Week 5: Interpersonal communication skills: How we link to each other

Description

As a social system, we get things done with others, for others, and through others. We as humans form complex networks of relationships and these relationships are what help us maneuver through life. I often mention that people are messy, they are not predictable robots. We have messy lives, relationships, behaviors, beliefs, interests, attitudes, and every one of us is different. Given this, learning how to work with others is one of the most important attributes that you can develop. Your ability to do so effectively will determine your ability to be an effective manager and leader. This module is all about how we communicate both personally and in our work.

Outcomes

• Managers will adjust their communication to others based on their ability to be attentive to other's styles.
• Managers will improve their relationships with others helping them to gain the input they need to make effective decisions.

Performance Tasks

• Print out the pages below that are specific to your style and give to a person or persons close to you and ask them to highlight with a pen or highlighter those statements that reflect what they believe to be true about you.
• Print out the pages below that are specific to your style and with a pen or highlighter, highlight those statements that reflect what you believe to be true about your self.

Week 5 assignment

  Go to http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp and take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator test and then have the test scored when you finish. Write down your MBTI type from your score. For instance, my MBTI type is an INFP if you are interested.

  Go to Type Logic web site and follow the link to your type from your online test. Read about the characteristics of that type and reflect about whether this provides a good picture of your social style.

  Review the following paper on MBTI and review the general characteristics of each element that forms the foundation of a style. Then focus on your own social style. Invest some time reviewing other styles and understand how they differ from yours.

Write a brief paper, a page or less unless you like to write, about how your perceptions of your MBTI type and those of a friend are the same or different. Bring to the next workshop to share with others.

  To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the 'music,' but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind's hearing to your ears' natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning.
~ Peter Senge

Are you ready to move on?

When you are finished with the assignment from the week five self-study learning assignment, please go onto the week six self-study learning assignment. If you have any questions, please contact your instructor. 

We recommend that you build ongoing conversations with our fellow learners via the discussion board. 

 
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