Communication Essentials For IT Leaders

Speak with authority and own the room:
Master the art of persuasive communication for executive IT leaders.

INFLUENCE AND INSPIRE: Build trust, gain buy-in, and drive change through effective communication.

Course Description

This intensive one-day workshop equips IT leaders with the essential communication skills to influence, inspire, and drive change. Participants will learn how to engage in fierce conversations, provide constructive feedback, and communicate complex technical information with clarity to both business and technical audiences. They will also understand the critical business negotiation skills needed to succeed as an IT leader.

Key Learning Areas

Use the power of clear, positive plain language for the conversations leaders must have. Change the future drift to deliver a results performance breakthrough, one conversation at a time.
Engage in fierce conversations: Leaders stand out from behind themselves into conversations that makes it real. Master the conversations that: Interrogate Reality; Provoke Learning; Tackle Tough Challenges; and Enrich Relationships.
Truth Talking and feedback for Effective Communication: Challenging conversations, performance management, and conflict resolution: employ active listening skills and demonstrate empathy to build rapport and understanding. Use the FIRE and IDEAS conversation rubrics to engage with your team, peers, and business leadership to influence and inspire positive outcomes. Understand the strategies for giving and receiving constructive feedback to foster trust, growth and development.
Compelling Communication as an IT leader: Don’t let technical complexity and jargon muffle your message or defeat you in the contest of ideas. How to communicate to Business Leadership with Technical Clarity, and to your technical team and vendors with Business Clarity.

Persuasion versus Argument; Influence versus Inertia: Understand the principles of persuasion, and how to leverage them, and the application of contrasting reasoning techniques in different contexts. Never forgetting to ‘start with WHY’, adapt your communication style to effectively communicate with diverse groups to achieve desired outcomes; and craft compelling written communication that influences and drives action.
Negotiate effectively to advantage: Learn how to Define your negotiation goals and develop a negotiation strategy and plan. Learn the core principles of negotiation, including identifying interests, exploring options, creating value, and achieving agreement. Overcome the challenges of commercial power imbalances, conflicting interest, emotional barriers and cultural differences. Develop tactics for overcoming these challenges and reaching mutually beneficial agreements.
Note: The negotiation of complex IT contracts is covered in more depth in Module 7 – Financial Essentials for IT Leaders.