Personal: To advance personal growth, skill or awareness 1. I utilize listening and verbal communication skills daily in my personal life to ensure effective communication at all times. 2. I find Bekah's insights, whether as part of her solo video, or as additions to all of the other experiential videos refreshing, because she is able to articulate the main points of the topic so clearly for all. I used her lesson as an example to up the ante on my communication at home, so that I listen more to become more in tune with what my wife says, and how she says it, so that I can identify trends and respond effectively. I have been reading her body language to see how she feels and have been following up with my own questions to see if I am on the right path. The second part to that was to respond to her with even more straightforwardness so as to cut the delicate dance and get to the point, with the aim of addressing her needs and providing solutions for her. I think this is an area for most of us where we don't put as much emphasis on self-improvement as we do outside of our personal circles; therefore, focusing on customer service at home has its own positive effects. 3. Listened carefully 4. When talking with family applying listening skills to fully understand what is being said. Planning a vacation using verbal/written/listening is important to ensure everyone voice is being heard. 5. Always striving to improve communication with family and friends with the above skills. 6. In an effort to keep open cooperation and communication with my ADD son who has returned to taking classes in college, I stayed focus on maximizing my listening skills over my verbal skills in communication on how he is feeling about his classes and where he is frustrated in his challenges with staying focused and engaged with class lectures and class work. I want to keep encouraging my son that he is very intelligent has his own way of learning and needs to stay focused on what works for him and not be afraid to ask for help. Unfortunately when I try to offer this kind of support and communication he typically deems it lecturing him. So I listened more and provided limited words, but important words of encouragement that was enough to not upset him or shut him down. It appeared to be a positive interaction at this time. 7. At a leadership conference, listening carefully to speakers 8. In my personal life I make it a point to learn from everyone and anyone regardless of their position or occupation. I always say "you learn something new every day" if you just pay attention. 9. I try to listen to everyone's perspective and try to give my own. 10. Verbal & listening used with family on a daily basis. The extent of writing with them includes phone texting or quick post-it notes with instructions to kids. :) 1 P a g e
11. I use each of these skills to communicate to literary agents, publishers and others to pursue my writing career. 12. I use my emphatic listening skills to understand people around me. This facilitate that people around me can understand me faster and easier. 13. I have been sick this whole week but was able to watch the video. 14. Effective communication is critical in all aspects of life. If you and your spouse do not have a functional communication method, you will not be in the relationship for long. I have watched many people s relationships, friends and spouses, fail due to a lack of communication. Verbal and listening communication is the most prevalent for me in my intrapersonal relationships. I still struggle with these, as I think most people do. There is always that thought of is that what they really meant to say? Do they know that bothered me? 15. Able to communicate to partner about issues in relationship. Able to listen to "give her a voice" and value it as I value my own. 16. It is on our daily life; listen to kids, talked to boss, email co-works. 17. These skills are valuable and necessary in all aspects of life. As a mother, I often have to remind myself to shut off my brain so that I can truly listen to my kids and not already have the answer before I hear the problem. 18. I'm asking better questions in my personal life to understand the other person better. Professional: professional development or work related 1. I utilize listening and verbal communication skills daily in my personal life to ensure effective communication at all times. 2. I find Bekah's insights, whether as part of her solo video, or as additions to all of the other experiential videos refreshing, because she is able to articulate the main points of the topic so clearly for all. I used her lesson as an example to up the ante on my communication at home, so that I listen more to become more in tune with what my wife says, and how she says it, so that I can identify trends and respond effectively. I have been reading her body language to see how she feels and have been following up with my own questions to see if I am on the right path. The second part to that was to respond to her with even more straightforwardness so as to cut the delicate dance and get to the point, with the aim of addressing her needs and providing solutions for her. I think this is an area for most of us where we don't put as much emphasis on self-improvement as we do outside of our personal circles; therefore, focusing on customer service at home has its own positive effects. 3. Listened carefully 4. When talking with family applying listening skills to fully understand what is being said. Planning a vacation using verbal/written/listening is important to ensure everyone voice is being heard. 2 P a g e
