Respond to two (2) Colleagues D1W2

Discussion 1: Mindfulness and Perception Checking

It takes a little bit of mindfulness and a little bit of attention to others to be a good listener, which helps cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement.

—Deepak Chopra, Indian-American author, alternative medicine practitioner, physician, and public speaker

Throughout the day, people experience interactions with others that may cause misperceptions. Often people react to a situation before taking the time to clarify misunderstandings. Reacting to a situation before being fully aware of the meaning behind another’s behavior or words often leads to additional confusion and escalating negative feedbacks.

In his quote, Deepak Chopra advocates practicing mindfulness to create successful interpersonal communication environments. What does mindfulness mean? How can it help you build your communication competence? How can you train yourself to be aware of interaction as it occurs and respond appropriately to achieve positive results? How can you be sure your perception of an individual’s behavior is accurate?

In this discussion, consider an interpersonal communication scenario involving confusion on the part of both participants. You examine how mindfulness and perception checking can change interpersonal communication outcomes

To prepare for responding to two (2) colleagues discussion, pay particular attention to the following learning resources

Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

· Huston, D. C., Garland, E. L., & Farb, N. A. S. (2011). Mechanisms of mindfulness in communication training. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 39(4), 406–421.

· TED. (Producer). (2012). Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

Assignment

Respond to at least two of your peers' postings in one or more of the following ways:

· Discuss how your interpretation of the interpersonal communication demonstrated within the video may differ from that of your peers.

· Share an insight about what you learned from having read your peer’s post and discuss how and why your peer’s posting resonated with you professionally and/or personally or how it will impact your own mindfulness with regards to interpersonal communication.  

· Offer an example, from your experience or observation that validates what your peer presented.

· Offer specific suggestions that will help your peer build upon his or her own mindfulness in interpersonal communication and explain why you think your suggestions will be of benefit based on what you learned this week and your own experiences.

· Share how something your peer discussed changed the way you view misperceptions and how you will improve your own mindfulness.

· 3 – 4 paragraph response per each colleagues

· No plagiarism

· APA citing

Bottom of Form

1st Colleague – Natasha

Discussion 1 - Week 2

Top of Form

Natasha Mills 

Mindfulness and Perception Checking

Top of Form

Alberto and Kathy’s interpersonal behaviors were significantly the result of previous experiences witnessed by Alberto, as well as Kathy’s verbal and non-verbal expressions. After ending the call, Kathy says that she cannot take it anymore, a statement that is accompanied by an exasperated face. On the other hand, in an attempt to comfort Kathy, Alberto states that it is a rite of passage in the organization to be pressured by Mr. Gregowski (Laureate Education Producer, 2014). Therefore, factors of previous experiences on Alberto’s part and verbal and nonverbal cues on Kathy’s part are evident in the communication behavior of the two.

Communication is a complex process consisting of various elements in play every time people communicate (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020). For effectiveness and excellence during communication, individuals ought to consider how these elements interact when they communicate. In Alberto and Kathy’s situation, these elements are displayed as personal variables that significantly dictate their interpersonal communication behaviors. For instance, the personal variables in Kathy’s case include being new to the job, being female, as Alberto puts it, and complementing Mr. Gregowski’s power pose by adopting a less powerful pose (TED Producer, 2012). The personal variables displayed by Alberto include being perceptive about situations and the lack of mindfulness during communication.

One precise instance of misperception in the video is when Alberto tells Kathy that she should let another guy take over the account because she is a woman, making her sensitive and unable to handle a guy like Mr. Gregowski (Laureate Education Producer, 2014). This is a misperception because Alberto relies on previous occurrences to make this judgment without giving Kathy a chance to prove whether or not she can handle Mr. Gregowski. Therefore, Alberto’s perception is based on Kathy’s gender, leading him to pass judgment on Kathy’s abilities. Simply, the misperception crippled Alberto’s objectivity during the communication process with Kathy.

Mindfulness could have had a significant positive impact on the verbal and nonverbal communication between Alberto and Kathy. This is because mindfulness causes people to reserve judgment when communicating with others, thereby influencing the outcomes of interactions (Huston et al., 2011). Hence, mindfulness would have caused Alberto to reserve his judgments about Kathy until he has fully understood the situation. “Mindfulness in the field of communication has mainly been considered in terms of how consciously people plan their approach to a communication exchange or the extent to which they identify and respond to relevant or irrelevant information in a given situation” (Huston et al., 2011, 407).

