VOIS - Area 2 - Module 4

  1. MODULE TITLE

Module 4: Communication and Networking
  1. AUTHORS

Evangelia Chatzikonstantinou, Panagiotis Kallianis, Maria Symeonidou, Stylianos Portokalidis
  1. SHORT DESCRIPTION

Effective communication is a critical tool for building relations not only between individuals but also between companies. It is the connecting link and key factor influencing success in any collaboration, partnership, or transaction.

Communication is also a key element for Collaborative innovation and its supporting activities.

By acquiring communication skills, you can:

  • identify the right partners
  • share ideas
  • share innovative marketing efforts
  • apply effective management

To increase the effectiveness of your communication, in this module it is important to learn about the most important  communication skills:

Verbal communication can be any written or spoken communication where a message is transmitted through words and gets across to the receiver.

Active listening is the ability to focus completely on the speaker, understand their message, comprehend the information, and respond thoughtfully,

Empathy is also one of the most important skills in the internal and external environment of a company. It means  the quality or process of entering fully, through imagination, into the other person’s shoes.

2 Teamwork skills are also important for communication and networking:

Management of people, is the process of training, motivating and directing employees to optimise workplace productivity and promote professional growth

Adaptability is the ability to be flexible and adjust to changing factors, conditions or environments

(Source www.sayit.com)
  1. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

    Upon completing this module, you should be able to:

  • identify the cognitive and practical skills you must have to communicate and network in a work environment,
  • know how to select, as well as apply basic methods, tools, materials and information for better internal communication (with colleagues, and superiors) and communication outside the company (with partners, clients, and suppliers).
  • exercise management and supervision using active listening, but also demonstrate patience and openness to dialogue, understanding body language and accepting feedback.
  • manage complex technical or professional activities or projects, take responsibility for integrating empathy in the communication strategy of the company
  • apply decision making in the process of people management
  1. Training Content
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Secondly, through the skill of adaptability, actors can be flexible and able to adapt to the different circumstances and situations that may be faced, either at the internal (in-company) level or when facing situations with representatives from outside the company (collaborations). They could adapt and accept different forms of work and opinions within or outside the team, adapt to new situations within or outside the team, to cultural differences within or outside the team, taking into consideration and respecting different points of view, beliefs and approaches to situations or problems

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/typing-man-office-clothes-running-jogging-white-space-like-professional-athlete-sportsman-unusual-look-businessman-motion-action-with-ball-sport-healthy-lifestyle-creativity_9479391.htm#query=flexibility%20in%20work&position=1&from_view=search

Interactive exercise

You are the manager of a food company and one of your agents wants to meet you as he has a suggestion about new ways of packaging your product. You meet him in your office and he is presenting his ideas on small papers with hand written notes with ugly and illegible letters. But his ideas are very interesting and very innovative.

Story choices

Story feedback

a) If you will not give him a chance to present himself in his own way you will not benefit from his ideas not now and not in the future as he will be disappointed by your behaviour.

b) Asking him to change his way of working will maybe lead to him not being  that innovative or creative as he is by working on his own style.

c) By giving him the chance to work with his own style and with your adaptability to that you will get the maximum out of him and new innovative ideas are more precious than good presentations.

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