Communication

[Your Name}[Your Name}Troop GuideTroop Guide

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CommunicationProvide ground rules:

• Hand out learning objectives• Encourage note taking• Handouts of key points will be

distributed at the end• Feel free to ask questions at any

time

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Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this presentation you will:

• Relate the experience of the ‘Communication Trap’ game to basic principles of communication

• Understand how listening can be an important part of communication

• Develop strategies to overcome barriers to communication

• Practice some of the skills of effective instruction

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Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this presentation you will:

• Relate the experience of the ‘Communication Trap’ game to basic principles of communication

• Understand how listening can be an important part of communication

• Develop strategies to overcome barriers to communication

• Practice some of the skills of effective instruction

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Communication Game

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Communication trap game• Introduction to game• During today's fast pace world we communicate in different

ways.• During this game “communication trap’ each patrol member

will experience various roles in the process.• The task will be to move as many members through the

corridor of mouse traps as possible in five minutes.

• Supplies:5 mouse traps, 5-10 bean bags, 1 toy cell phone, 5-8 blindfolds, 2 15-foot ropes per patrol.

• Setup: Using 2 15-foot length of ropes, create a narrow corridor between 2 to 3 feet wide. Distribute the mouse traps and beanbags randomly across the length of the corridor at varying distances from the sides of the corridor so that there are obstacles that need navigation around. Put the cell phone somewhere in the middle of the corridor.

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Communication Game

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How to play• Your goal as a team today is to move as many members through

the corridor of obstacles as possible in five minutes. • One patrol member will be selected as the primary communicator,

while the others will be blindfolded and guided through the task.• Members of the team can only talk to the communicator by using

the special cell phone in the course. • Setbacks come if you trigger a mouse trap or step on a beanbag.• If you experience a setback you must stand still for 30 seconds. If

the primary communicator can guide you to the cell phone in the middle you can remove your blindfold and discuss strategy with the communicator for 30 seconds. At the end of 30 seconds you must put back on your blindfold and continue the challenge.

• Once you have made it through the corridor you may remove your blindfold and assist in helping the rest of your team mates navigate the maze of mouse traps. You may not re-enter the corridor but must stay at the end with the primary communicator.

• REGROUP for Debriefing4A

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Communication Game

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Debriefing questions

• What communication challenges did you face as a team?

• How did this game simulate an actual team situation?• Did you trust your leader?• What sorts of barriers to success could the mousetraps

represent?• What types of communication were used in this game?• How could you have communicated more clearly?• Do you think the first team member or the last team

member had an easier time working through the maze?

BOARD THE RESPONSES

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Forms of Communication

Wood Badge beadsBaden Powell’s gravestone

Trail Symbol: “I have gone home”

Are these effective?Are these effective?

The Gilwell Gazette and daily syllabus

Silent SignalsBSA uniform, patches

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Forms of Communication• Gilwell song• The circle with the dot in it…on Baden-Powell’s

gravestone (the trail symbol for “I have gone home”

• BSA uniform, patches, Wood Badge beads• Wood Badge icon• The Gilwell Gazette, Wood Badge newspaper,

including the schedule of the day

Q: What do these forms of communication have in common? Board the responses on flipchart

A: They are all non-verbal forms of communication. Discuss: What messages they convey? Are they effective or not?

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VerbalCommunication

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What makes for effective verbal communications?

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Verbal Communication

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What makes for effective verbal communications?

Discuss: In Living the Values, everyone had the experience of observing John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King deliver speeches –that is, using verbal communication.

Q:What were some of the things that made those speeches effective?•Board their responses

•Then turn this page and review the schooled answers.

•Refer back to the board where theirs matched the schooled answer

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Effective Traits of Verbal Communication

• Important message• Affects the lives of the listeners• Authoritative speaker• Speaker believes in the message• Straight to the point• Highly skilled speaker

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Effective Traits of Verbal Communication•The messages were of importance

•The messages presented visions that could affect the lives of the listeners.

