Sentry Assurance: Bringing Outsiders "In"

Judy E. Lease

University of Utah

Contents

    Preparing to teach the case

    Assignment 1: Terrell's communication strategy

    Assignment 2: Roleplay between you and Joe Terrell

    Assignment 3: Taskforce report to Joe Terrell

    Assignment 4: Workshop on interpersonal skills

                                  Option 1: Roleplay

                                  Option 2: Workshop and essay

    References

Preparing to Teach the Case: Issues to Consider

Any insurance agency faces at least four major issues that often impact the effective communication among employees and with customers. These issues are compensation, conflicts between sales and service personnel; availability of competitive markets; and professionalism of agents and brokers.

SAB is an organization that has developed gradually; employees' job descriptions and ways of "doing things around here" just evolved with little, if any training. When the office contained under ten employees, communication was fairly easy. With gradual growth and the merger along with need for better productivity and/or more agents, SAB needs to deal with communicating effectively as a business with increasing pressures, and especially with integrating the new employees into the firm. Marcia's memo suggests symptoms of larger problems. SAB has not realized the need to familiarize the Hansen Agency staff with the Sentry organization; the previous team atmosphere may be developing into an "us" and "them"; the communication does not flow well among employees, possibly due to the type of business--the outside agents and brokers are in the office only to complete paper work and may not appreciate the work staffers do for them.

If not dealt with soon, productivity may lessen and clients may leave to join insurance groups with more cooperative dispositions. Joe Terrell has his hands full and probably needs to ask for assistance from present employees or an outside person.

The instructor may need to provide more direction by assigning some specific readings in corporate culture and interpersonal communication, for example. Determine your own goals. Do you want to look at the case from the viewpoints of different players and deal with perception? Do you want to discuss conflict management or team building? Ideally, the case can be used as a class discussion and, at various times, class members can role play segments of the case. For example, Marcia's phone conversation with Jon provides a confrontation. Role play it. Then "Marcia" tells the class what she would do next. Role play it. Maybe she will tell a colleague what just happened. Follow the role play with a discussion about "grapevine." At some point, the instructor might suggest that Terrell knows about the problem. What does he do about it? Role play it. Discuss the issues the students bring out. Now the class comes to conflict management. What are the issues? After some discussion, return to the role play.

At each segment of the role play, debrief the class if you sense any possibility that someone is "lost."(Participants can lead this discussion--it does not need to be instructor-led, necessarily). As you can see, you need to create a "discussion tree" to consider many of the topics that may surface during the discussion.

Consider the following topics to help you focus your discussion: company issues of organizational development and communication flow; managerial issues of delegation, team building, coaching, time management; interpersonal issues of communication competence (defined as degree of skill in performing communicative behaviors that achieve your goal and are perceived by your listener(s) as competent) which include: perception (fact/inference, stereotyping, grapevine); listening; questioning; self-understanding/presentation (self-disclosure, assertiveness, nonverbal actions, etc.). Use the Sentry Assurance Brokers Employees table at the end of these teaching notes to develop a more complex look at SAB.

When dealing with the interpersonal issues, you might take time to help the students develop a knowledge of relational behaviors and practice them. Behavior change takes time; students are interrupting some long-term, almost unconscious actions. See notes on Assignment 4 for more specific information on behaviors and changes.

Some of the questions listed below can guide your discussion:

• Team building: What does SAB need to do to get "on track?"
• Delegation: Can Terrell delegate work to others in the company? What are the benefits and potential problems of delegation in a small company like SAB?
• Diversity: Marcia raises the ugly topic of discrimination. Is she justified?
  Why/not?
• Coaching: How can Terrell mentor Andrea? What is the process? Could peers coach others? How would you set up the process? What are the challenges? See the Teaching Note after the Essay/Role Play for this case.
• Perception: How does Terrell see SAB? Jon? Marcia? Andrea? Discuss how each person selects, organizes and infers. What are the facts? What stereotyping is going on? What impressions of the individuals influence the company?
• Active Listening: What active listening is going on here? What work-related issues get in the way of getting ready to listen, much less focusing, encouraging, questioning, and paraphrasing? What could Terrell have done to get more information about Hansen Agency employees when he was negotiating the merger?
• Conflict management: What does Terrell's opening response suggest about his attitude about conflict? (It's bad.) Discuss the differences between conflict resolution and conflict management. (Include questions such as How can Terrell solve the problem (hopefully, someone will suggest that he may not want to solve it--conflict can be good for business if managed appropriately.) How can SAB benefit from conflict? Discuss a conflict management paradigm. Role play the different behaviors.

