Creating Crucial Conversations Summary

Learn to look for when a conversation becomes crucial, for signs of silence and violence, and for your own style under stress. A large part of this is watching your actions and emotions, as well as the actions and emotions of the other person. Paying attention to both the content of the discussion and how people are acting and feeling is no easy task. But it’s an essential part of dialogue.

Many times in my life I believed I could feel someone watching me and had a slight panic attack, I had no idea that at one point in my life I would willingly subject myself to a “Fish Bowl” and volunteer to be watched and evaluated by my peers and a professor. But it happened to myself and my classmates as we endeavored to use our newly practice communication skills to the test. Using Rothwell’s Standard Agenda for problem solving and group discussion, our Fish Bowl groups were able to use group communication skills and critical thinking to arrive at viable solutions for the problems placed before them.

Our fist discussion was regarding the video “Planning a Playground”. The group in this video was discussing planning for a playground, what it would cost to put it up and how they could raise the money. I liked how this group communicated effectively an overall worked together. I picked up on some nervousness but that was mainly because they were meeting for the first time. The only issue that I could see off top was at some points some of the members would cut off the member that was speaking. I don’t feel that it was intentional or malicious but to communicate effectively you need to let others speak until their done so that you completely understand what is being said. In most cases this is how things are misunderstood because you only take from the part you hear or stopped them from saying. I identified constructive conflict occurring in this group. Constructive conflict is when behaviors help to build relationships, when you are able to manage your emotions and accept and resolve responses. It’s when you have task-completion,

With utilizing storytelling in the act of persuasion, one needs ensure that the facts in the story are accurate. One is not telling a story to a child to get them to go to sleep. They are telling this information in a story aspect to adults to convince them about a topic and an idea of choice. Clarity and transparency in the story with a background of why it is important helps in the persuasion process.

A particularly influential subject matter comprised of viewing conflicts as opportunities capable of positively affecting change. While most people have a tendency to avoid conflict and difficult conversations altogether, genuine leadership is about gaining the ability to utilize confidence while contending with adversity. Negotiations are in full swing for the insurance company under acquisition and by not bringing attention to some obvious discrepancies, the purchase becomes much less desirable. These are the types of conflicts which are sometimes difficult to avoid and seemingly require a heightened sense of emotional intelligence. In order to become more proficient both personally and professionally, the authors of our reading materials suggest to “practice managing your emotions, time, and stress” (de Janaz, Dowd,

Public communication is very important when in a discussion with coworkers and such. The one weakness that some people run into is silence. The spiral of silence theory by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann explains why certain people fall under the pressure and seclude to silence. Silence may not always be a bad thing, but according to a study by Lucy J. MacGregor, the fact is that silence during a speech or conversation is absolutely bad. With this, silence while talking to a large group negatively affects the listeners in a way in which some words in the speech will not be remembered. The point is that silence tends to destroy people’s speeches. Words are forgotten in the speech; Loss of the attention by the listeners happens and the

Conversations are the brilliant strings yet delicate ones that keep us associated with others. At the point when what we say, what we hear, and what we mean are not in understanding, we withdraw into our heads and make up stories that assistance us accommodate the errors.[3]

Which in turn makes solving relationship problems hard for me. I may be able to express my own emotions and identify what I am feeling in the moment but I struggle to know what other people's emotions are when they suppress them. Often I make the mistake of assuming they are not feeling as much as they are. In turn I can some off as insensitive when I don’t adjust my communication style to approach them in a warmer, more understanding way they think I am being mean and don’t care about their emotions. It doesn’t help that I tend to be oblivious to clues sometimes. For me if I want the best communication affect they need to upfront tell me what they are feeling and then I can know how I should approach the situation and if I need to listen or talk to fix the relationship between me. I also need to make sure my temper doesn’t get ahead of me and affect my listening to selective listening. When I get mad it's so hard to suppress it and listen to who’s talking. In order to avoid this I try and think about the situation in a different light and in the perspective of who is talking so I can be empathetic and more willing to listen instead of rampaging. By using this technique I can help save relationships and not destroy them like I mistakenly done in the

Verbal exchange is a very vital skill because it’s a direct form of communication and can be received straight away. You need to express some emotions, when communicating with other people. Changing the tone of your voice will determine what you are saying, making it more interesting. A loud voice can show anger and a hushed voice can show anxiety. The barriers of verbal exchange is that people show anxiety in their voices, this can frustrate other individuals, raising your voice can be annoying, especially when you are at work.

“Delivering a difficult message is like throwing a hand grenade. Coated with sugar, thrown hard or soft, a hand grenade is still going to do damage” (Stone, Patton, & Heen, 2000, p. 17). If the underlying context of our message is not desirable, no matter how hard we try to throw the grenade softly, once it lands, it shows its consequences. Difficult conversations are not about who’s right, rather they are about dissimilar insights, perceptions, interpretations, and beliefs.

“Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation” (Amadeus Wolfe). Verbal and nonverbal communication play such a significant role in our everyday lives, but we have scantily taken the time to notice how what we say, or how our body language can affect those around us. The bat of an eyelash, the touch of an arm, the way we push our hair out of our face or the bite of a lip can indicate flirtation. Those that know me can read every emotion from my face, or so I’ve been told. Although, I am an immensely expressive person, I have difficulty not outwardly expressing how I am feeling whether elated, distressed, agitated, or ill-tempered. Consequently, I am always looking for ways in which I can control my emotions, and how I can

When emotions in a negotiation a well understood they can be used properly so as to achieve a success. For example, the positive emotions in negotiations can be used in a more benefitting way by helping the deal move forward. Understanding emotions in negotiation helps in navigating a blind spot and prejudices and may also equip one with self-control. Emotions in negotiations usually delay the process because for instance when emotions run high in a negotiation the negotiators may be forced to take the break and this may make the negotiation to take more time as it was expected. ("The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations", 2017)

Have you ever been in a situation to where you need to communicate effectively but failed to do so based on certain circumstances? Well, team 'A' experienced a communication hurdle in one of our classes. On June 8th 2009, a group of strangers met together at The University of Phoenix in class Gen/200.It was a small class of 12, who all looked somewhat nervous.

People, for the most part, especially in business settings, tend to forget about the vital need for the presence of emotions. Emotions can be used to "improve communications, identify the underlying cause of problems, increase individuals' ability to work as a team, reduce interpersonal conflict, enhance personal performance, and gain commitment to new initiatives" (Ralston, 8). However, in cases where people try to suppress their emotions, they are rarely successful because people have sort of an inner gyroscope that acts as a survival instinct and tells us when something isn't right.

Emotion plays an important role in human communication and therefore also human machine dialog systems