•The speakers established themselves as authorities. They conveyed the sense that they knew what they were talking about

•The speakers believed in what they were presenting

•The speakers got to the point. They did not waste the time of the listeners.

•The speakers used personal skills of speaking, body language, tone of voice, charisma to get their points across

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Effective Communication

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Effective Communication

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A Scout has just run up to our group and delivered this message:

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ATTENTION!

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A Scout has just run up to our group and delivered this message:

Flip this page now….

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ATTENTION!

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First Aid Medical Emergency Form

Who: Philmont Expedition 7-30F

Eight Scouts, two adult leaders

What: Bear attack. Two Scouts Mauled.

Where: Lovers’ Leap Camp.

When: One hour ago.

Why: We need assistance.

How: Bring an ambulance, medics, and first aid supplies. A really big bear trap could also prove useful.

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First Aid Medical Emergency Form

Who: Philmont Expedition 7-30F, Eight Scouts, two adult leaders

What: Bear attack. Two Scouts Mauled.

Where: Lovers’ Leap Camp.

When: One hour ago.

Why: We need assistance.

How: Bring an ambulance, medics, and first aid supplies. A really big bear trap could also prove useful.

Pretend for a moment that this message is real. Q: What is its impact?

Q: Does it grab your attention? Why?

Q:What are its strengths and weaknesses as a form of communication? Board their responses

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Mandatory Components of Communication

• A sender• A message• A receiver

What if any one of these is missing?

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Mandatory Components of CommunicationInteresting fact: Communication comes from the Latin

word “communis” meaning understanding.

Aristotle broke down communication into three parts:• A sender• A message• A receiver

That was over two thousand years ago, and it is still true today. It applies to all forms of communication—spoken, written, music, film, even pantomime.

In a way, Aristotle’s theory even applied this morning in the Zulu Toss Game:

Think of the balls as messages. The game has senders who are trying to toss their messages to others—the receivers.

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Effective Listening as a Communication Tool

Good communication

• Begins with “effective listening”

• Is a two-way process― Audience listens to the speaker― Speaker listens to the audience

• Engages the minds of the receiver as well as the sender

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Effective Listening as a Communication Tool

Good communication begins with good listening, both on the part of the receiver and on the part of the sender. In “Effective Listening” we discussed the importance of paying attention to what others are saying, their body language, etc.

The most effective communication provides what the listeners need in a manner that engages their minds. It also engages the minds of the senders of the information. Whether they are communicating with one person or one thousand, they “listen” to their audiences by paying attention to the spoken and unspoken signals that indicate whether the message is getting through.

Communication, then, is a two-way process. Both the sender and the receiver have responsibilities to make it happen. Feedback from the receiver helps guide the sender.

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Effective ListeningSender:

Ask, Explain, Acknowledge, Check, Use and observe body language

Receiver:Listen, Question, Understand

Who is responsible for effective communication ?

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Effective Listening• Who’s job is it to communicate effectively?• Both parties are responsible for making it effective.• The sender of information must:

- Ask questions, to learn needs and identify communication blocks- Explain the information- Acknowledge the receiver’s need and experiences- Check understanding- Use and observe body language

• The receiver must:• - Listen attentively

- Question everything that is not clear, or restate to make sure- Understand

• Both parties are responsible for effective communication, and cannot blame the other.

DO NOT TURN SLIDEEngaging the Audience: Say in a nervous but sincere voice: “I want this

presentation to be a success. If it doesn’t seem to be going well, could you let me know? If it’s not working, let’s do something about it and try to make it better.” Pause and look at the reaction - NOW TURN THE SLIDE

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Engaging the Audience

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“What do you want?”

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“What do you want?”Ask: When I ask you that question, how do you respond? How does it make you feel as a listener, receiving information? Uncomfortable? Included? More engaged in the process?

Have you ever had a speaker ask you that? Or a teacher or an employer or anyone else conveying information to you? Probably not. Most of the time we as speakers, teachers, Scout leaders, and supervisors have a preconceived notion of how a presentation will go. The speech is written out, the presentation is all prepared, and we’re going to push through it no matter what. If there is printed material or PowerPoint slides to accompany the presentation, we can feel even more locked into a one-way street approach to communicating.

