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Communication Skills: Natalia Saranti, LC Patras and Patricia Ramos, LC Madrid Madrid, 28/04/2016
Communication Skills: Natalia Saranti, LC Patras and Patricia Ramos, LC Madrid Madrid, 28/04/2016
Communication Skills
Smart Wars
Madrid, 24/04-01/05/2016
Natalia Saranti, LC Patras and Patricia Ramos, LC Madrid
Madrid, 28/04/2016
1. Introduction
The training took place in Madrid. The event was from the 24th of April to the 1st of May.
Natalia applied as a participant to the event and that gave us the opportunity to deliver a
training for the international participants of the event. The training took place on the 5th
day of the event, so us to get prepared after Natalias arrival, and in order to get to know the
participants a bit more.
2. Keywords
Channels, filters, communication, sender, receiver, feedback
3. Target Group
The target group was formed by the participants of the international workshop Smart
Wars, organized by LC Madrid. They were EESTEC members of different commitments
with different experience levels.
4. Trainers
Natalia Saranti, LC Patras, Trainer Candidate, 7th T4T (Zurich)
Patricia Ramos, LC Madrid, Trainer, 7th T4T (Zurich)
5. Training Details
Goals of Training Session
Give some basic informations about the
● Model of communication, how it works
● The channels we use during our everyday communication, emphasise on how
many they are and how important they are
● The filters,and how they affect our communication. How can we notice them.
● Ways to overcome this problems, and especially by using BIO Feedback
Timeline
You can find the timeline of the training in the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Wct-fIisVBbDdjem5OM2Q3TWs/view?usp=sharing
Learning Block I - Process of Communication
Theory
We explained the different parts that take part during the basic process of communication:
sender, receiver, channels, filters and feedback.
Impressions, Difficulties and Changes
This part was just an introduction for the rest of the training, in which we explained in more
detail each part of the communication process. We used visuals for this introduction, which
made it more clear to connect all the part explained later.
Learning Block II - Channels of communication
Theory
Different channels of communications were explained, like body language or eye contact.
These channels were introduced through a discussion, in which participants said the
channels they thought about, and they were later explained. Some of these channels were
also introduced in the previous activity.
Activities
The activity related to this learning block was done at the beginning of it. In this activity we
asked for 3 volunteers. We gave to each one of them a paper with a sentence and 3
different emotions to express while reading this sentence to the rest of the participants.
The participants should applause to the one of these 3 situations that they believe the
most.
With this activity we tried to show the participants the importance of the rest of the
channels in communication, not only verbal communication.
Impressions, Difficulties and Changes
For this activity we had 3 volunteers that made it really easy to see the differences between
the three chosen emotions. This activity was a perfect introduction to explain in detail the
different channels used in the communication process.
Learning Block III - Filters of Communication
Theory
After playing the game in which each participant had a role, we had a discussion about the
role the had in the roleplay game and how did the others felt that the role was affecting the
communication. We discussed about the problems they faced and by that we made the
introduction to the filters. Then we introduced them to the filters of communication, giving
some real life examples, and how can you recognize the filter which is making your
communication more difficult in order to solve it with the tools we were going to introduce
later
Activities
We played a role play game. We divided the participants into 4 groups of 5. Then we gave
to the participants a small piece of paper on which we had a filter with a small description
underneath it. We asked the participants to adopt the role for the game and try to not
reveal to the others there role. The filters they had was for example: you can’t express
yourself easily or you are very emotional with everything that happens , get excited or mad
but you are over excited or too mad.
The subject they had to discuss was about planning a trip to a Greek island. We had three
different rounds in the game. The first round was with back to back in the chairs, so the
channel of eye contact, body language .etc wasn’t there (a way to see the importance of
the filters too). On the second round they could be face to face and discuss about the topic.
In both rounds they were keeping hide their filter. In the third round we gave them the
opportunity to reveal their filter to the others, so they could see at the same time the
characteristics of each filter.
Impressions, Difficulties and Changes
It was a really nice game. The participants really liked it, though they found it too difficult to
reach a conclusion and communicate in a group with so many different personalities.
Maybe we could have small groups of different personality and not each person of the
group with a different filter, so as to make the communication a bit more realistic and easy
for them. In advance some of the participants found it difficult to adopt their filter, maybe
we could have had a more clear explanation.
Learning Block IV - Sender and Receiver
Theory
In this part we talked about sender and receiver, the main characters of the
communication process. We made a discussion about possible solutions to problems that
can happen in the whole communication process.