I once observed an interaction between my colleagues during the compilation of an annual report.  The employees of the company always experienced a lot of pressure during the completion of this task due to the processes involved, but more specifically, the tracing and compilation of records. I happened to be in the breakroom when I heard three colleagues inquiring about each other’s progress. When one stated that he was still a bit behind with respect to the deadline, one of the other colleagues asked him what it was this time that he would present as an excuse for not finishing on time. However, the other colleague asked why he was lurking behind, as well as how he could be of help.

Mindfulness towards the employee that was still behind in finishing up the annual report was only exercised by one colleague. The other colleague rushed to pass judgment instead of assessing to what extent he should respond to the information that the colleague provided about finishing the report (Huston et al., 2011). As a result, the colleague felt small, incompetent, and less powerful, as was displayed by his nonverbal cues (TED Producer, 2012). The application of mindfulness in this situation by this one colleague would have reduced the negative reaction that he had towards the colleague that was experiencing a challenge in completing his annual report. The outcome of mindfulness would have been a positive reappraisal of the situation (Huston et al., 2011).

 

Huston, D. C., Garland, E. L., & Farb, N. A. S. (2011). Mechanisms of mindfulness in communication training. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 39(4), 406–421.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). Interpersonal communication case study: Interpersonal conflict [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://class.waldenu.edu . (SEE ATTACHMENT FOR TRANSCRIPT)

Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and professional communication: KEYS for workplace excellence (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

TED. (Producer). (2012). Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are .

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

2nd Colleague – Douglas Hayes

Discussion 1 - Week 2Top of Form

Top of Form

Douglas Hayes

Top of Form

The interpersonal communication between Kathy and Alberto was abysmal. First, Alberto calling her "sweete" in a professional environment was insulting and demeaning. Secondly, telling her that she needs to give the account over to another man was also demining. She is already stressed, and this only compounded the issue. Thirdly, putting her hands on anyone without their permission is never a good idea and could be a sexual harassment issue.

Alberto putting his hands on Kathy's shoulders was a significant problem that can affect their communication. This can have a detrimental ripple effect on their communication, not only for this instance but in future communication. As chapter six details, "in order to develop professional excellence in the workplace, you must have clear understanding of the line between personal and professional relationships, as well as what constitutes professional versus personal communication" (Quintanilla, Pg. 133). It does continue that having a personal relationship with coworkers is essential, but Alberto crossed the line with his advances toward Kathy.

What Alberto should have done was to be mindful of Kathy's feelings toward what was going on. Mindfulness teaches us that if we use positive reappraisal, "which is the cognitive process through which stressful events are re-construed as benign, beneficial, and/or meaningful." (Huston, 2011) We can initially take a breath before reacting to the situation impulsively and flip a stressful situation into a conversation. If Alberto were using this, he would have asked if Kathy needed to talk about it and then (using her name) talked to Kathy from a chair or stood across the room.

I have seen lots of these interactions where one party is dominant and demeaning over another in my career. It is not always male dominance over females, but it always ends badly. I was in a situation like this where a supervisor was doing this to an employee. The was a female supervisor doing this to a male employee, but the situation was very similar. They were having a hard time with a situation, and she was telling him that he should just quit if it were too hard. They would call him late at night to do reports and other things. The man eventually did quit because the stress got too much. All the rest of us could see how the job was affecting him physically. He started to drink to cope with the stress, and it was not long after that he quit. It was more critical for them to get the job done than to see what they were doing.

Mindfulness is "a means of expanding one's experience of each moment by nurturing qualities such as acceptance and patience that allow for observation "of what is occurring both internally and externally." (Huston, 2011) If the supervisors had used mindfulness, they would have seen the damage they were doing to this person. I would have suggested that they evaluate their times to work after hours. They should evaluate how they are communicating with people and what time is appropriate to do that. Sending emails at 1 am and asking questions is inappropriate, and they should also not call after hours to demand data. The supervisors should use mindfulness techniques to understand that it is appropriate to communicate and use patience in all situations.

Refference:

Huston, D. C., Garland, E. L., & Farb, N. A. S. (2011). Mechanisms of Mindfulness in Communication Training. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 39(4), 406–421.

Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and Professional Communication (4th ed.). Sage publishing Ltd.

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form