OLIP interns spend much of their time communicating with constituents, MPPs, staff, and internally, face-to-face, by email, and on the phone. Our recent Think on Your Feet® FOUNDATIONS™ Retreat was generously provided by our in-kind partner, McLuhan and Davies Communications. It was a great opportunity to refine our ability to communicate effectively. In our half day session, we covered the foundations of communicating with an emphasis on brevity, clarity, and impact®.
Our fantastic instructor Lara led us through a series of modules on ways to communicate on the spot. The focus of the session was the importance of structure when communicating, especially in situations when you are caught off-guard. Answering tough questions by selecting a structure and formatting your response into that structure proved effective. OLIP interns' responsibilities often include answering complex questions, be it explaining our projects to our superiors or addressing the concerns of the constituents we encounter.
McLuhan and Davies Communications is providing a Think on Your Feet® FOUNDATIONS™ Retreat to new OLIP interns in their orientation period, setting future cohorts up for success by using tangible tactics for effective communication.
Completing this session near the end of our internship with OLIP is critical in preparing us for our future endeavors. The focus that Think on Your Feet® puts on structure is relevant to answering job interview questions, and this comes as many of us are looking for our next position. The Think on Your Feet® FOUNDATIONS™ Retreat included lots of practice wherein the interns were paired up to answer interview-like questions to implement the lessons learned immediately. These hands-on elements of the session underlined the challenges involved in communicating on the spot with effective structure, leaving us motivated to practice such techniques in our everyday interactions.
Overall, the Think on Your Feet® FOUNDATIONS™ Retreat has left us with a toolbox of effective techniques for communicating on the spot – providing skills will serve us well in our OLIP roles and beyond. Thank you to our instructor, Lara for the fantastic session, and McLuhan and Davies Communications for their in-kind partnership!