Impressions, Difficulties and Changes
For later trainings we can include the process that the message experiments while going
from the sender to the receiver, to show more clearly the difference between what the
sender transmits and what the receiver gets. This process should describe how the sender
transmit the message, how this message is influenced by the channels we transmit it and
how the message changes because of the different filters.
Also, we could have explained first the different problems that can happen and then go
one by one explaining possible solutions for each one of them, instead of talking about
general solutions.
Learning Block V - Feedback
Theory
We talked about the goal of giving feedback and the different types of feedback we can
give. We then gave a more analytical review on how we use BIO feedback, why do we find
this structure so important.
Activities
We divided the participants into groups of two, and we asked them to sit on the chairs,
putting the chairs back to back. We gave them a different paper with a drawing and we
asked them to : for the first round describe the drawing they had to the person behind
them. The other person couldn’t talk. That would happen for the other person, so that both
would describe their drawing and both could have tried to draw. Then on the second round
they had the opportunity to talk and ask questions.
During this block we had another game. We asked the participants to give BIO Feedback
to a poster we had on the slides in order to practice a bit on giving BIO feedback.
Impressions, Difficulties and Changes
They really liked the game. It was a really nice opportunity to see how the filters affect the
way we understand everything, how the channels we use (we can only talk, and not use our
hands) make the communication more difficult if we don’t use all of them. And in the end
how feedback makes the communication much more easy than before.
Logistics Needed
We used the following materials:
● Flipcharts: Agenda, Ground Rules, Solutions to problems in communication (Sender
and Receiver learning block), and name of the training.
● Pens: back to back drawing activity.
● Colorful cardboards: visuals.
● Printed papers: back to back drawing game, activity about channels of
communication and role play about different filters.
● Sticky notes: feedback.
6. Materials Used
Sources
We used the following materials for the preparation of this training:
● Mastering Communication - Nicky Stanton
● LSS 2013 - Communication
Materials Created
Link for the PPT:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4MPdERBwTtlUVVIcm9OcDE3bVE/view?usp=sharing
Link for the pictures:
7. Follow up
Participants’ Feedback
Negative:
Most of the participants would like to see something more during the training, and
emphasise on one thing more. For example they asked for more details about body
language during communication, maybe more about feedback and other methods, others
about the process of communication. One of the participants suggested (something that
we found really interesting) to present some statistics of experiments and some
percentage. Moreover, to encourage participants to share their knowledge and maybe
use media, audios, videos, or incorporate self evaluation stuff(personal tests,self
judgement).
Positive:
The training was interesting for the participants, as they said it was a dynamic training
about useful topic. Also, they think the activities made more clear the topic, and that they
were well balanced with the theory parts. Some of them said that this training made the
knowledge they have about communication more clear and structured in their minds. They
gave positive feedback about our way of communicating and about the way of working
between the two of us.
Suggestions for improvement
What we can improve about this session is to get more into details about the different
parts, not only about the basics of communication, but to go a little bit further. Also we can
explain in detail how the message changes during the process of communication, to show
the importance of channels and filters. We could give more examples also, to show
different situations we have faced about problems of communication.
Observations from Trainers
Natalia Saranti
I think it was the best training I had so far. Being a participant and at the same time, being a
trainer during an event gave me the opportunity to be more close to the participants, they
were feeling also more confident, to approach me and talk with me about what they liked
and what they didn’t like during the training, but to ask also for more details about the
training. The cooperation with Pati was amazing, we had a really good communication
before the training and that helped a lot for preparing it. The communication during the
training was also good, we were feeling both really comfortable in adding details to the
others part and helping with writing on flipcharts, or putting things on the wall while the
other was talking.
The most important thing for me though it was how the participants were paying attention
and even if they were very tired they were really active during the training and they were
trying to do their best during the games. Moreover I was more than excited that
participants were interested to learn about the training team and how you can become a
trainer. I believe that some of the participants are really considering in applying for T4T and
that makes me proud for our work with Pati .
Patricia Ramos
Since T4T in Zurich Natalia and me wanted to delivered a training together and finally we
got our chance to do it, and I’m so happy we did. First of all the working atmosphere before
the training was really great. I felt really comfortable and we created a positive atmosphere
where we could give different ideas and work as a team. Second of all, during the training
we understood each other in case we needed help from the other and we were
comfortable with the fact of delivering together. Also, while delivering the training, the
participants were really active and contributed during the whole training session. This fact
made the training a perfect activity for sharing knowledge and for learning about
Communication Skills. It was a pleasure for me to be part of this training, one of the
trainings I’m most proud of.