Business and Workplace Communication Training
A one-day practical programme on the communication that ordinary work runs on: the email that gets a decision, the update that a manager can act on, the meeting that ends with someone owning something, and the conversation nobody wants to have. It is a writing and speaking workshop rather than a theory session, and participants work on their own material throughout.
The programme is written for the Malaysian workplace as it actually operates: multilingual, hierarchical in places, running across email, Teams, WhatsApp and face-to-face, and often communicating with colleagues, clients and suppliers who do not share a first language. That context shapes what clear writing looks like here, and it is treated directly rather than assumed away.
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Programme Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Welcome and Programme Overview
Introduction to the session, objectives, and housekeeping.
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Structuring a Message So It Gets Acted On
The single highest-leverage skill: leading with the point. Bottom line up front, and the pyramid structure of conclusion followed by supporting reasons followed by detail. Identifying the actual purpose of a message, the decision or action you need, and the reader's context and constraints. Rewriting a set of real examples, before and after.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Written Communication: Email, Updates and Reports
Subject lines that let a reader triage. Length, paragraphing and formatting for a screen. Making the ask explicit, including deadline and owner. Escalating without antagonising, chasing without nagging, and saying no in writing. Status updates that say what changed and what is at risk rather than listing activity. Meeting minutes that record decisions and actions rather than transcribing discussion. Participants rewrite their own recent emails.
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Clarity Across Languages and Channels
Writing English that a colleague reading it as a second or third language can parse quickly: sentence length, direct constructions, concrete nouns, and the idioms and abbreviations that cause misreads. Choosing the right channel: what belongs in email, what belongs in a chat message, what needs a call, and what should never have been a message at all. Norms for WhatsApp and Teams in a professional context, including response-time expectations and the after-hours question.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 2:15 PM
Meetings That Produce Decisions
Deciding whether a meeting is needed and what it is for. Agendas that state the decision to be made. Chairing: keeping to purpose, drawing out the quiet participant, closing a circular discussion, and landing an explicit decision with a named owner and a date. Contributing effectively when you are not the chair, including how to disagree upwards in a hierarchical setting.
2:15 PM - 3:15 PM
Presenting to Management
Structuring a presentation around the decision you want, not around the work you did. The opening ninety seconds. Slide discipline, and using data without burying the point. Anticipating the three questions you will be asked, and answering the question actually asked. Handling challenge and admitting the limits of what you know. Short practice presentations with peer feedback.
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM
Difficult Conversations and Customer Communication
A structure for raising a problem with a colleague: observation, impact, request. Separating the behaviour from the person, staying specific, and managing your own reaction. Receiving criticism without defending. On the customer side: delivering bad news, apologising properly, handling an angry complaint, and setting expectations you can meet. Role-played in pairs.
4:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Applied Practice
Participants take one real communication task they are currently avoiding or struggling with and draft it, with facilitator and peer input.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Key takeaways, next steps, and close.
Key Outcomes
- Structure any message so the point and the required action are clear in the first few lines
- Write emails, status updates, minutes and short reports that get read and acted on
- Write English that colleagues reading it as an additional language can parse quickly
- Choose the appropriate channel and apply sensible norms to chat and after-hours contact
- Chair and contribute to meetings that end with explicit decisions and named owners
- Hold a difficult conversation and handle a customer complaint using a repeatable structure
Training Mode Physical / Online / Hybrid / e-learning
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Level Foundation to intermediate, suitable for all employees, executives, supervisors and managers across functions
Duration 1 Day (8 Hours) | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Venue In-house at the client's premises, or delivered via the client's preferred platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or equivalent)
Assessment Written and spoken practice tasks with feedback, plus a short knowledge check
Certificate Certificate of Completion issued to all participants upon full attendance