People Communicating in the Workplace



The I-SkillsZone
The Premier Communication Skills System for Companies

The ability to understand and communicate positive solutions to critical situations is essential to work well in a fast-paced, complex, competitive, and an often high-pressure business environment.

The “I” in I-SkillsZone stands for:
      •      Resolving Important Issues with Information
      •      Influencing others
      •      Operating with Integrity
      •      Managing Self — what “I” bring to each situation
      •      Increasing Interpersonal effectiveness

The “SkillsZone” provides 6 talking & 5 listening skills — constructive choices — for dealing with any issue, effectively and productively.

Do Business in the I-SkillsZone
Businesses spend large sums of money on hardware and software to build “common operating systems” for connecting computers throughout their organizations. Yet it is the people that make the difference — how well they process and communicate information. With the I-SkillsZone system in place throughout an organization, a company’s culture becomes a “common collaborative human operating system.” This means people are on same page, sharing a common language and process for discovering, discussing, and aligning critical issues. As a result, they conduct more productive conversations and resolve differences, one-on-one and in teams, while building strong relationships up, down, and across the company. Customers benefit too. Profitability increases as folks operate efficiently within the I-SkillsZone.


Applications  

Gain Practical Tools for Multiple Applications
More than a program, the I-SkillsZone provides a foundational system of integrated maps, skills, and tools for a wide range of challenging, on-the-job situations, such as
      Critical, Difficult Conversations
      Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Conflict-Resolving
      Coaching
      Customer Service
      Performance Improvement
      Change Management

Bring the I-SkillsZone System to Your Company for:
      Team Building
      Communication Skills Training
      Manager and Supervisor Development
      Leadership and Organizational Development


Content of I-SkillsZone Modules  

Basis for Effective Individual and Team Communication

The I-Skills Zone system is composed of seven modules:

Module #1 Communication Styles®
How you talk and listen influence a conversation as much as what the topic of conversation is. In this module, you will learn to:

  • Distinguish the characteristics of five styles of functional and two styles of dysfunctional communication.
  • Recognize how different styles impact — increase or limit — important information exchange.
  • Interrelate styles of communication with the dynamics and phases of team development.
  • With application of the Communication Styles Map, you will be able to:
  • See and hear signals of unresolved issues faster.
  • Spot breakdowns in communication and choose best styles to intervene effectively.
  • Assess the effectiveness of your own communication styles.
  • Gain perspective for faster team development and more productive output.
  • Recognize how style reflects positive or negative company culture and be able to influence the culture positively.

Module #2 Think System
You work and live in interconnected and interdependent systems (individuals, teams, departments, divisions) that interact and must coordinate to function as an effective whole. In this module, you will learn to:

  • See a bigger picture — parts and whole — beyond turf and silo.
  • Understand various types of issues.
  • Distinguish between issues and problems.
  • Establish systemic outcome criteria for decision-making, negotiating, and resolving conflicts.
  • Integrate communication and the power of caring or not caring.

With application of systemic thinking, you will be able to:

  • Prevent short-sighted, poor, costly decisions.
  • Assess where to focus positive change.
  • Make better, more profitable decisions.
  • Build foundations for collaboration.

Module #3 The Information Wheel®
(Awareness Wheel® adapted for business)
Effective communication flows from awareness of self, others, issues, and situations (the entire system) and from talking skills to communicate that awareness when it matters. In this module, you will learn to:

  • Identity the structure of issues and situations.
  • Expand self-awareness and other-awareness when bothered or stuck.
  • Use six talking skills to speak more clearly and effectively.
  • Go to the heart of an issue quickly and productively.
  • Examine important issues thoroughly.
  • Organize and make sense out of chaos.
  • Cover all parts of relevant information.
  • Think and act systemically.

