You will have two discussion to complete in this unit on the topic listed below. Your postings should sound as if you are having a conversation with your classmates rather than making a report on the topics... Pick and address two of the points below: 1. How can you use effective questions and listening skills to become a more effective leader? 2. What can you do as the sender of communication to minimize defensiveness in receivers of your messages? 3. Discuss the benefits of honest feedback in the workplace and share the insights you gained about constructive feedback from completing the feedback exercise. 4. What did you learn about yourself as a listener from completing the Listening Self Inventory and how can you use this information to maximize listening opportunities as a leader? What can you do as the sender of communication to minimize defensiveness in receivers of your messages? I gained a lot insight from the defensiveness inventory interpretation. I viewed the exercise in an impersonal way. Instead of interpreting my score as a value limited to the one situation I was imagining, I viewed it as an advice column to analyze my own communication methods. The four Factors are something that I need to keep in mind: Feelings of fear and sadness, Feelings of being attacked, consequent behaviors, and sensitivity to flaw. If I keep these in mind during communication, I will make my listener feel less defensive and improve my ability to communicate. First of all, I need to realize that people vary in their feelings of fear and sadness, when they feel defensive. If I put someone in a situation where they are defensive, they will either become defensive internally or outwardly. I noticed that to obtain a high score and consequently a more passive response to feeling defensive you need to strongly disagree with the following responses,\" feeling alone, having a shaky voice, feeling hurt, being flushed, or feeling ashamed.\" I interpret that as if you are feeling defensive, you should not be scared or downhearted. You should realize that this \"attack\" is nothing personal and that this is single moment not an overall picture. I need to make sure in my communication that I make the receiver realize that my \"attacks\" are not personal by using \"I\" messages and setting up appointments to talk at future times. Second, I need to keep in mind that the receiver of my communication must feel like he is not being attacked. I need to make sure that they don't feel that I am being unjust or discounting their viewpoint. I can do this by paraphrasing their viewpoint and perception checking to make sure that I am being fair and respecting their viewpoint. Third, I need to realize that any communication I make with a person who perceives they are being attacked will result in consequent behaviors. This means that I need to realize that if I am not careful in my communication, they will want to damage something, hurt someone, get revenge, lecture me, or lecture someone else. This realization should discourage me from making judgements too quickly and making sure to list specifics, examples, and preferences as such. I need to be clear in my communication and realize that it Is worth the extra second and effort to make sure that my communication is not an attack. Lastly, I need realize that there are different degrees of sensitivity to flaw. Correcting someone could make some people cry, while others will be able to brush it off. I need to be diligent in my conflict management skills by not using a cookie-cutter type approach. Each person that I communicate with will have different degrees of sensitivity and I need to be aware of that. Some of my communication will need to be elaborated and carefully worded to make sure that the person receiving the email will be interpret my message as information about his or her viewpoints rather than as information about myself. If I keep these factors in mind, I will be able to be an effective communicator. I need to remain aware of peoples varying levels of sensitivity, to the consequences of poor communication, to the value of another's viewpoint, and that each person acts differently when they are feeling defensive. I can practice this awarenesss by checking my perception, requesting the maximum amount of information to understand a situation, and expressing my opinion in a way that displays how their opinion has affected me. What did you learn about yourself as a listener from completing the Listening Self Inventory and how can you use this information to maximize listening opportunities as a leader? I was surprised to find out that I am a very active listener. I learned that when I am listening, I give my full attention to the speaker and I focus on what is being said. My body language is alert and I maintain eye contact. I know that I have worked very hard to be a good listener. It is not easy to maintain eye contact or remain focused. I do not think my score is accurate. Although, I tested as a high active listener, I still learned a lot from the Listening Self Inventory. With regards to the effectiveness and appropriateness, I believe I possess a very highly effective means of communication. I remember names, I make sure to emphasize key words and slow down for key points. I make sure to maintain an alert position, I keep eye contact, and I speak loudly and clearly. In my media communications, I avoid fluff and I make sure that I repeat important points not only in sentence structure, but also as bulleted or numbered points. I very rarely receive e-mails back requesting me to clarify one of my messages. Therefore, I think that the majority of the time, I am effective in my communication objective. This is not always the case, when I am trying to listen to others. I am often critical of other people's communication methods. I can give my 100% appropriate amount of attention, but my effectiveness is often skewed by the remarkable amount of unaligned communication techniques of the speaker. If the speaker has bad speaking habits or if an email is written poorly, I find it hard to be a good listener. In order to apply my listening abilities as a leader, I need to make sure that I am consistent in my efforts. Despite speaker's bad habits, I need to be able to focus while others are talking. I need to pay attention to the speaker's biases and guess at the speaker's intent without being told. This will allow me to fully understand the messages that I am being communicated so that I have the most accurate information to manage those I am leading. Also, I need to make sure that I keep control of my biases and attitude when listening to others speak so that these factors won't affect my interpretation of the message