I'm Listening... Effective Hybrid Communications

Kimberly Douglas • Sep 13, 2022

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen...

-- Ernest Hemingway

We all know effective communication in our organization is critical, and now that we’re all working in a hybrid environment it can be more challenging than ever. 

In my last newsletter, I introduced my FireFly Flash 90-minute team and individual work-effectiveness virtual workshops. In these sessions, I share the latest information and best practices with my clients in a focused, customized format to help them overcome the challenges they face in today’s hybrid workplace. 

In this newsletter, I want to give you a sneak peek into one topic we used with a client where many participants were excited to begin putting their action steps to use after the session. Effective Communications – both within and across teams. 

As mentioned before, I spend 10-minutes discussing best practices and offering tips, tools, and techniques related to communicating with your team members with takeaway action ideas to work more effectively and efficiently. Then participants head into breakout rooms to discuss the ideas they’re most excited about.


Participants in the sessions were engaged, and their energy was contagious as they shared their thoughts on how to get started. 

Effective Communications Summary

A few key action ideas participants were ready to start using right away are:

  • Reply to emails promptly 
  • Add more specific detail to meeting agendas 
  • Re-read emails before responding 
  • Be more engaged in calls 
  • No meeting Fridays
  • Assume the best intent 
  • Be more intentional 

But these are only seven of over 20+ more action items identified in the Effective Communications virtual workshop. Click Session Summary on the right to download the handout to see the depth of the learning. However, the 90-minute session itself goes into more detail, with supporting handouts and an action plan.

Other workshops ranked highly are:

 

  • Leveraging the strengths of the team without risking burnout.
  • Prioritizing and effectively managing individual/team workload and time.
  • Handling difficult conversations with staff and management in a virtual environment.
  • Get more participation in virtual meetings (especially those less likely to speak up). 

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, all of our FireFly Flash 90-minute virtual workshops are designed for leaders, supervisors, and individual team members and can accommodate up to 50 people per workshop. Look for a summary on one of my other workshop's next newsletter! 

 

I welcome discussing your organization's greatest hybrid challenges and how we can help you to resolve them through these customized virtual facilitated learning sessions. 

 

I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Kimberly



P.S. If you find this information of value, I invite you to share this newsletter with your teammates and colleagues.


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