Mastering and Managing Professional Communications

INTRODUCTION

This highly interactive and engaging training course will help you to develop a toolkit of skills and understandings to drive effective communications practice in your organisation. PR and Communications are at the heart of business performance. Modern methods, tools and channels have greatly increased the speed in which communications can be experienced, from local to global. The Mastering and Managing Professional Communications training course will help delegates to be more adaptable to changing needs of your stakeholders and business partners. It establishes the importance of strategy in developing communications plans and the personal leadership skills to implement and manage public relations activities. You will look at practical ways in which a communications strategy can be created, as an integral part of corporate strategy. It will help you take control and responsibility for shaping and delivering campaigns, keep you on top of your workload, manage and motivate people and plan and develop your project management skills to deliver effective, timely and cost-effective communication programmes.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The Professional Communications course will enable participants to:

• Set Corporate Affairs in strategic anticipatory and effective context to assess options
• Understand the PR planning cycle and how to set an annual plan and clear objectives
• Develop an understanding of stakeholder programmes for regular, clear communication
• Examine the development of Corporate Affairs tools and how to influence at all levels
• Understand the development of strategy / plans / tactics and leadership of these key areas
• Understand evaluation and the interpretation and use of research
• Develop and manage a communications team effectively
• Organise tasks in order of importance and urgency and set project schedules

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This training course is designed for communications professionals who would like to improve, refresh and upgrade their skills and for their managers. It would also benefit any professional whose role includes advising leadership on communication, communicating with clients, suppliers, partners and staff of the organisation. It is particularly beneficial to:

• PR professionals and their Managers
• Public Affairs Staff
• Corporate Communications Specialists
• Marketing Professionals
• Customer Service Professionals and
• Internal Communications Specialists

TRAINING OUTLINE

Day 1 :  Introduction and Welcome: The Power of Communication

• Corporate communications overview and strategy
• The evolving practice of corporate communications in the 21st Century
• Informing, engaging and influencing stakeholders and business partners
• Using Neurosciences Insights to influence and persuade
• Cialdini’s principles of persuasion and influencing
• Moments of Truth, Touchpoints, reputation and personal leadership
• Measuring and developing emotional capital

Day 2 :  From the Inside Out: Crafting Consistent Messages

• Internal communications means and methods; Setting internal communications goals
• Communication as a change agent  – working adaptably with internal clients
• Using insight research and feedback for continuous improvement
• Communications, culture and performance – influencing the workforce
• Communications channels mapping and monitoring
• Storytelling, content management, the media and internal / external alignment
• Measuring internal communications effectiveness

Day 3 :  Teamwork in a Networked Organisation

• The development of effective, adaptable  task teams across organisational functions
• Engaging and motivating teams using emotional intelligence
• Managing performance to enable distributed proactive personal leadership
• Project management and scheduling using Gantt charts
• Workload / time management and adaptable / agile processes
• Evaluating your progress and continuous personal / team improvement

Day 4 :  Negotiating, Influencing and Presentation Skills

• A planned and analytical approach to negotiation
• Preparing for effective negotiation and dealing with difficult people
• The negotiating process – using emotional intelligence
• Presenting to client’s and colleagues – the 15 minute preparation method
• Structure, delivery and body language
• Practice presentations with feedback

Day 5 :  The Communications Strategy and Plan

• The managers’ role integrating strategic, operational and tactical leadership
• The Big Picture: Business Strategy Overview and matching communications strategy
• Setting SMART objectives through analytical thinking
• Building a communications activity plan – regular stakeholder communication/influence
• Building a communications activity plan – managing issues and planning campaigns
• Communicating the plan to senior management and to the team
• End of course review and evaluation