“What do you want?” It is the most important question in communication. We want knowledge. We want to learn a skill. We want to understand something.

A speaker may not actually verbalize that question to an audience. But by having the question in mind, the speaker is going to be more aware of how an audience is responding, and thus more likely to open up a presentation and adjust it to better fit the needs of the receivers.

“What do you want” If this is an unusual question for speakers to ask adults, think how rare it is for us to ask it of young people. So often we are sure we know what is best for them and we forge ahead without taking notice of the audience—the Scouts in our units, the young people in our lives.

Effective communication must be two-way. If we don’t know what other people want, there is little chance we can provide the information they need.

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Engaging the Audience

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Barriers to Effective

Communication

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What are barriers to effective communication?

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Barriers to Effective Communication

We have all received phone calls from telemarketers.Most of us hate them. But Why? Q:What are the barriers to effective communication that a telemarketer must overcome?

•Board their responses

•Then turn this page and review the schooled answers.

•Refer back to the board where theirs matched the schooled answer

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Barriers to Effective Communication

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• Lack of common ground• Lack of sincerity• Lack of authority• Lack of clarity• Poor presentation skills• Lack of receptiveness• Environment

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• Lack of common ground: The telemarketer knows nothing about us and is aware of no shared interest except that we have a telephone and we probably have a credit card.

• Lack of sincerity: The telemarketer is probably interested only in making a sale, not in out long-term satisfaction with a product or service.

• Lack of authority: The telemarketer is probably hired simply to make the calls and read a script. We suspect that he or she is probably unqualified to answer questions of substance about the product.

• Lack of clarity: The telemarketer may exaggerate, blur the truth, fail to mention weaknesses of a product.• Poor presentation skills: Telemarketers may badger people, argue with them, or be bored, distracted,

barely there.• Lack of receptiveness: A telemarketer is not receptive to any needs we may have other than the desire

for the product or service. Any discussion that isn’t leading toward a sale is considered wasted time.• Environment: Telemarketers disrupt our personal or family time, often calling during the dinner hour.

This intrusion into our home environment generally makes people less receptive to their message than if they were to receive that same message in the mail, for example

Even with all these drawbacks, telemarketing is successful frequently enough for many companies to invest millions of dollars in it. Just think how powerful communication can be when people take the time to overcome these barriers.

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What are ways to assure good communication ?

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Good Communication

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Ways to Assure Good Communication

• Board their responses

• Then turn this page and review the schooled answers.

• Refer back to the board where theirs matched the schooled answer

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Q: What are ways to assure good communication

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Ways to Assure Good Communication

• Common Ground

• Sincerity

• Authority

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Ways to Assure Good Communication

• Common Ground

An important point of the Who Me Game last evening was to learn something about the people in your patrol. The more we know about one another, the greater is the common experience that we share and the easier communication becomes.

• Sincerity

A speaker must care about the message and care about the receiver of that message. Otherwise there is no point in passing it along.

• Authority

A speaker should know what he or she is talking about. Even more important though, is the willingness to learn along with a group. A Scout leader who knows nothing about constellations can bring a star chart along on a campout. “I can’t tell the difference between the Big Dipper and the moon” he explains, “but I’d sure like to learn. Let’s figure this out together. While his technical skill in this particular area may not be high, his ability as a communicator permits him to maintain his authority as he engages the Scouts in an interesting and worthwhile learning experience.

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Ways to Assure Good Communication

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•Clarity

•Good Presentation Skills

•Receptiveness

•Environment

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Ways to Assure Good Communication

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• Clarity: Speakers who care about their messages and care about their audiences are likely to communicate with clarity. Trying to hide part of a message or twist the truth leads to fuzziness and confusion.

• Good Presentation Skills: We may have nervous habits that get in the way of conveying a message. Perhaps we speak too quickly or too slowly. We might be able to improve eye contact, or do a better job with body language. Receiving feedback from interested listeners can help any speaker become more effective.

