Today’s topic was: “Non-Defensive and Assertive Communication Techniques”
Today was a long day, 8:45 am to 4:45 pm, because of the two topics.
Before I talk about the day, let me tell you my experience of the participants. They’re incredibly bright and personable. They all seem to get along with the intimacy almost like a family.
When we made a listening chain, they casually put their arms around each other to whisper in their ears. The team leader even held the head of one of the men with both hands as he whispered in his ear.
The women are all very stylish, wearing lovely outfits either in muted classic colors or in very colorful and bright patterns. Almost all the women are wearing very high heels.
The men are casually dressed, wearing t-shirts, jeans, and some wearing sandals or sneakers.
Three of the men have continually come and gone from the training room, but they’ve been conscientious about catching up when they return. Phones go off quite frequently for all members of the group and they either shut them down or go off to take the calls.
The participants are from Triton Energy and include a treasury leader, cost control supervisor, supervisor of the communications network, CSR supervisor, account payable lead, supply chain associates and cost control analysts.
They are very open and trusting, sharing very personal issues. When they identified situations where they need to be more assertive and worked on how to communicate in those situations, one shared a problem with a cousin who continually requests cash and the other shared a problem with a boss that needs to be mediated.
There is a lot of kidding each other and a lot of laughter, which is a joy to see. They discuss assignments in both English and Spanish, but the jokes are in Spanish, so I don’t know what they’re saying.
They much prefer working in their table groups than working independently. Part of that is cultural, I think. The other part is that they are helping each other translate and understand the assignments.
I find it helps if I provide two or three examples before they start to work on an activity.
They took to heart the fact that stress symptoms and behaviors may indicate they need to be more assertive, as well as the importance of watching how they communicate so they don’t create defensiveness in others.
They appreciated the four components of assertion: respect, rights, responsibility, and resolution, as well as the assertive bill of rights- particularly the rights to say “no” without feeling guilty, to be treated with respect, to have and express your own feelings and opinions, and to be listened to and taken seriously.
On a personal note, I was on the Lufthansa app last night to see if I could get my TSA Precheck number on my various boarding passes when I fly back on Sunday. I was startled to have the app tell me that my ticket had been cancelled! After lengthy investigation, it turns out that, yes, it was cancelled, but another one was booked. I just don’t have the new ticket information yet…
Have a great day!
May your learning be sweet,
Deborah
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