There are two significant chapters with a CMM orientation in this latest handbook: one by Bart Buechner and colleagues and another by Don Waisanen, last year’s CMM Fellow.

Chapters by members of the CMM community are a part of a new book designed to convey best practices from the National Communication Association (NCA) Training and Development Division. According to the publisher’s description, The Handbook of Communication Training is “a powerful template, and first of its kind, for communication practitioners and academicians who wish to strengthen their professional capabilities. It also acts as a guide and standard for consumers and clients of these services.” The chapters are geared for use by practitioners in communication consulting, coaching, teaching and training and are grouped around seven best practices. 

The first of these best practices—Maintain transparency to clients and trainees—includes a chapter by Don Waisanen titled “Communication training’s higher calling: Using a civic frame to elevate transparency and elevate the value of services.” Don’s argues for communication educators to frame their work in the context of social responsibility and community engagement and references work by both Barnett and Kim Pearce to do so.

Don’s chapter details why and how communication trainers can use this social responsibility/community engagement frame to create transparency and elevate the value of their services, advancing more democratic forms of communication within and across organizations. Dovetailing with Don’s CMM fellows work on the uses of improvisational training to help citizens bridge differences, the chapter articulates exactly how a communication perspective and skills can not only contribute to individual and institutional goals, but serve the development of societies as a whole.

The seventh best practice—Demonstrate communication proficiency— features a chapter by Susan Steen, Lauren Mackenzie and Barton Buechner titled “Incorporating cosmopolitan communication into diverse teaching and training contexts.”  Susan, Lauren and Bart based their collaboration on their work using CMM with military veterans in higher education. The authors have also presented this cosmopolitan communication approach at the 2018 US Air Force Air University Language, Regional Expertise & Culture (AU LREC) Symposium themed around “Cultural Agility.”  The common purpose of the authors is to increase cultural competency among military service members who often work in challenging international situations—situations in which failure to act with deep awareness of culturally embedded meaning can have deadly consequences. 

Don Waisanen (2017) and Bart Buechner (2013) are both Fellows of the CMM Institute. Bart Buechner continues as a member of the CMM Institute’s Board.

The Handbook of Communication Training is published by Routledge and edited by J.D. Wallace and Dennis Becker. Here are some links for more information: