more fund- fundamentals or the foundational workshops, I talk about my skills framework, which is from my second book. And so that covers subject, so who you're talking to and why you're talking to them.

Knowledge, so what information do they need to have? What [00:10:00] information are you assuming that they have that they probably don't? Ideas, so this is really about how you structure the flow of those ideas in your communication. The language that you're using. So are you using language that is, you know, personable and friendly and approachable?

Are you using plain language, so it's easily understood, or are you using a lot of jargon? Are you using a lot of, um, high-level terms that may not be understood by everybody? Less. So how to keep it shorter. And actually writing concisely and communicating concisely can be really hard for a lot of people.

So we often spend a bit of time on that. And skimmable because we know people skim read, especially in this digital hybrid world that we live in. They are skim-reading your emails. They are skim-reading that intranet article. They are skim-reading that Teams message. So how do you make sure that whatever you're putting out there is skimmable and your key messages are still getting through?

The second, uh, key type of workshop that I'm often running when people talking about c- [00:11:00] business communication skills is those interpersonal fundamentals. So this is really about the stuff that, you know, AI can't do for you. It's navigating challenging conversations. It's giving feedback, receiving feedback, sharing bad news, all of those sorts of things.

Going into a project meeting which you know is gonna be a bit feisty. How do you navigate those challenging conversations so that you still get the outcome you want, that everybody's still on speaking terms afterwards, that you have the confidence to do that? So this is a key one for people when, uh, we have these conversations.

Is these types of challenging conversations can be really uncomfortable for a lot of people. They're a little bit scary, right? Because you have to share bad news, somebody might get upset. Uh, it could also be that, you know, at the end of the day, you don't want to upset people. You want to be nice, and unfortunately, that often doesn't give you the outcome you want.

So we do tend to spend a lot of time on those sorts of skills these days. The other one in [00:12:00] this sort of interpersonal fundamentals piece is communicating with different levels in the organisation, especially when you're trying to get leaders to agree to an action or a change or a business case or trying to get the team on board.

So it's that kind of influencing persuasive communication skills and understanding how people respond to change so that you're not surprised when people start behaving weirdly, and you can prepare properly when you are communicating about change. So that's kind of the interpersonal side of things. And then the third type of business communication skills training that I find I'm running most often is leadership communication skills.

And again, AI cannot do this for you. Leaders have to know how to communicate. And I've talked about this on the podcast before, about how about eighty percent of new leaders when they are in a position of leadership for the first time do not get proper support. So they don't get formal training, mentoring, anything like that.

They're just kind of like, "Hey, you've got the leadership title. [00:13:00] By osmosis, you should know what to do." Uh, and so this training is usually brought about when the capability of leaders has been raised in different forums. Again, it could be a three-sixty degree feedback process, it could be engagement surveys, whatever it is.

But somebody's gone, "Hey, we need to lift the capability of our leaders here." So a few of the topics that we might cover in this sort of training are things like adapting your style to your team. So realising that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. You are going to have to tweak it, change it when you are talking to different individuals on your team.

Uh, it's also about the fact that you're going to need, through your communication, to inform, but also to motivate and also to engage people. And you need to do all three, so what does that look like? So we might break that down. Listening skills. This is huge for leaders. So really deeply listening, actually taking the time to really understand what people are saying and feeling, not jumping to solutions or jumping [00:14:00] to conclusions.

So we talk a lot about how those conversations can be structured so you can really understand a person. And again, conversation skills. So how do you build relationships with team members on a day-to-day basis? Uh, leading change through communication. That's always a big one, and leaders are having to lead change more often than not.

Change is the new normal. We all know that by now, but leaders are often given a whole bunch of information and told, "Here, go share this with your team," and that's where it really falls flat. So teaching them how to make that information meaningful for their teams, how to make it relevant, put in their voice, et cetera.

And the big one is the say-do gap awareness. So that's where you've communicated one thing, but your actions are in the complete opposite direction of what you've said. And really that comes back to something I've said time and time again on this podcast is that everything you do that sends a message is a form of communication.

So they're kind of the three big chunks of training [00:15:00] that we tend to offer, and the reason I, I say these is because when you are thinking about effective communication and someone approaches you, maybe it is just about getting the fundamentals right. Maybe it is more about those interpersonal relationships, or maybe it is more about leadership communication skills.

So have a think about that and really challenge your people when they come to you saying, "We need training." Okay. So on this short and spicy episode of the f- of today's podcast, I have been sharing what are business communication skills, why are they important, but also, you know, what do they actually mean when people come to you asking for training?

And step one was to identify the problem you're really trying to solve. So make sure you're talking to the right person and really delve into why they think communication is the issue. Identify if it is communication that's the issue or it's something else, and then what are some of the factors that can tell you that they really need a s- particular type of communication training?

Step number two is to then gather the data. Get as [00:16:00] much information as you can to help really understand where the issues are so that you can design the right intervention. And then step three is planning that intervention. So start with the outcomes you want to achieve. Think about how this training forms part of a longer-term plan of changing people's behaviours and building their skills.

And then think about the type of intervention they might need. So like I said, that could be step one is just getting the basics right, understanding the basics of good business communication. Step two could be more of the interpersonal fundamentals, having challenging conversations, trying to persuade people, et cetera.

And the third type that s- I typically get approached for is leadership communication skills. So hopefully that gives you a bit of ideas around how to think about, well, when people come to you and say, "Our communication's crap," whatever, there's some questions you can ask. There's some things you can do to stay curious and really understand what it is that they're trying to fix and if [00:17:00] you are indeed the best person placed to fix that.

All right, team. That's all we have time for on today's short and sharp episode. I hope you got something out of that. And as per usual, I would love it if you could rate the show, leave a review. It helps other people find the show. It also helps me to understand, you know, is this valuable? Is this something you really want me to keep doing?

Because honestly, we're coming up on 200 episodes now, so let me know if we should keep going. In the meantime, keep doing amazing things, and bye for now.