Assignment 1: Terrell's Communication Strategy

Groups should prioritize issues that need Terrell's attention. Here's a good time to discuss communication channels and/or media richness using examples in the case. Consider this assignment on two levels.

• For immediate reaction, students can indicate what Terrell needs to do right now (he's just finished reading his e-mail). Devise a plan. Draft memos or letters and/or script phone calls and other oral interactions.
• For a more comprehensive look at communication strategy, direct the students to propose a communication strategy for SAB.

Proposal assignment

Overview of Proposal: The Sentry Assurance Brokers (SAB) Case gives you practice in the composing and production of documents, something that occurs frequently in business and industry. The final products of this assignment will consist of the following:

• Progress Report
• Executive Summary
• Proposal
• Draft Session
• Peer evaluation

Specific Instructions

Problem Solving:

Assume that Joe Terrell has put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to initiate a communication strategy for SAB. Direct your proposal to Joe Terrell. The quality of your proposal depends on how clearly you define the problem for Terrell. Research and explore the scope of the problem and possible methods to solve the problem. Based on the information you have discovered during your research of the problem, develop your objectives and state the problem. Remember that he may or may not share your concern or knowledge of the problem; he may or may not have considered what can be done about it; or he may or may not have wanted proposals to be submitted. But he hasn't decided on a plan of action. It is YOUR job to convince them that YOUR plan is the best one.

Personae

Will you write as an SAB employee or as a person such as a consultant from outside SAB?

Decide early which position you will take.

The Writing Process

Planning: Find out everything you can about the problem. The key to an effective proposal is that it contains COMPLETE INFORMATION. Anticipate questions Terrell might ask by asking the relevant questions yourself.

Before you begin drafting your proposal, consider all alternatives. Weigh the merits and shortcomings of each before you decide which you will recommend. If your solution has pitfalls (and most do), address them honestly don't avoid or cover them up. Probably no PERFECT solution exists.

Drafting: Write your proposal either in memo format (internal) or letter format (external). Use your information to fit into these types of sections (names are generic; you may prefer descriptive headings; use what you need):

• Background: Discuss the specifics of the proposal--what it is, why it's needed, and why it's important.
• Objectives/Aims: Discuss how your solution will be successful and the criteria for measuring success.
• Methods/ Strategies: Propose a plan of action in some detail. Discuss the process including its ability to meet objectives and desirability to the reader.
• Qualifications (to do the job): Provide the reader with enough background to demonstrate credibility concerning your expertise, facilities, equipment and other resources. Demonstrate the soundness of your management plan and justify it including phases, follow-up work, etc. Be certain to discuss a workable schedule; be specific in timing and expected change.
• Costs: Itemize the costs including new equipment, in-house man-hours, time required of employees from present jobs, and other specifics. Include coordination or integration with other parts of the organization, especially if related to cost. Provide a time line to show targets and a discussion of how you measure progress and reasonable costs. Justify. Provide a budget statement.
• Recommendations/Options (Remember to state as action statements.)
• Benefits(to the company): Include a discussion of savings to the firm, the timing of the proposal, and its effects on customers, employees, competitors, etc?

The Written Products

Progress Report: You need to keep detailed notes of discussions, decisions, writing or research tasks, etc. for the progress report memo. The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed record of what decisions and plans you've made, any issues that need attention or intervention, and how you're progressing.

Executive Summary: This one-page-or-less document provides a quick coverage of the basic information included in the proposal. The summary condenses the entire work, stating the results and recommendation as well as some of the background features and description of the problem. The summary should be written to the same audience as the proposal, i.e. the decision-maker, and it should answer key questions.

Draft Sessions: Your instructor will schedule a draft session with each group. Before you write the Executive Summary, you need to have completed a draft of the proposal from which you can summarize. The draft will be used in the conference; you need to prepare a copy for your instructor and each group member.

Peer Evaluation: Each writer will provide feedback to another proposal writer during this project. Before the session, think through the type of help you need. Have a copy of your draft and specific questions ready for your peer.

Potential Difficulties

Students think that the assignment is huge. Really, they can complete this assignment in as few as five pages with appendices, depending on topic chosen. The other pieces of the assignment give the respondents information about their topic, focus, writing style, and progress, as well as a chance to see and respond to at least one other proposal.

Help groups to focus on the language differences "inside" of SAB versus an interested outsider/consultant. The language usage (we vs you) and the types of knowledge would be different and appropriate depending on personae.

Proposing a plan does not require respondents to provide a complete implementation. They would proceed with implementing once the proposal is accepted. For example, the study of communication flow would be credible if it justified the importance of the study to SAB's future, established a time frame, suggested the study team, proposed an amount of money to spend on the study, and illustrated its potential benefits. Sometimes respondents have a problem deciding how much or little has to be given to provide credibility. The instructor can help the respondents during draft sessions and in response to progress reports.

