Workplace communication skills training for better conversations at work

Support your people to have better conversations at work; conversations that build a strong, connected culture.

Human conversations are essential to manage risk and foster wellbeing, inclusion and engagement.

Conversations build culture. Whether it is a conversation about performance, development, wellbeing, leave, or a potential team conflict, it’s vital that your people and, in particular, your managers and leaders, have the skills and confidence to communicate well, to have effective human conversations.

Great conversations help manage risk. Most people can recall a poor conversation with a boss or colleague (or perhaps no conversation at all) which left them feeling unseen, unheard, disconnected or, at worst, discriminated against.

On the other hand, if you’ve had a truly empathic conversation at work, you’ve almost certainly felt the immediate benefit in terms of connection, wellbeing, and engagement. You feel seen and valued. These conversations create inclusion, belonging and contribute to productivity.

Research has shown that...

The most effective organisations are the ones that have quality conversations

Company culture has a much bigger influence on employee wellbeing than salary and benefits
Successful business transformation is rooted in human emotions, with empathy at its core
Motivation at work is largely impacted by our feelings of connection to others

Building a core competency for leaders and people managers.

While it’s important that everyone communicates well at work, it’s even more vital for people managers to have high quality human conversations: it’s a core leadership competency.

In our training sessions, people managers often tell us that they see communication as the most important leadership skill. But it’s not a skill that every manager has naturally and, even for those that do, it’s something that can still be developed. Communication, and in particular, listening, is fundamental to trust, engagement and development. It often feels easier to communicate well with people ‘like us’ and leaders need to have better human conversations to build inclusive workplaces for people whose world view and lived experience may be different to their own.

How the human conversations programme works

An initial foundation session provides participants with greater awareness of how humans connect at work as well as providing them with the practical tools they need to communicate and listen well.

You can build on that core learning with a series of shorter, more focused workshops (right) that look at human conversations in different contexts where lack of knowledge, sensitivity around the topic, or even fear of getting it wrong, can get in the way of connection.

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byrne∙dean has been an outstanding partner in designing, developing and delivering training – both in person and online.  They have been responsive and flexible as our partnership grew over time, delivering at scale across the globe.  They worked closely with us to customize content and delivery, and have consistently received excellent feedback from participants and senior leaders alike.
Learning & Leadership Development Executive, Bank of America

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