The Southern Luzon State University’s Information and Communications Office (SLSU ICO) organized a training workshop titled "Nudging to Create Change in the Workplace," aimed at enhancing the understanding and skills of more than 60 Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Focal Persons from various campuses, colleges, and offices of the University, October 7 to 8.
The two-day training included lectures and workshops that aimed to deepen the participants’ knowledge of the value of effective government communication and capacitate them in creating clear public information.
On the first day, Ms. April Arianne A. de Leon, the SLSU ICO’s Head, talked about the importance of email communication. She discussed the significant features of successful email correspondence, and the common mistakes committed in email exchanges.
For the second topic, Ms. De Leon discussed headline and lead writing. She shared the basic considerations when writing effective headlines and lead paragraphs.
Participants were given examples to analyze, followed by an activity where they crafted their own headlines and lead paragraphs based on a provided story. These outputs were reviewed in the afternoon session.
Dr. Frederick T. Villa, University President, also delivered his message on the first day, impressing on the importance of effective and efficient communication for the success of the institution as the University gears for Level 4 for State Universities and Colleges (SUC) leveling. He enjoined the attendees to collaborate with the administration as it works towards the accomplishment of the goals of the University.
On the second day, Ms. Sarah May R. Rivere, the SLSU Information Officer, introduced AI tools that can support the daily tasks of an IEC focal person, such as writing letters, automating responses, and producing captions, among others. Moreover, Ms. Rivere discussed basic social media management, wherein participants were encouraged to make their own social media account or social media page so that each college, campus, office, and unit are more reachable.
For the last part of the workshop, Assoc. Prof. Vanessa Cadeliña, director of the University Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, highlighted the roles of the IEC focal persons during emergencies; with this, the university will have a better emergency response.
During the closing remarks, Dr. Arvin N. Natividad, OIC-VP for Administrative and Financial Affairs, emphasized the importance of proper communication in the workplace.
With the two-day workshop, the participants showed improvement in knowledge and skills, which was visible in the results of the pretest and post-test.
More training will be held for capability training of the IEC focal persons and other employees of SLSU to ensure that SLSU will stir improvements in the workplace and provide better services to its clienteles.
By: JDizon & SRivere