Advanced Communication Strategies

Overview

This course "Advanced Communication Strategies" equips learners with advanced communication skills needed to navigate complex technical and business settings. By understanding the dynamics of both constructive and destructive conflict, students will develop strategies to resolve issues, foster innovation, and enhance team performance. Learners will also explore ethical principles and apply them to workplace communication, ensuring that messaging is both impactful and responsible. What makes this course unique is its focus on real-world applications, including negotiation techniques and the power of storytelling to communicate organizational strategy. Students will engage in interactive exercises, such as team brainstorming and conflict resolution scenarios, preparing them to lead with confidence. Upon completing the course, learners will be able to manage communication in diverse settings, drive organizational success, and enhance their leadership effectiveness.

Syllabus

Course Introduction

The course "Advanced Communication Strategies" equips learners with essential skills to manage conflict, promote team collaboration, and improve negotiation within technical and professional settings. Students will delve into the dynamics of both constructive and destructive conflict, apply ethical principles to workplace communication, and develop effective strategies for crafting and delivering organizational messages. Emphasizing the significance of clear communication, conflict resolution, and storytelling, the course highlights their critical role in driving organizational success.

Managing Communications in Teams

In this module, we will explore the benefits and challenges of working and communicating collaboratively and in team-based environments. We will also discuss ways of facilitating high-functioning workplace teams, including the strategic use of meetings and brainstorming. To get us started, here is a definition of a collaborative team: a group of disparate staff members and experts working together to accomplish a shared goal.

Ethical Considerations in Communication

In this module, we will explore ethics in the context of technology, engineering, and risk. We will also discuss ethical communication and leadership ethics in your professional context.

Intercultural Communication

In this module, we will explore the key characteristics of culture and its underlying complexity in organizations. We will also discuss the need for greater awareness of cross-cultural contexts and review research-based frameworks to help contextualize their impact in the workplace.

Managing Communication Conflict

In this module, we will explore conflict and strategies for managing conflict within a technical organization. We will examine constructive/productive and destructive conflict and consider the value of constructive conflict for increasing organizational effectiveness and innovation. As an extension of conflict in communications, we will investigate strategies for managing negotiations in the workplace.

Developing and Communicating a Strategy

In this module, we will explore strategy as a tool for guiding a technical organization. We will examine the importance of creating an organizational strategy and define the elements of an effective strategy. Recognizing the importance of communication for implementing a strategy, we will seek to create a message that is clearly articulated and actionable and explore storytelling as a tool for effectively communicating strategy.