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Class Act takes a communication approach to raising performance. It releases staff and organisations from the costs and stresses of counterproductive communication behaviours, and cultivates positive, productive, high-performing communicators.

Class Act operates on the premise that the way we communicate in our organisations is the thing we communicate about least—creating a common workplace awareness and conversation about ‘How we talk’ to colleagues, clients and collaborators. It is also powerful to break cycles of negativity, bullying, harassment and communication breakdown that lower productivity and performance, and increase turnover and HR interventions.

In 2016 the University of Wollongong in collaboration with Beyond Blue released research showing that current approaches to dealing with workplace bullying are failing: focusing on supporting the ‘victim’ and sanctioning the ‘perpetrator’. Their research asserts that the only real solution is organisation-wide cultural transformation—built on communication skilling, conflct resolution and behaviour change: Enter Class Act. No-one in the marketplace offers a product like Class Act—which simultaniously works as a training, awareness-raising and behaviour-change tool, an in-house qualitative and quantitative communication culture survey, and a facilitator of an organisation-wide communication charter.

The Class Act online package includes:

• Executive briefing (with research and insights for leaders)

• Class Act online (the central video- and survey-based interactive workforce-wide module)

• A communication culture survey and subsequent report—compiling participants’ anonymous responses to Class Act participation

• The Team communication charter—developed using key themes emerging from Class Act participation

• Enduring workplace tools—e.g. Video Coach access, workplace posters, Class Act conversations pocket card and meeting table commitments.

• The wrap-up video (delivered with the final communication charter)

Coach facilitates the entire Class Act process for clients, from communication to product deliver.

The following is a typical sequence for carrying out the program:

• The organisation provides Coach with a list of participant names and email addresses. The CEO (or delegate) launches the program on an agreed date

• Each participant receives an email from our program administrators in our Brisbane office, providing an individualised link to the Class Act videos and surveys. Access to the survey generally remains live for three weeks.

• Participants view the eight principle videos and complete the survey either in one session (generally around 90 minutes) or at their convenience (the program saves as you go).

• Coach provides the organisation with weekly progress reports on the number of people who have commenced and the number of people who have completed the program. We also send out two reminders to all participants.

• Once survey participation closes, Coach provides the CEO (or delegate) with a system-generated report summarising quantitative and itemising qualitative data.

• Coach then uses feedback in the report to prepare a graphically designed Communication Charter (Commitment Statement) for the organisation based on participants’ key comments and suggestions. We provide the charter to the CEO for sharing with the organisation’s participants, along with some standard Class Act workplace products such as a Class Act conversation tips pocket card and Class Act principles wall poster.

• Individual access to the videos (and the Video Coach resource) remains available for a period of three months after survey close

Coach also provides a range of face-to-face facilitation options tailored to client needs.
These include:

Introduction Workshops 

Many organisations will ask us to introduce Class Act in the context of a workshop, either for executive/senior leaders or more broadly and this will generally occur very shortly before the online rollout. This workshop typically covers: 

• an introduction to the Class Act program including its methodology, the neuroscience that underpins it and stories about its impact in organisations across Australia e.g.

  • What happens to our brain when we communicate?

  • What does the Australian workforce look like as a whole from a communication culture point of view?

  • To what extent is communication a safety issue?

• the logistics of the rollout

• an opportunity to answer questions.
   

Champions Workshops 

Larger organisations may enlist the support of champions—people who represent a crosssection of the organisation in divisions, roles and seniority but who have a strong influencing role. Once we’ve helped our clients identify those champions and confirm their interest confirmed, we provide workshops to give them a ‘head start’ and deeper immersion in Class Act, including: 

• an overview of the Class Act program and its impact

• an opportunity to view some of the material

• brainstorming some of the typical ‘pushback’ they may encounter and how to overcome it
   

Next Steps Workshops 

After the completion of the Class Act online rollout clients often invite us to present a workshop of around two hours in which we:

• present high-level organisational statistics and key themes emerging from the survey

• launch the charter

• take a deeper dive into the Class Act learnings and discuss how to apply them to specific communication challenges in the workplace

• allow each participant to privately reflect on what actions they will take to bring the charter to life.

"I had no idea how powerful Class Act Conduct would be when we rolled it out late last year. To be honest I thought that Class Act was just going to be a nice bonus. In actual fact it is one of the most important things we’ve ever done for our staff."

This experience has been like an answer to prayer. Thank you.

"Today, our team knows our absolute commitment to best communication practice with each other, our clients and our suppliers. It’s the first conversation we have with candidates in selection and recruitment, it’s a core piece of our induction program, and a present daily guide of our business communication practice."

I found the conversational bully to be a very familiar character and found also that actually providing a description of this character and his/her behaviours immediately affirmed my thoughts and has give me confidence to deal with them next time I come across them.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this amazing program.