• Receptiveness: What does an audience want? How are they responding to a presentation? If things aren’t going well, are we willing to ask what we might do differently?

• Environment: The comfort of an audience can have a large impact on their ability and willingness to listen well. Consider the setting in which you will make a presentation or lead a discussion. Consider the temperature, distractions, lighting as well as seating arrangements and ways to enhance the physical comfort of audience members.

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EffectiveCommunication

and theTeaching of Skills

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How did we use effective communication to teach you how to make your woggle?

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Effective Communication and the Teaching of Skills

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Q: How did we use effective communication to teach you how to make your woggle?

•Board their responses

•Then turn this page and review the schooled answers.

•Refer back to the board where theirs matched the schooled answer

An important use of effective communication is the teaching of skills. Scout leaders do this all the time. So do supervisors at the job, co-workers, community volunteers…in fact, just about everybody is called upon now and then to teach someone else how to do something.

Yesterday someone taught you how to tie a woggle. What was the process?

Lead the group in a brief discussion of how they perceived the teaching of woggle tying to have occurred. The group can provide feedback on the teaching techniques. What are the strong points? How might it be improved?

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Effective Communicationand the Teaching of Skills

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• It was hands on!

• You could see the goal (finished woggle)

• There was a handout of the process

• Employed multi-media

• Leader demonstrated the process

• Communication was verbal, visual, and tactile

• Leader allowed you to make benign mistakes

• Leader was generous with support and praise

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Effective Communication and the Teaching of Skills

•It was Hands-on. Everyone had a cord from the beginning and was actively involved in the process

•There was a finished woggle on hand so that the participants could see the goal they were learning to achieve

•There was a hand-out with diagrams showing the steps of the process—a multi-media approach to skills instruction

•A leader demonstrated the process. As he did, participants followed along, doing it themselves. The communication was verbal, visual, and tactile.

•The leader let each participant work through each step, allowing everyone to make mistakes and to figure out corrections. However, if a participant went too far afield, the leader would gently bring him back to the correct method, thus avoiding too much frustration.

•The leader was generous with support and praise.

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Teaching a skill involves four very clear steps

Skills learning

1. You Explain how to do the skill.2. You Demonstrate how to do the skill.3. You Guide others to do the skill, providing

ongoing feedback.4. You Enable others to use the skill, providing them

with the time, materials, and opportunity to use the skill successfully

Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable……The first letters of those words spell EDGE. This teaching method is called the Teaching EDGE™. The Teaching EDGE™ is how we teach every skill in the troop and outside of scouting whenever you are called upon to teach something.

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Teaching a skill involves four very clear steps

Skills learning

1. You Explain how to do the skill.2. You Demonstrate how to do the

skill.3. You Guide others to do the skill,

providing ongoing feedback.4. You Enable others to use the skill,

providing them with the time, materials, and opportunity to use the skill successfully

Discuss: How do communications skills fit in with the 4 Steps of Advancement

This could lead to a discussion of good communications as a tool of skills instruction

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Great LeadersAre

Great Communicators

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Great LeadersAre

Great Communicators

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SummaryCommunication is:

• A tool of leadership• Essential to effective teams• Happens in the “common ground”• Should be clear and concise• Sender/receiver consider each other• Is written, verbal, and non-verbal• Feedback is a gift

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SummaryCommunication is:

• A tool of leadership• Essential to effective teams• Happens in the “common ground”• Should be clear and concise• Sender/receiver consider each other• Is written, verbal, and non-verbal• Feedback is a gift

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Learning Objectives Review

Upon completion of this presentation you will:

• Relate the experience of the Zulu Toss game to basic principles of communication

• Understand how listening can be an important part of communication

• Develop strategies to overcome barriers to communication

• Practice some of the skills of effective instruction

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Learning Objectives Review

Upon completion of this presentation you will:

• Relate the experience of the Zulu Toss game to basic principles of communication

• Understand how listening can be an important part of communication

• Develop strategies to overcome barriers to communication

• Practice some of the skills of effective instruction

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Thank You !

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