How to Talk to Carol: Developing Workplace Social Skills

Employees in today's fast-paced business environment are being asked to handle more tasks, meet more deadlines, take on more responsibilities, and adapt to more change. Added to these challenges is the constant need for productive teamwork and interpersonal relationship building. This course focuses on heightening learners’ awareness of workplace social skills, and adding new interpersonal skills, with the end result of becoming a more competent communicator overall. This self-reflective and immediately useful course will ask you to consider yourself and your coworkers in illuminating new ways.

Upon completing this course, students should be able to:

• Effectively communicate across teams, grade/salary levels, and generations to achieve organizational goals.
• Define the roles that self-concept, perception, defensive/supportive communication, active listening, assertiveness, and conflict play in everyday communication.
• Analyze the impact of verbal and nonverbal communication in workplace interaction, and utilize strong, positive, interactive communication skills.
• Utilize modern communication style-indicator techniques to enhance workplace relationships, such as SCARF, DiSC, and NeuroLeadership.
• Define "emotional intelligence" and identify its uses in the workplace.

Target Audience: The primary audience for this course are continuing education learners, or lifelong learners. Individuals in any discipline who work with other humans in social workplace environments in either the public or private sector will benefit from coursework, as well as those interested in better communicating with coworkers, or understanding coworkers’ styles of social interaction.