My target audience & their Demographics:
Theses are the employees of the pharmaceutical company ABC. They are a mix of senior management, middle management and also few management trainees. They come from different cities, educational backgrounds and have many years of experience in different jobs. They are a group of 22 employees out of which 8 are women and rest are men. The age group ranges from 25 to 58 years. The group also has a Vice President of Finance who would be soon going to USA for a year-long project and is therefore keen on sitting through the classes for cross-cultural communication and some speaking practice sessions. It is a cross-functional team which means there will be people from production, sales & Marketing, Formulations, Finance and HR. It is crucial to know their current level of understanding in the topics decided for the workshop. Therefore, I will procure the information of participants with a mention of their age, mobile numbers, email ids, designation and department on a google sheet. This will then be used for documentation of their assessment results. As this is an adult learners’ class and the organization has a specific need behind this training so documentation is important to show where we have reached.
The course Format:
ASAP Adroit’s Soft skills and Accent Improvement Program” is designed to be a Blended learning project.
The first component of this blended learning program is an In-Person synchronous workshop.
It is an intensive and comprehensive training on Cross-Cultural sensitivity, Communication skills, English Language Proficiency & Accent improvement program that eliminates barriers caused by foreign or regional accents, poor diction or voice quality. The rest of the modules are Online sessions with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous components. The practice session will be asynchronous; which means the participants can practice voice, diction, accent, language aspects based on their personal and work schedules. The new topics will be synchronous online session with a place for 4 in-person sessions in the company’s training facility.
Course Toolset
As it is Cross functional team in ABC Pharmaceutical company with a mix of departments and people from top to bottom in one classroom so it is important for me as a trainer to ensure that learning is free from any fear, designation gaps, age related mismatch and everyone gets to participate fully. Therefore, it is important to use a pedagogy, instructional medium and assessment tools in a way that learning is a complete, happy and knowledge experience for all.
- As a facilitator I will also ensure that the participants have enough choice in curriculum so that the projects and assignments are not only doable but also add value to their work, themselves and the organization.
Having diverse toolset will also encourage learning for the participants who have a vast education/knowledge/age gap in comparison to others. With blended learning they can choose lessons based on their level of comfort, topic, relevance in the subject
Plus, this training will make them more comfortable with technology as every office is tech driven.
The session will be administered on Google Classroom and the schedule will be shared with them on google Calendar. The IT department will assist me in my requirement for all IT arrangements. Simultaneously a WhatsApp group will be created that will serve as a convenient conversation platform and knowledge sharing for everyone. In Google Classroom I will cover; TEFL based Language sessions, business communication assignments, Voice and accent training practise sessions. I will use Canva as a resource for preparing presentations, posters and any infographics
I will use the flipped classroom to record my voice, accent, tone, and stress for each consonant, vowel, and diphthong sound, and participants will practise that before the actual class. I will quickly go one on one with all before sending them off to break out rooms to practise the sounds, voice and phonemes plus give and receive peer feedback. Finally, for assessment, they receive multiple-choice questions on Google Forms and submit based on dates shared on Google Calendar.
The practise recordings are shared on the WA group and the final ones are uploaded on the Google Drive.
Additionally, I’ll create a YouTube channel for learning English voice, tone, and accent, and participants will upload their videos of sound practises and role plays there and share the link on WA.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Enhance interaction between employees, clients, and friends
- Eliminate internal and external distractions, in one on one and one to many communications henceforth making them more productive
- Eliminate misunderstandings with vendors, customers, and colleagues
- Will be able to write correct reports (during audits) that will have negligible grammatical errors and will be precise.
- Improved speech clarity on the telephone, Emails, Zoom Meetings, and Conference Calls and will be more culturally aware and sensitive towards diverse audience
- Achieve more effectiveness and efficiency in presentations
- Indulge in productive & efficient verbal communication; less time is wasted in repeating or explaining
- Heighten self-confidence in all communication situations
Course content
Summarize the types of learning experiences or activities that learners will experience during the course.
The sessions are planned as: One full day of workshop based on communication skills where the facilitator gets a chance to meet all the participants and develop rapport and create an easy communication passage. The plan for the day is as follows:
Session Plan – ABC pharmaceutical, XX September 2023,
9:30 to 10:15 – Icebreaking – 30 Min – “Labelling” an activity which uses the similar words as mentioned in Johari window activity. This activity breaks ice amongst participants and also brings an awareness of the fact that just knowing names and departments of people in workplace is not enough if we want great team work and camaraderie.
The activity is an exploration into each other’s personal and professional lives. There will be a free flow of conversation, laughter, and sharing. The audience is the best resource for making this icebreaker a fun/learning part of training, meeting, or team-building event.
A Debrief of the activity is conducted once it concludes and the participants present their views based on these questions:
How did you like the activity?
What made it interesting?
How do you feel after having gone through this activity?
Next
Internal Communication (Commodity of kings, Knowledge is potential power, the power lies in the ability to communicate that knowledge to the world. We have seen the world transition from all these stages and now in today’s world, a whole new world) and the easier communication has become, the more challenging it gets.
