What Organizations Actually Need from Communication Training (It's More Than Presentation Skills)
When organizations decide to invest in communication training they often begin by looking for help with presentation skills.
Employees should feel less nervous, speak with more confidence, and deliver polished and charismatic presentations.
These skills matter, but they aren’t the biggest communication challenge most organizations face.
Effective Communication is About More Than Delivery
Before someone tries to improve their eye contact, or figure out what to do with their hands when they talk, they need to know what they are going to talk about in the first place. Effective communication depends on someone being able to:
identify the main point
organize information
adapt to their audience
explain why something matters
clarify the action that is needed
Organizations need employees who can clearly explain what matters, why it matters, and what needs to be done.
Why Presentation Skills Alone Don’t Solve Communication Problems
You can’t improve communication by fixing delivery if there isn’t a clear message to deliver in the first place.
Knowing how to polish delivery by working on eye contact or timing isn’t helpful if the information being presented isn’t clearly organized or adjusted for the audience.
And more often than not, clarifying the message will lead to improved delivery. It’s easier to feel confident when you understand your purpose for speaking and the audience you are speaking to.
What Effective Communication Training Actually Looks Like
Instead of generic practice and tips and tricks for delivery, effective communication training focuses on participants and the needs they are trying to meet with their communication and presentations.
Participants work with:
presentations they are actually preparing to give
meetings they are actually leading
material they already need to explain
Receiving feedback is also an important part of effective communication training. However, useful feedback isn’t an exercise in harsh negative criticism. Feedback is about helping participants notice what is already working and making their communication easier for others to follow.
What Changes When Communication Improves
Instead of presentations that are overloaded with details and examples, participants begin presentations by clearly identifying their central message, previewing their main points, and guiding their intended audience through the information in a way that is engaging and easy to follow.
When communication improves people don’t simply become “better speakers.” Instead their:
Ideas are more clearly organized
Main points are strengthened
Confidence increases
Participation improves
Decisions are easy to identify
Effective and impactful communication helps people understand what matters, why it matters, and what needs to happen next.
Who Benefits Most From Communication Training?
Communication training can help anyone who is an a position where complex information needs to be shared with different audiences. This includes employees in county agencies and public sector teams, nursing programs and clinical educators, and IT and technical teams.
Although each of these organizations faces different constraints, they share one communication challenge: helping subject matter experts translate complex information into communication that other people can understand and act on.
Choosing Communication Training That Improves More Than Presentations
Instead of focusing on helping people become more confident speakers, organizations hoping to improve employee communication through communication training should consider:
Will people organize information more clearly?
Will meetings improve?
Will communication become more consistent?
Will participants practice with their actual presentations?
Will participants receive actionable feedback?
Organizations benefit most from employees who can consistently communicate ideas that help others understand, decide, and take action.
Bring This Training to Your Organization
If your team works with complex information in high-stakes environments, structured communication training can improve clarity, confidence, and effectiveness across your organization.
Share a brief description of your team, goals, and timeline, and we’ll recommend a format that fits your needs.
Contact: info@creatingcuriositycoaching.com
About the Facilitators
Chris McRae, PhD and Aubrey Huber, PhD are communication instructors with over 30 years of combined experience in public speaking, teaching, and applied professional communication.
They work with organizations, agencies, healthcare programs, and technical teams to improve clarity, presentation effectiveness, and high-stakes communication.