Communication skills workshop for Serbian MFA

Just as we need to punctuate our written communication, so too do we need to punctuate our speech. Tone, speed, volume, and pitch are key elements of effective communication. How we communicate – the words we use, the tone we use, the information we transmit – often depends on to whom we are talking. In our heads, we assume we know what we want to say… but how certain are we that what we think we want to say, really is what we want to say? We tend to make our communication over-complicated and difficult to follow, particularly when dealing with technical subjects.

All these topics were tackled during the two-day workshop on communication skills that was delivered to a group of eight representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Diplo Centre’s premises in Belgrade. The workshop was highly interactive with plenty of relevant examples and practical exercises that enabled participants to immediately put into practice the tips and tool acquired during the workshop. In this way, the participants themselves were able to notice the distance they travelled by measuring the final outcomes against their initial competences in communication.

The workshop’s impact is best described in words of one of the participants:

Communication skills training was a very useful experience. It really made me think about the way I am using words and sentences in order to transmit the message. It taught me that tone of voice and the way of saying things is more powerful than we think.

We had an opportunity to learn from an experienced and devoted coach, who taught us that awareness is the key of successful communication and that only if we give, to the one whom is listening, a reason to care, our message will be heard. Ms. Mary Murphy for sure gave us a reason to care.

I would like to thank the Diplo Foundation for organizing this training which I warmly recommend and thank Ms. Mary Murphy for making me eager to continue developing myself.

Jovana Grujić
Independent Counsellor, Public Procurement Officer
Department for Property, Legal and Common Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia

Continuous feedback, tailor-made for each participant will be provided both in individual feedback sessions as well as in a group context, via a closed Facebook group, created for the purpose of the project as a whole.

More photos from the workshop available here.

Workshop facilitator

Ms Mary Murphy is a Budapest-based public speaking coach, specialising in communications training for non-native-English speakers.