VBT example (example of Nick )
An activity that demonstrates how we can achieve when we program our mind for being limitless in achieving our results and how it can drastically change the results that we achieve. Finger demonstration
The choices we make, generate results. So, if I am stressed, happy, distressed……it’s the result of choices that we make
Dynamics of Communication (25 min game) Housebuilding – teaches the dynamics of communication. The importance of feedback loop, the sending and receiving of message, the physical, emotional and social barriers and what affects that process
30 Min Debriefing on Barriers of Communication
Q1. Which factors led you to success or failure in building a perfect house?
Q2. Did you strategize before starting the activity? How would you alter your strategy if you were given a second chance?
Q3. Which prominent factors made the task tough in your case? And what were the ways to overcome them?
Q4. What were the barriers of communication that you faced? Explain
Various Challenges: Semantic barriers (Lack of Vocabulary, clarity), Communication Overload, Wrong choice of medium, Noise, Environment, Assumptions, Poor Listening, Attitude,
So, let’s take this scenario in the workplace:
- What can happen when communication goes wrong in workplace, family and friends?
- Which barriers you generally see in your workplace
- What steps can you take to overcome barriers
- How will you ensure correct communication as a sender/receiver to ensure there is no miscommunication?
Through this experiential activity I take participants into an Inquiry based learning and the answers are an eye opener for them and then we discuss how can this learning be translated into their work. This brings about tangible ways to improve their work life and better the systems that they are using in their workplace.
Listening Skills,
I begin with a question: Ask…..Who is that one person in your life who you feels understands you the best and you go to that one person always?
Listening creates relationships
So Seek first to understand- Stephen Covey’s example, I tell them stories of what happens when listening is distorted in workplace thus using humor as a tool.
For people to learn experientially and construct on their concepts of previous learning, I will use Role Plays for building rapport – Role Play (20 min)
I will use PowerPoint presentation for talking about the 3 Vs of Communication along with a lot of examples from their work life thus making examples authentic and relatable. I start with inquiry-based approach of asking them the first question: what is more important for you in communication words/ visual or voice?
Thus, the one day concludes with a happy note, satisfied participants who took their day off from work and took learning ownership. As a facilitator my session was a mix of Lectures, PowerPoint presentation, experiential learning, management activities, inquiry-based learning, simulations and role plays, Audio Visual Tools etc.
The assessment was summative which was more like: what were their take aways from the one-day work shop
List the tangible ways of incorporating your learning from the day into your daily tasks.
Case study on communication
We will also form a WA group where we will reinforce our learning of the day by sharing videos and articles: this will ensure that the participants are in touch with their learning and are building on it.
They will also mention how they improved even the smallest of their work processes and were more productive and happier.
The rest of the course will be taken up as online sessions of 1 hour each on the Google classroom that will be managed by a moderator from the IT department of the company itself. The course that I plan to cover in these sessions covers lesson plans for English comprehension covered through 4 skills of communication. There will be sessions on reflective skills of language (reading, listening) and productive skills (speaking and writing). One useful online resource that I used was www.linguahouse.com the session will be based on topics like;
Assessment Strategies
The selfie revolution
Business news
Film making
Expenses and Income
Internal customer services etc. and they will cover listening and reading activities based on these topics, see movie clips, read magazine snippets, articles and then finally the participants will produce language in the form of Speaking and Writing. The facilitator ensures adherence to correct language, para language and gives assignments and at the same time takes up grammatical aspects related to these topics. For e.g., selfie revolution will have adjectives, verbs and sentence construction using formal tone used in workplace.
| Voice, tone, Accent correctness | YouTube, WA for recorded voice notes and MCQ on google forms |
| Cross cultural sensitization | MCQ’s based on caselets in Google forms |
| Communication effectiveness | MCQ’s based on caselets in Google forms |
| Effective and efficient business communication (Reports, emails and Telephone etiquette) | MCQ’s based on caselets in Google forms, Topics for writing Emails and reports and submission in google drive |
Addressing the concerns for Technology Bloopers or any unavoidable circumstances for Participants:
WhatsApp group will be the quickest means of communication for the participants
The IT department is given the responsibility of owning the tech part of the program and because it is inhouse for the participants so communication gets easier and quick in that case. Apart from that resolution will also be faster and easily available for them. However with technology there will always be a small or big glitch and we have to be prepared to face it
Rationale for choices made in the design of the course prototype
The need for the program is urgent because the company has already started facing problems because of ineffective emails, reports written to their Client organizations and therefore the company is ready to spare them from their schedules and get into training & Development. Considering less full time availability, travel schedules and work targets this type of blended learning module has been conceived.
As the target audience is a group of professional people so I will have to be considerate about their and organization’s priority of work. Based on my prior experience I am expecting problems in Attendance and therefore rescheduling as a normal part of the program. Therefore, I will be flexible with dates but only for a given timeline. Beyond that I will charge them extra for every day.
I will also ensure that the class is sans any type of fear, prejudice, attitude, ego so the group work, pair work, individual task and presentations will be planned likewise. The motive is that all should have relevant take aways from the program so the participants will be encouraged to connect with the trainer as and when needed.
I will also promote buddy system at workplace so that they help each other utilize the learning from the class into their workplace.
Go for the – ADDIE Template
: 2nd Blog – Course Profile – ASAP – Adroit’s Soft Skills and Accent reduction Program( A program for a group of employees in a Pharmaceutical Company)
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