improving your communication skills workshop

Improving Your Communication Skills(by Killing the Russian Mafia)

Facilitator: Nicole Ferdinand, B.A (Hons), M.Sc, FHEA

Today’s Session

Brief intro

A bit on communication

The gameReflection

• A series of experiences, including:

Communication is …

A skillful communicator …• Has the ability to

competently use language and express information

• Can supply and extract information

• Is able to persuade• Makes him/herself

understood• Gets people to take

action and change behaviours

Verbal Messages - the words we choose

Paraverbal Messages - how we say the words

Nonverbal Messages - our body language

Effective communication uses …

Communication Barriers

SemanticEmotional/ Psychologic

al

Organizational

Communication styles differ among …• Men and women• Youth and the

elderly• Different cultures

Studies have found…

• Overall teenagers report preferring instant messaging and text messaging to face-to-face communication

• On the average, women talk about twice as much as men

Communication Styles

Context Space

TimeInformati

on Flow

Adapted from: Hall and Hall, 1990

The Game

• The Russian party game “Mafia” created in the USSR by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986

• A battle between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (the townspeople)

Rules

• At the beginning of the game the narrator will hand out playing cards

• You must keep your card a secret from other players

• Cards will assign players identities as mafia, KGB, surgeon and comrades

• The game will have a night and day time

• During the night time phase of the game identities will be revealed but must be kept secret

• Eyes must be kept closed during the night

• During the day eyes will be opened and mafia will plot to kill and comrades will try to guess who the mafia are

Let’s play!

Reflection• What were the barriers to

communication?• What differences in

communication styles have you noticed?

• Who is better at using non-verbal communication?• Men or women?• Older or younger people?• Western or Eastern cultures?

Thanks for playing!

n.ferdinand@londonmet.ac.uk

http://facebook.com/Ms.NicoleFerdinand

Nicole Ferdinand @evntmgt

For more information on how cultural differences and communication styles impact events management, get

my new book Events Management: An International Approach