Humana Foundation Learnings: “Communication in the Works!” Workshop

Humana Foundation Systems and Communications Professional Chris Robinson attended an individual development workshop with a focus on learning industry-best communication practices to become a better philanthropist. The session “Communication in the Works!” was led by communications expert Matt Abrahams of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Chris attended the in-person seminar at Humana on May 21 with the goal of learning how to enhance the Foundation’s outreach efforts, build stronger relationships to engage more meaningfully with Foundation stakeholders and more effectively convey the Foundation’s mission and goals.

Below are several important learnings and takeaways from the “Communications in the Works!” workshop:

• Build Trust Through Confident Communication
  Confidence Equals Competence; Demonstrating confidence in presentations assures the community and all who track our activities, that we’re competent and have a deep understanding of the Foundation’s mission and work. The largest barrier in achieving confidence as a speaker is overcoming anxiety.
  
  
• Create Genuine Connections for Relatable Messaging.
  Prioritizing connection with our audiences over perception ensures we genuinely engage with our communities. This is crucial in having our community feel valued and heard.
  
  Maximizing mediocrity in speaking (instead of overfocusing on the perfect delivery of each word) helps us build meaningful conversations and makes our message more relatable.
  
  
• Use Effective and Flexible Communicaiton for Easier Consumption.
  Recognizing there is no single “right” way to communicate allows us to tailor our approach to be more effective across different mediums and resonate better with different community groups.
  
  For both public speaking and personal conversations, instead of memorizing an entire message, use a roadmap of your speaking points to ensure clarity, and make your delivery more natural and engaging.
  
  
• “Active Listening” Leads to Deeper Understanding.
  A pillar of the Humana Foundation’s strategy is listening to those we serve.
  
  Here are three key strategies to enhance active listening. These strategies help us to better understand what is being said by our communities and stakeholders:
  
  1. Be present and attentive: Actively listening and being fully present during conversations helps us fully understand the needs and concerns of our community.
  
  2. Paraphrasing for clarity: Repeating back what has been said in our own words ensures we have accurately understood the discussion and shows we are genuinely engaged in what our communities are saying.
  
  3. Continue the Dialogue: Linking the paraphrase (from previous bullet point) to relevant points while continuing the conversation enables deeper discussion and demonstrates our commitment to addressing issues. This also helps build collaboration when developing solutions to the stated issues.

On behalf of the Humana Foundation, thank you, Chris for sharing these learnings from “Communications in the Works!”

This article and accompanying insights are part of the Humana Foundation’s continual growth journey where we share learnings to expand our knowledge in philanthropy to better serve our communities.