Action statements for recommendations sometimes are difficult. Make sure the respondents provide strong requests and not marginalized statements to give power to the document. For example, "Provide a three-day training program for all employees..." versus "We suggest you might want to train your employees in..."

Assignment 2: Role Play between You and Joe Terrell

You might ask different role playing students to present a variety of communication obstacles by handing a further guideline to players such as:

Role Player 1: You will be successful if you get Joe to open up and discuss his frustrations.

Role Player Joe: Joe, you will be successful if you can get two practical ideas to improve communication at SAB. You can think of other scenarios.

Another tack would be to have role players focus on interactive listening or some aspect of problem solving, for example. In these ways you have focused the role play and the discussion flows in a more directed way.

See also "teaching notes" for Assignment 4 below for more information on interpersonal communication discussions.

Assignment 3: Task Force Report to Joe Terrell

Encourage each group to select a persona plus get a volunteer as observer (of the group process). The observer can give the group vital information on how they work together. For an in-class discussion, each group can outline its plan and have a member present the plan to the class. Each member can write a memo about the group plan to their supervisors. For a more complex writing assignment based on the Task Force Report, see comments for Assignment 1 for writing a proposal.

Assignment 4: Workshop on Interpersonal Skills

The discussion of the Sentry Assurance Brokers Case alerted students to particular behaviors various SAT employees needed to change. The role plays in Assignment 2, above, served as an introduction to this assignment.

Below are two options for workshops on interpersonal skills:

• a roleplay, focusing on changing the behavior of a person in the case
• a workshop and essay that relates the case to individuals in the class

Option 1: Roleplay

Have students analyze the interpersonal communication issues that Sentry Assurance Brokers (SAB) needs to consider and to recommend changes to stabilize present and potential problems. In the process they can relate those needed behavior changes to their own needs. Have each participant select a specific behavior to change. Initiate a process for behavior change by having individuals write essays and role play problems and changes.

Communication Problem

Most of us have seldom written about our behaviors or analyzed them. To help identify the process the respondents must go through, complete the steps with students using an example. The SAB Case provides several behavioral issues. Use the discussion below to help students get ready for the essay and/or role plays.

Behavior Change

Let's assume that Andrea does want to become more assertive and sell as much insurance as she can. Let's assume, further, that Andrea decides to keep a written record of the customers she talks to about policies and how she reacted to them. A process for looking at her specific behavior of asking clients about insurance needs, referrals, and other selling behaviors would be to indicate the following:

• The Specific Behavior: Reluctant to question clients
• The Specific Incident: Each one is different; describe it in detail.

Internal Cues:

What is Andrea thinking as she works with the customer? Are negative thoughts getting in her way? "I can't ask him that!" "He's going to get mad!" "I can't do it!" Does she notice physical changes--sweaty palms, less eye contact with the customer, etc.?

Strategies:

As she begins to recognize these warnings (internal cues), she can use the strategies to move beyond her undesired behavior. For instance, two strategies she might use are 1) to verbalize perceived customer needs and 2) inquire.

• Customer needs approach: In the case, Terrell indicates that Andrea is shy. Have the students come up with behaviors she needs to change to be more successful on the job. She could say to a customer, "John, while you're here, I'd like to have you consider some other information that can help your family." If John says he's in a hurry and has to run, Andrea can make an appointment to talk to him later. She at least planted a seed of putting all insurance which may include umbrella coverage with her firm without a hard-sell.
• Inquiry: "John, you take good care of your vehicles. Do you have a plan that can help you when those two kids start to college?" (She works on her questioning skills.)

Rehearsal:

Imagine a successful interaction; write out the dialogue. If the specific interaction worked, write out what happened. If it did not work, imagine what both parties would have said; write that out.

Evidence of Progress:

In this written record keep track of interactions. You may not sell a policy and still feel the interaction was successful, if you used your strategies effectively.

Keep track in your day-planner or choose some other method.

Consequences:

Positive: Sell more insurance; build self-esteem; become more assertive in the office and at home; Negative: Be perceived as "pushy." (Andrea probably will not become pushy--it's too uncomfortable for her quiet, shy personality, so the negative consequences are not too realistic. However, for Andrea at the beginning of this process, that possibility might loom large as she looks into the future! In that instance she may need to verbalize that possibility.)

Remember to keep the information specific and realistic. Unless the internal cues are detailed, the analyzer will not have the "tools" to recognize that the undesired behavior is about to occur again!

