Communication, like any other complex skill, has to be picked up and refined through practice. Your learners, however young or old, already know how to communicate. What they need to do is to refine their skills and strategies through challenging exercises that stretch their competence. Just learning about communication won’t do the job.

There is always a gap between the communicator and the communicatee. A communicatee doesn't know in advance what message the communicator is going to share with her; neither does the communicator know in advance exactly how his communicatees are going to respond to what he says or writes to them. An exercise in communication skills training should recreate that information gap for it to be useful and interesting.

To help you in organising realistic practice sessions, the Teacher’s Resource Book (TRB) has been developed and put up on the Web. Accessible only to teachers and trainers like you, TRB can be used as a companion to Business Communication Strategies. You will find in TRB many exercises and role plays that provide just the right dose of information gaps. (That is also the reason why your students should not access the Teacher’s Zone. A learner should only get his role or part of the exercise for you to create the right communication context.)

You will find several activities described in each chapter. They are based on activities that I have tried out and found useful at different levels ranging from graduate students to senior managers. An activity generally acquires greater depth with learners who are already at higher levels of competence. You are welcome to pick and choose whatever suits your resources including time, your teaching personality and, of course, your learners.

Please don’t follow the instructions in the TRB slavishly. Treat them as useful hints. Experiment with the activities and allow your experience, insights, and creativity to shape the way you use them in your classroom. After all no one knows your students and learning context as well as you do.

I will be happy to hear from you about your experiences in using the games, exercises, and role plays in this companion. Please let me know if there is lack of clarity in the descriptions of activities or in the instructions.

Similarly, if you send me detailed descriptions of activities that you have developed and have used successfully in class, I will be happy to put them up in the right slot in Teacher’s Zone or the Students’ Zone with credit given to you as the contributor. Teachers of communication will want this resource to be bigger and richer.

Please put up your comments on the Message Board or e-mail them or any descriptions of your communication exercises to mpally@iimahd.ernet.in or mpally@rediffmail.com If you’d rather post your suggestions, here is my addrees: Communications Area, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 380 015.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Matthukutty M Monippally