Chapter #4

Skill Application

Activities

2. Teach someone you know the concepts of supportive communication and supportive listening. Provide your own explanations and illustrations so the person understands what you are talking about. Describe your experience in your journal. There are eight attributes of supportive communication. * Congruent is matching of verbal communication to what someone is thinking and feeling. For example, my manger got upset with me when I was doing homework on my shift. He told me that this was not the right behavior for work. * Descriptive communication is describing a situation, describing a reaction to the situation, and suggesting an alternative. For example, my sales manager asked me to take a car to a dealership and I said, “no." I should have said I will do it once I complete the task I was working on. * Problem-oriented focuses on issues that can be altered instead of focusing on individuals and their characteristics. For example, my mother does not come see me a lot so when I communicate with her on the phone, I ask her, “What can I do to motivate you to come see me more often?” * Validating is communicating with respect, areas of agreement, and collaboration. For example, in our group meeting for MGMT 389, I had some ideas for the group project but I also asked the others if there are any ideas that they would want to contribute. * Specific communication focuses on specific behaviors or situations instead of general statements. For example, my friend John does not spend his time wisely. Instead of telling him, “You have trouble managing your time wisely,” I stated, “you spent hours watching movies on TV when you could have been getting your homework done.” * Conjunctive communication refers to a previous statement or situation. For example, when my mentor was explaining to me how to do a