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From the course by University of Toronto

Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age

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University of Toronto

Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age

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Communication has changed! The traditional rules for speaking and presenting, meeting coordination, influencing people, negotiating and selling ideas no longer apply in a world of skype, messenger, video and teleconference. This course will act as an overview on several concepts each of which could be a course of their own and our goal is to give you tools that you can practice and perfect on your own. By the end of this course, you will be able to: • Apply communication principles and techniques for in-person and virtual teams • Use a science based approach to create impactful presentations • Refine your communication style to better persuade and influence others • Implement a unique strategy to pitching ideas • Run more effective and impactful meetings • Incorporate strategies to have positive difficult conversations and make people feel valued and listened to What makes this course so effective? Many educational experiences describe and explain, but in this course we will apply and demonstrate. We teach practical and proven concepts, show you how to apply them and give you opportunities to practice them in a safe and supportive environment. This course is full of opportunities to put the ideas presented into practice and test their effectiveness for yourself. Why should you take this course? We will challenge the preconceived ideas about what it means to be part of a virtual team, and support you to be a dynamic team contributor no matter where you work. In this course you can expect to be both energized and uncomfortable – like in most experiences that result in positive growth and change! This course is offered through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (https://learn.utoronto.ca/).

From the lesson

INFLUENCE, POWER AND QUESTIONING STRATEGIES in VIRTUAL COLLABORATION

In this module we move from presenting to convincing and persuading. These ideas can be applied to to presentations and also one-on-one communication both in-person and virtually. We will cover how recognize peoples communication styles and motivations and how strategically communicate in a way that will resonate with them.

Underlying Motivations4:24

Achievement3:37

Affiliation5:33

Meet the Instructors

Ivan Wanis Ruiz
Instructor
Continuing Studies

In this video, we are going to talk about affiliation.

The motivation is to be part of the group, is for acceptance.

Does this overlap with communication?

Yes.

Is it also independent?

Yes.

Remember, it's not either or.

It's different tools we have.

Do they compliment each other?

Yeah.

Maybe someone you have a hostile communicator, but

they have an affiliation.

They still need to be liked by the group, so they can complement.

But the question of this video is how can we influence them?

How can we get them to act?

Here's how you can recognize someone who has an underlining need for affiliation.

They're the person that always wants to be talking to several people at once.

The person who wants the open concept working environment.

The person who always is just trying to organize, hey,

do you guys all want to do something for lunch?

The person whose always trying to organize group activities.

That is the person who wants to feel like they are part of the group.

Sometimes it's a manager, sometimes it's someone you work with,

sometimes it's a subordinate.

So now that you know how to recognize that person and we all work with someone like

that, the person that is always getting us to go team building.

Now you know how to recognize them.

How can we influence them?

Here's what we need to know about someone who has an affiliation motivation.

Above all else, they want to avoid risk

so that they don't rock the boat, or potentially cause friction in the group.

Group harmony is one of the underlining motivations for this person, so

they won't take big risks.

If you want to try some new crazy thing or new crazy initiative and they're your

manager, they'll probably be like I think it's really great what you're doing, but

I just don't know if that's too big of a jump.

So how can we get them to act on things?

Remember, it doesn't matter if you agree or

disagree with their way of doing things, that's not important.

The reality is we work with tons of people all the time who we don't agree or

disagree with.

It's how we can influence, persuade them, and interact with them that's important.

Here's how you can influence them.

If group harmony is their underlining need, the motivation,

you approach everything like it's going to cause group disruption.

Suppose it's your manager, you want everyone to get new computers.

You could present them a proposal blah blah blah blah blah.

You could talk to them in their communications blah blah blah.

Does that mean they're going to do everything?

Maybe, who knows?

But how do we increase our chances?

You approach it like if this action is not done, it will disrupt group harmony.

They don't want that, so here's what you do.

Let's take an example.

Rebecca, listen, I've just been noticing some of the staff have been talking and

everyone is getting upset because their computers are really lagging.

And it's hindering everyone,

I've just been noticing people have been chatting about it a little bit.

It's one of the things we're talking about, they probably come to you about it.

Do you think there's any way that we can maybe look into getting an upgrade for

our laptops?

I can tell you right away that'll make everyone happy,

something along those lines.

Suppose we're on a video conference and

we're trying to agree on a course of action, and one of our people,

who's an important group member is not fully onboard.

You threaten disharmony, disruption of the group.

You can be like, so

listen, Paul, I know that this is an important thing that we have to get done.

For right now, we have a lot of agreement and we want to make sure that you're

onboard with us because you're an important part of the group.

What's it going to take for you to feel good about this project?

So, what you're doing is you're putting them in a situation where we all agree,

how can we make you agree with us?

You're not forcing them, you're putting it as a question but the group pressure and

the need for harmony is going to influence that person to make concessions.

Now remember, we're not talking about whether something is right or wrong.

We're talking about the realities of the workplace and

how different people have different motivations.

And there's two ways you can think about using the affiliation

to better achieve your own personal goals.

A., you can think about it like, I'm trying to achieve my personal goals.

But you can also think about it like this,

you are helping to address that other person's underlining motivations.

Because what you're helping them to do is to not rock the boat, and

to be part of the group.

Will that make them make concessions?

Maybe, will that make them happier?

Maybe, either way, It's a reality of working in the virtual age.

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