With application of the Information Wheel Map, you will be able to:

  • Increase clarity in complicated and critical situations
  • Identify sources of conflict faster
  • Make more informed, wiser decisions.
  • Expand your choices for challenging issues.
  • Resolve issues more efficiently, less stressfully.
  • Communicate more powerfully and congruently.
  • Increase self-control and influence.

The Information Wheel is a simple but profound tool for numerous practical applications.

Module #4 The Listening Cycle®
How you listen has a measurable effect on the quality of information another person expresses and on your ability to understand and connect with that person. In this module, you will learn to:

  • Distinguish the difference between listening for agreement and listening for understanding.
  • Recognize the impact of different styles of listening.
  • Use five listening skills to tune into another person.
  • Discover critical information by listening accurately.

With application of the Listening Cycle Map, you will be able to:

  • Reduce misunderstandings.
  • Manage and ease tension.
  • Gain richer information
  • Develop a foundation for building agreements.
  • Facilitate meetings and tough situations more effectively.
  • Build trust and positive relationships.
  • Enhance your leadership abilities.

Module #5 Mapping Issues
The way you resolve conflicts, make decisions, and solve problems determines your satisfaction with the outcomes. In this module, you will learn to:

  • Organize important information into a sequential and comprehensive format.
  • Integrate related objective and subjective information.
  • Recognize when you have partial information.
  • Track group process.
  • Discharge negative feelings and engage critical wants (too often ignored and left to fester in business-as-usual exchanges).
  • Keep focused on the central issue.

With application of the Mapping Issues Process, you will be able to:

  • Handle disagreements and conflicts effectively.
  • Build agreements and create “best-fit,” systemic solutions.
  • Implement and fulfill commitments.
  • Strengthen relationships and build team esprit de corps.
  • Align, optimize, and innovate to expand productive capacity.

Module #6 Skilled Communication
Combine the six talking and five listening skills and you have the “I-SkillsZone .”
From this physical and psychological space, you can manage yourself and connect with others, as you effectively focus on an issue. In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Establish rapport, which builds trust.
  • Attend to others’ nonverbals to gauge your interactive effectiveness.
  • Discover the effect of anxiety on your communication including where you typically go when you leave the the I-SkillsZone .
  • Recognize the impact of communicating inside and outside the I-Skills Zone.

With the application of Skilled Communication, you will be able to:

  • Change ineffective, sometimes harmful, communication patterns.
  • Influence positively the quality of available information.
  • Reduce interpersonal stress.
  • Expand your alternatives for handling difficult situations.
  • Increase your leadership ability.
  • Exercise your “power-from-within.”

Module #7 Application Guidelines
The I-Skills Zone system supports many practical process applications. In this module, you will learn guidelines for incorporating the system into the following:

  • Preparing for an important, sometime critical and difficult, conversation.
  • Responding to Fight Talk.
  • Responding to Spite Talk.
  • Turning resistance into a resource.
  • Giving positive feedback.
  • Receiving positive feedback.
  • Performance Review: Report’s Preparation.
  • Performance Review: Manager/Supervisor’s Preparation.
  • Resolving a Two-person Conflict.
  • Conducting Team Meetings.

When you put the guidelines into practice, you will be able to:

  • Converse more effectively about critical matters
  • Meet challenging interpersonal situations with greater confidence.


Collaborative Team Skills (CTS)  

The I-SkillsZone system includes material that was previously titled Collaborative Team Skills (CTS). The first five modules of the I-SkillsZone material described above are the same as in the former CTS material.



I-SkillsZone Participant Materials  

I-SkillsZone Participant Set
Each participant receives his or her own participant materials — an I-SkillsZone Participant Set — for training in individual and team communication.

The set includes:
      1 I-SkillsZone Workbook
            194 pages, 8x1/2 by 11” Loose Leaf Binder, 2018
            2 inside pockets to house learning tools
      Learning Tools:
            1 Table-Top Skills Mat
            1 Information Wheel Pad
            1 Set of 4 Pocket Cards

Sold only for training or coaching through an I-SkillsZone Instructor