Interpersonal Communication Skills

In Class Listening Activity:

The listening activity that we did in class is one of my favorite activities. I did it for training back in August for my current position but we did eight and five minute intervals. That was really difficult, and in those cases I had a harder time being the talker than the listener. I could still tell you details from when I was the listener. For me, I think I could improve upon being more aware of the body language of both me and the person talking. To me, listening means having a good amount of eye contact to show that you’re present, but then you miss everything else, like did they shift in their seat because they’re uncomfortable? Did they smile because they’re talking about something they love?

 

Reading Reflection: 

I think the two that come the most naturally to me are: “the helping relationship takes place by mutual consent” and “the helping relationship shows a clear structure” (pg. 103). I believe those two come the most naturally to me because I’m really big on boundaries. It took me a long time and a lot of miscommunication to understand that it is okay to sit down with someone and say “here are my boundaries” and now it’s my favorite thing, because establishing personal boundaries with someone means you have (hopefully) made clear your expectations and that leads to less miscommunication.

 

I could work on ” the helping relationship is designed to produce change.” Reflecting back on times I have been in helping relationships, I can see that there was development and change for us as people, but I didn’t go in with the mindset of “change/development is one of our main goals.” I think that by goal setting, either in my own head or with the other person, the helping relationship can be even more helpful.