Saturday, March 17, 2012

Communication and Conflict Resolution: The Listener

           The class presentation over communication I believed to be very helpful. We received a lot of handouts with important information on it for discussing ways to talk to people, and then did two activities where we discussed our conflict management style, and then wrote out three subject conflicts. Two of the handouts where I found information to be particularly important are the handouts “9 Healthy ways to Communicate” and “35 dumb Things Well-Intended People Say”. Sometimes when a person is upset, I find it difficult to figure out what exactly to say to them to make them feel better. I can consider this my weakness in communication because sometimes while talking to someone if I don’t know what to say I will just sit there and listen instead of responding to the situation. The handout on “9 Healthy ways to communicate” helped to sort of walked us through the steps of what to say to someone when trying to communicate. Also, I must admit that I found some of the 35 dumb things well-intended people say funny; however, I understand that the things said on the list are also important because some of the things on there I had heard being said to me when I was having a hard time. I would consider my personal strength in communication my ability to listen. Listening has to be my strength and my weakness. It’s my strength because it show’s people that I truly care about them and makes them feel more likely to open up to me. However, it is also a weakness because in tense situations I sometimes tend to let other people speak up over me.
            To better communicate with my summit team I believe we should start having out own summit group meetings without our advisor there just so we can discuss the plans that need to be made. I believe this will re-open communication in the household. To improve on how I handle conflict as a leader, I will have to start practicing voicing my opinions more in tense situations while still retaining my ability to listen to what others have to say. Basically I plan on finding a healthy balance between the two. 
         -Suzy B.

Communication and Conflict Resolution: Collaborating Owl

From the What’s your conflict management style exercise, I came to know that my dominant animal style is the owl. Owls use a collaborating or problem confronting conflict management. With the owls, it is a win-win on all sides. Owls takes into consideration the other side’s opinions and tries to find a solution that works out for both the sides. The disadvantage is that it takes a long time to collaborate and find solutions.
And I must admit that, that is very true. I have always believed that confrontation is the best solution since while doing so, the problem is laid out in front which makes it easier to find solutions together. Although it is a great conflict solving solution, I have noticed that it doesn’t always work out, because there is always a possibility of intimidating the other person, or the other person may not be willing to talk.
My biggest strength in solving conflict would be my ability to be the first one to talk to the person I am having conflicts with. My weakness would be that I give only one chance, after I make the first move and the other person still does not respond, I tend to give up.
            -Pema W.

Communication and Conflict Resolution: Open Minds


Our presentation about communication and conflict resolution was informative. Although many of the things said are common sense, they usually aren’t discussed. It is good to bring them to the forefront of our minds to reflect and see what we are doing correctly, or not. Personally, I feel that my greatest communication strength is that there isn’t anything that I won’t discuss with someone. I have no problem feeling “uncomfortable,” as long as it is important to discuss the issue. My greatest weakness is that I don’t communicate about plans, goals, etc. in great detail unless someone asks me, specifically. I often forget to keep others informed. If I want to know about something, I simply ask the person. I never wait for them to tell me. Even though I know it is unfair, I expect others to do the same with me. If they want to know about details, they’ll have to ask me. To communicate in a more efficient manner with my Summit Group, I need to start forcing myself to keep the other members of the group informed. To become a better leader, I need to handle conflict resolution in a more direct way. Normally, if something is troubling someone else, I just let them figure it out. I listen if they want to talk, but I’m not going to sit down with them and ask about their specific problems. I should work on opening the lines of communication more, especially if it is clear that someone needs to talk and hash some things out.
-Emily

Communication and Conflict Resolution: Problem Solver


            On February 17, 2012, we discussed and explored communication and conflict resolution. We talk about all of the different ways that communication and conflict resolution can be done and we also focused our own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to communication. During the presentation, we took a short quiz that helped us define how we handle conflicts. The quiz was helpful in understanding our own views on conflict resolution and the way our fellow Summit group members view conflict resolution.  For the quiz, I tied with two different animals that depicted two different conflict resolution styles. I was both the Compromising Fox and the Collaborating Owl. I feel that both of these styles depict how I tend to deal with conflicts. A communication strength that I have in common to the fox style is that I strive to be fair in conflict resolutions and will try to find a way that all individuals involved can win if possible. Another strength would be that I am open-minded to different solutions to any given conflict. I like to gain insight from others as to what they might feel is a good solution and find one that everyone can agree on. My greatest weakness in communication and conflict resolution is that I do like to please everyone involved and have a resolution that is fair and the best possible. For this reason, I do not solve conflicts immediately. I like to mull over all of the possible solutions, discuss with others and form an idea, which can take more time than may be given.
To improve myself as a better leader I need to work on solving problems quickly and in a timely manner. As mentioned above, I tend to try to take my time when solving problems, thinking and debating over what are the best resolutions. While I view this as being a positive way to solve problems, often times, you are not given much time to make such decisions and you must think quickly as to what the solution should be.
            Overall, the presentation on communication and conflict resolution gave me great insight into my own Summit Group. In my Summit group, we all had different animals and thus different conflict resolution styles. I feel that this is very beneficial as a group. We can each use our strengths for solving different types of problems based on the amount of time that we are given to find a solution or the different individuals involved. As a whole, our Summit group works very well together. We each bring something new to the group and respect each other’s decision-making skills.  
           -Shelby H.