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Communication Skills
Students Name
Institutions Affiliations
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Communication Skills
Petersen (2015) came up with the Talker-Listener Card to teach people how to take turns
when talking and listening. Using this technique, people can communicate effectively without
arguments since everyone focuses on the other's point of view in alternate turns. I practiced TLC
with the help of my friend and applied the five different ways of responding as described by
France and Weikel. France and Weikel (2019) suggested five ways of responding to a
conversation: advice, analysis, sympathy, interrogation, and reflection. While holding a
conversation with my friend, I discovered that I take his advice when I feel that he is not
dictating what I should do. For instance, my friend advised me to consider changing my eating
habits because they were not healthy. However, he was keen not to dictate how I should do it.
Therefore, I took his advice because he was not dictating what I should do. I also discovered that
I like reflecting on issues by considering my thoughts and feelings to have an effective reflection.
I understood that both my emotions and ideas are involved during reflection.
Conversations change when using different response strategies. Advice is meant to tell
other people what they should do (France & Weikel, 2019). When using the advice response
strategy, the conversation may change to signify that the person giving the advice is providing a
ready-made course of action. In such a case, the advice may be rejected or fail to work because
the listeners have not been given a chance to generate their own solutions. Therefore, advice may
make the conversations ineffective unless given during life-threatening situations (France &
Weikel, 2019). On the other hand, analysis response strategy changes the focus from what is
being shared to the underlying cause of concern. When this strategy is applied, the conversation
changes from a discussion of feelings to intellectual explanations. Sympathy or reassurance is
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least effective because it may foster negative effects such that one party feels pitied.
Interrogation produces information, but it reduces the interaction between the two parties
involved. Therefore, the conversation may change into a closed one-way conversation.
Reflection strategy summarizes the important feelings and ideas expressed by the other party.
This strategy changes the conversation in that it encourages more listening and summarizing the
speaker's ideas.
Additionally, conversations change depending on whether the rules of effective
communication are adhered to or violated. When the rules of effective communication are
adhered to, the talker and the listener manage to pass their message without the listener judging,
accusing, attacking, or arguing with the talker. Additionally, the talker and the listener take turns
when communicating to ensure there is effective communication. They share their ideas,
feelings, and emotions when communicating. However, when the rules of effective
communication are violated, there are misunderstandings, conflicts, confusion, misinformation,
mistrusts, and communication goals are not achieved. When the reflection response strategy is
not adhered to, the focus on the speaker's message is lost, and there is no expression of feelings
and ideas (France & Weikel, 2019). In the end, there is no effective communication, meaning
that the message is not properly passed from the talker to the listener, and there is no feedback to
show that listener got the message.
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References
France, K., & Weikel, K. (2019). Helping Skills for Human Service Workers: Building
Relationships and Encouraging Productive Change. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Petersen, J. (2015). Why Don't We Listen Better? Communicating & Connecting in
Relationships. Petersen Publications.
