Verbal communication skills for the technical professional

No preliminary skills are needed.

The era in which we could limit ourselves to “I know the craft, I am good with numbers and systems”, and “If I articulate my sentences, that’s all I need” are behind us. Increasingly the leaders of today realise that the direct relationships with clients, team members, project leaders, key users etc. play a crucial role in the smooth development of a technical project.

Challenges are:

• Communicating effectively verbally, content-wise and contact-wise
• Managing the technical exchange while promoting a solid working relationship and team spirit
• Active listening, optimizing the message of the sender
• Managing the art of asking questions while steering the conversation
• Being able to give a constructive feedback, without hurting
• Being able to work in a team, daring to speak up while opening up the floor for your interlocutor

By the end of this workshop you will have obtained new communicative skills, ready to be applied in the workplace. Your efforts will pay off quickly:

• smoother process of negotiation and easier obtainment of contracts,
• less time wasted,
• less misunderstandings,
• pleasant long term relationships,
• a more professional style of collaboration within a team and therefore better results, ….

• Introduction and objectives
• Basics: axioms of communication
• How can one strengthen the communication process?
• A constructive dialogue through active listening
• Application exercise
• Giving feedbacks – obtaining the desired goal with respect for the person
• Receiving feedback in a gracious way – the basis of an open exchange
• Application exercises
• Assertiveness and striving for win-win’s during feedback discussions and negotiations
• Playing with: taking space, giving space
• The trap of the non-assertive communication
• Application exercises
• Push or pull – the art of questioning and directing the conversation
• Application exercises
• Conflict management during communication - staying out of the drama-triangle
• Application exercises

• Lots of exercising and role play
• Participants are invited to bring in their own situations.
• The experiences gained during the exercises are discussed against the background of principles of communication in the more theoretical part.

A certificate of participation will be sent to participants after the seminar.

Meet the Consultant, Mr Eric Schillemans

I have always been fascinated by man and their potential. Thus my trainings focus on meeting people, the discovery of deeper values and on personal development.

After my scientific studies at the University of Antwerpen I worked for several years as a teacher in secondary education. Thereafter I was a University assistant to train professors. For several years I devoted myself to international development aid, helping building schools in India and in the Ukraine. A wonderful period of my life!

For over ten years now I invest my passion into the profession of a trainer, consultant and coach in the world of business and in the public sector. In parallel, and for the last 30 years, I have been accompanying people in relaxation and the development of their own individual potential.

My references include Belgacom, Citroën, Direct Dialogue Fund, Dexia Invest Luxembourg, the European Social Fund, International Post Corporation, ITS Luxembourg, JC Décaux, Oxfam, the European Parliament, the City of Gent, the Belgian Railway Company, Toyota, UNICEF, and many others.