Barking and Dagenham Effective Conversations
Barking and Dagenham Council wanted to improve its staff's ability to communicate well with customers and counter negative views of and myths about the area. TCC were asked to develop and a pilot programme titled ‘Effective Conversation’ to learn what worked and what did not, with the findings used to develop a robust and measurable training methodology that could be rolled out across the organisation.
When challenging myths, especially those that are long standing and congruent, a literal and factual approach can be counter-productive as it is not engaging with the underlying emotions. With this in mind, TCC developed a 3.5hr workshop that challenged participants to look at the way they currently communicate and to learn new techniques that lead to more effective future conversations.
The workshops were built around the council’s new narrative, itself based on a more honest, listening approach. The sessions looked at this new narrative message, at some of the prevailing myths within the community and at participants current communication styles. This stage made use of specially made videos, footage of real residents and instant voting handsets to encourage a multi-level interactive introduction.
After this introduction the workshop moved on to looking at, learning and practising specific communications techniques based on Emotional Intelligence theory and practice. 25 people were trained over three sessions. Almost all of the participants contacted during the evaluation had been able to apply the techniques in real world situations and achieved real results. The council has now decided to roll out the programme to all its front line staff, with TCC delivering 80 training courses over three months.