Last week Contemporary Empathy delivered a half day training programme in ´Effective Communication´ with client EmzingoU, an initiative designed for IE Business School by certified B Corporation Emzingo. Participating students found themselves on the brink of a challenging professional experience; about to embark on challenging consulting projects with local organisations who are championing social innovation in Madrid.
The C.E. workshop was included as part of Emzingo U´s wider orientation week for consultants, integrating sessions on Design Thinking, Adaptive Leadership, and Entrepreneurship. Our goal was to empower the future consultants with communication tools, helping them gain self awareness in order to empathise and connect with their project partners, teammates, and other stakeholders.
The excitement, curiosity, and thirst for learning in the room was evident from the moment we walked in...it was definitely going to be a dynamic workshop!
Understanding how we use non verbal communication was the first focus of our session and with the Contemporary Empathy interactive methodology it was of course a very fun couple of hours!
We explored facial expression, posture, gesture, walks, eye contact and greetings through a range of games and exercises. How to prevent "resting bi*** face" from shutting out clients and customers was a hot topic, and one which had the students doubled over in laughter!
Role play scenarios put the consultants´ non verbal communication skills to the test and opened a space for feedback
and observation of the power that body language has in handling delicate professional situations such as giving peer feedback, interviewing a vulnerable beneficiary, or managing a client´s expectations.
We then explored the impact of voice and word choice on delivering messages, playing with tone, volume, and pace to help establish open channels of communication.
Armed with heightened self awareness in their communication the consultants passed to phase 2 of their training; how to read and understand the beneficiaries of their project partners, empathise with their situation, and tell their story to potential investors in an engaging way.
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