Block Talk: Leadership and Communication

Keywords: Leadership, Communication

Abstract: Feel like bossing someone around? Come explore the relationship between communication and leadership in our experiential activity “Block Talk.” Conference participants have the opportunity to act as “primary senders” of information as they guide real-life student participants through a blind-folded block building activity. This activity encourages a reflection on the importance of communication in leadership and relies upon the classic Shannon-Weaver communication model to frame communication and leadership challenges in the remote work environment. Along with attending via Zoom on a computer, attendees need to have a smart phone with the Google Meets app loaded; which assumes that you have a GMAIL account and access to Google Drive. We can work with other video chat apps, but need to know ahead of time to connect partners. Participants finish the session discussing the future of Hybrid class rooms where we blend Bricks & Mortar with live online learners.