Business Communication. Sharpen your communication skills.

Are you confident communicating in everyday work situations, but still struggling to handle challenging conversations assertively? In this advanced assertiveness skills course, you'll get a toolkit for speaking up successfully. Discover how to remain calm and professional - even in stressful or emotionally charged situations - by regulating your own emotions. Explore a simple process for responding assertively to others' emotions, using three types of empathy-building statements. Learn to use advanced patterns of assertive self-disclosure, including consequence assertion, feedback assertion, discrepancy assertion and negative feeling assertion. Then learn how to build win-win solutions to problems, so you can take a collaborative approach to difficult conversations.

Aims

This course aims to equip you with tools for handling difficult siutations and ‘corageous conversations’ assertively and professionally.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• apply the principles of advanced assertiveness to real-life situations
• manage your own emotions during challenging conversations
• respond to others' emotions with empathy and assertiveness, so you can defuse emotionally charged situations
• express your own perspective honestly and appropriately, using assertive self-disclosure
• listen and speak courageously during difficult conversations
• take a collaborative approach to build win-win solutions to problems, using the assertive dialogue-building model.

Content

Topic 1: What is advanced assertiveness?

Find out how advanced assertiveness differs from basic assertiveness. Discuss 5 principles of advanced assertiveness and pinpoint where you can use them. Identify your key strengths as a communicator and your areas for improvement.

Topic 2: Managing your own emotions

Learn to recognise, interpret and influence your own emotional state in challenging situations. Use cognitive reframing to shift your perspective or calm yourself down. Discuss strategies for pausing or redirecting heated conversations, so you can maintain your professionalism at all times.

Topic 3: Responding to others' emotions

In this module, you'll try out a simple process for responding assertively to others' emotions using three types of empathy-building statements. This will help you create a supportive atmosphere that fosters open communication and safe emotional expression.

Topic 4: Speaking 'courageously'

Discover advanced patterns of assertive self-disclosure, such as consequence assertion, feedback assertion, discrepancy assertion and negative feeling assertion. Learn how to use these patterns effectively in challenging conversations such as giving feedback, raising concerns, expressing a contentious opinion or responding to inappropriate behaviour.

Topic 5: Listening 'courageously'

In many professional situations, you need to listen even when it's uncomfortable. This helps you gain new perspectives and build a constructive dialogue. Find out how to listen courageously, using active listening tools, so you can become an effective problem solver and negotiator. Build the skills you need when receiving feedback, listening to opinions you don’t agree with and facing upset or ‘difficult’ people.

Topic 6: Collaborating to solve problems

Explore a tried and tested model for building win-win solutions to problems. This four-step model will help you take a collaborative approach to difficult conversations, while still maintaining your assertiveness. Find out how you can use this process in real-life situations.

Intended audience

Professionals, team leaders, supervisors, line managers and professionals who have already mastered the basics of assertive communication and want to take their skills to a new level.

Prerequisites

Assertive Communication and Conversation Skills or equivalent knowledge.

Delivery style

This course is interactive and based on experiential learning. You will be involved in group conversations, discussing case studies and completing written exercises. There will be several opportunities to ask the course facilitator questions or request tips for dealing with your real life situations. You will get the most from this course if you are:

• willing to contribute to group discussions
• confident communicating verbally in English
• comfortable participating in role-play style activities
• using a computer with a working camera and microphone (if enrolling in an online session of the course).

Delivery modes

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught training
• Online training via the platform Zoom

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically (via Dropbox). Printing services are not provided.

Recommended reading

Alison, E & Alison, L 2020, Rapport: The Four Ways to Read People, Vermilion.

Carnegie, D 1998, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Pocket Books.

Fisher, R, Ury, WL & Patton, B 2011, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Penguin Books.

Michelli, D 2013, Assertiveness Workbook, Teach Yourself.

Paterson, RJ 2022, The Assertiveness Workbook: How to Express Your Ideas and Stand up for Yourself at Work and in Relationships 2nd ed., New Harbinger Publications.

Schein, EH 2018, Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling, Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Stone, D, Patton, B & Heen, S 2010, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, Penguin Books.

Vingelli, R 2021, Assertive Communication: The Art of Communicating Effectively. How to Manage Anxiety and Stress by Expressing Yourself in a Clear and Authoritative Way Without Fears and Shyness.