5. Always striving to improve communication with family and friends with the above skills. 6. In an effort to keep open cooperation and communication with my ADD son who has returned to taking classes in college, I stayed focus on maximizing my listening skills over my verbal skills in communication on how he is feeling about his classes and where he is frustrated in his challenges with staying focused and engaged with class lectures and class work. I want to keep encouraging my son that he is very intelligent has his own way of learning and needs to stay focused on what works for him and not be afraid to ask for help. Unfortunately when I try to offer this kind of support and communication he typically deems it lecturing him. So I listened more and provided limited words, but important words of encouragement that was enough to not upset him or shut him down. It appeared to be a positive interaction at this time. 7. At a leadership conference, listening carefully to speakers 8. In my personal life I make it a point to learn from everyone and anyone regardless of their position or occupation. I always say "you learn something new every day" if you just pay attention. 9. I try to listen to everyone's perspective and try to give my own. 10. Verbal & listening used with family on a daily basis. The extent of writing with them includes phone texting or quick post-it notes with instructions to kids. :) 11. I use each of these skills to communicate to literary agents, publishers and others to pursue my writing career. 12. I use my emphatic listening skills to understand people around me. This facilitate that people around me can understand me faster and easier. 13. I have been sick this whole week but was able to watch the video. 14. Effective communication is critical in all aspects of life. If you and your spouse do not have a functional communication method, you will not be in the relationship for long. I have watched many people s relationships, friends and spouses, fail due to a lack of communication. Verbal and listening communication is the most prevalent for me in my intrapersonal relationships. I still struggle with these, as I think most people do. There is always that thought of is that what they really meant to say? Do they know that bothered me? 15. Able to communicate to partner about issues in relationship. Able to listen to "give her a voice" and value it as I value my own. 16. It is on our daily life; listen to kids, talked to boss, email co-works. 17. These skills are valuable and necessary in all aspects of life. As a mother, I often have to remind myself to shut off my brain so that I can truly listen to my kids and not already have the answer before I hear the problem. 18. I'm asking better questions in my personal life to understand the other person better. 3 P a g e
Innovation Project: In the development of your teamed innovation project 1. Yes, we all have a counseling background so are sensitive to communicating effectively to ensure we make progress. 2. I hope so. I strived to be open about my views and encouraged my team members to be bold about our problem statement and the need for solutions. 3. Participated in Wall communications 4. Listening to others opinions and thoughts on our moonshoot. 5. Shared some of the points made at the leadership conference with my team. 6. We are all one team and all our voices and input matters. 7. We all work together and try to give each other voice by asking one another questions. 8. Listening to everyone's input, discussing with teammates to come to decisions and helping wordsmith language for PowerPoint. 9. I actively listen to the team and let them know that I am listening and hearing what they say. I follow-up and check for understanding. 10. N/A 11. I am Work-Based and not involved in teamed Innovation Project. However, I use my emphatic listening skills to understand people whenever possible. This facilitate that people around me can understand me faster and easier. 12. I have been sick this whole week but was able to watch the video. 13. Within my group, I feel that my performance has been on par with my professional evaluation of this topic. I believe that I have held myself to a higher bar in the group and have been better at fully listening to other opinions and explanations. This has been a personal challenge that I have set for myself. I do believe that I am meeting the standards I have set. 14. Listen to the responses and ideas of my colleagues. 15. It is on our daily life; listen to kids, talked to boss, email co-works. 16. When reading or listening to information being shared from our team leaders, I continue to learn from their experience and knowledge. There is much value in these groups and a vast wealth of knowledge to be absorbed. 17. I communicate with our team by asking questions, sharing my opinions and listening to what their input is. 4 P a g e
Mind Blower! Did you experience an epiphany, an a-ha moment, something of real value to you personally 1. I find it fascinating that we are talking about this at the highest levels, and my understanding is that these conversations are not new to the State. Yet leadership retires, new people come in, and the issues remain. Workforce welfare has to be addressed not through surveys, but by tackling the findings that lead to identified problems. Costs and expenses have to be articulated quantitatively wherever possible, and qualitatively in the absence of the former, so that the added effect of having a muted workforce that feels resentment towards many issues can be communicated to Californians and the State government leadership in terms of a lower return on investment. Problems are everywhere but no one seems to have a full-time job looking at improving organizational health and addressing individual grievances from a real, human-resource perspective. What we all seem to have is a personnel office that is pushing paper and policy, but where are the humans engaging with humans on human related issues? Perhaps those who are not willing to step forward to discuss problems are numerous, but maybe we need to do a better job of empowering people to step forward to both discuss the issues and offer solutions, so that those who have a stake in making an improvement (arguably all of us) could get to work on making incremental changes towards a better future. 2. It s important to listen and think about everyone's ideas regardless of their station in life. We can learn from one another. 3. Giving a voice to others requires the exercise of humility and patience by those at a level that are generally considered "higher in command." 4. Following-up and check for understanding is my key to making sure my message gets across. 5. Writing, verbal and listening skills are key to being able to communicate effectively with others in both my personal and profession development. 6. Good listening skill is powerful communication skill for being understood. 7. I have been sick this whole week but was able to watch the video. 8. I really enjoyed your comments on the video lesson today. 9. I think my aha moment is finding the relation between effective communication (writing, verbal, and listening) and providing people a voice regardless of where they are in the social/professional hierarchy. I think this means that listening is a much more essential tool in effective communication when the goal is to empower others through communication. 10. I didn't realize that every day we are already practicing leadership skills. 11. I'm learning to ask better questions to get better answers. 5 P a g e