Coaching

Unless individuals are able to analyze a specific behavior, they will not have much success coaching others in changing behavioral habits. Work with individuals to realize the importance of coaching less experienced workers. Coaching allows the employer to move beyond telling to demonstration and practice. To be effective the coach needs to be positive and nonthreatening. Coaching sessions are not one-shot deals but occur periodically and have set review times to discuss changes. The coach demonstrates performance and usually asks the employee to repeat the performance several times after which the supervisor provides feedback. Often the coach/supervisor asks the employee to try describing the behavior and doing it at the same time to cement the change.

Sample role play scenario

Here's a possible scenario between Joe and Andrea:

Joe: Andrea, let's talk for a few minutes. I want to tell you how pleased I am with your passing the exam on the first time through. Do you know how few people can do that?

Andrea: Thanks, Joe. I'm just glad it's over. I feel like I'm on vacation.

Joe: I thought we should spend some time on training. I want you to get as much out of this new agent designation as possible--for you, clients, and the company. I've just been going over the quarterly report and notice that sales are slacking off some.

Andrea: Oh, Joe, that's so hard for me--to push people into another product. You know how shy I am. It's so easy for you to bring up those issues; I'm just not very sure of myself.

Joe: Andrea, I felt that way too, at first. However, when I helped my clients and they showed appreciation, I realized that they might need my inquiry. I really had a perception problem. After all, I'll ask a question; they are not under any obligation.

Andrea: I still think they'll say "no" to me.

Joe: Well, let's pretend you're a client, and I'll demonstrate one or two strategies that work with some of my clients. Assume you have just renewed your auto policy.

*Andrea: Ok. Thanks for making the changes for me.

*Joe: By the way, I notice that you had rental insurance with us. Didn't I hear you talking about moving?

*Andrea: Yes, I'm so excited. I just found the house yesterday and made an offer.

*Joe: I'd like to help you with the insurance and go over the options available with you

*Andrea: Really? I've been concerned about that but just haven't taken the time. I don't know why I didn't think of it while I was here! I'm glad you overheard my conversation what a relief. Tell me about those options.

*Joe: (Joe describes the options of a homeowner's policy plus savings of holding coverage with one company and adding an umbrella coverage, etc.)

*Andrea: I don't have time right now, Joe. I have to get back to work--Oh, I'm late!

*Joe: Why don't we talk about it when you get off work? In the meantime I can put together several options from two companies so you can see benefits and costs of each one.

*Andrea: Fine. Will you still be here at 6:30? Joe, that was pretty good, but you don't have me yet. Somehow they say no.

Joe: We don't get them all; however, if we don't ask we get nothing!

Andrea: Show me another strategy.

*Joe: [checking his computer] I notice you have your Framewerks business insured with us.

*Andrea: Yes, and all the expenses of a small business make it hard to meet those payments.

*Joe: What would happen if some flammables caught fire when you had some expensive pieces in for framing? For as little as $10 per premium payment, you can insure those valuables. If we put a rider on your policy with one firm, you'll even have the option of adding to that coverage when extremely valuable items are in your care.

That would include not only the fire and theft issues but breakage issues dealing with items falling off the wall, mistakes when fitting into shipping containers, and all kinds of other potential expensive problems. When you feel need to add that coverage, you'll have a process for doing it.

*Andrea: Tell me more. Now, that's a strategy that's positive!

Joe: Okay, Andrea, it's your turn. You're the agent and I'm the client. I just changed auto insurance to my new car.

*Andrea: Here's the change, Joe. Sign here. Say, while you're here, let's talk about rolling all of your personal property/casualty insurance into a single policy that could save you money.

*Joe: I've been meaning to look into that, Andrea--I just don't know enough about what's out there. Tell me more.

Andrea: I see. You don't have to be pushy at all. My perception was wrong. Some people need more information, and I have what they might need!

Joe: Andrea, now you need to describe what happened in this scenario.

Andrea: I'd done my homework on you, Joe. You just bought a new car and put quite a bit down and financed it over just two years. That tells me you might be ready to revise and upgrade your coverage. I do know that you have other insurance with us and have been with us for over 10 years--possibly some loyalty. This information tells me you might need to know about ways to change coverage. So I ask you about it hopefully leading to a sale.

Joe: Yes! That's a positive attitude. You don't appear shy or pushy.

Andrea: Let's come up with more strategies together, okay?

Joe: What do you say to getting together 45 minutes before the office opens every Thursday to develop strategies and practice them?

Andrea: Great idea! I can see how these sessions might help other aspects of my work, too.

Also, discuss the behavior change process model here and give the employee reason to take the time to use it.

Potential Difficulties

Usually students enjoy role play sessions, especially when it relates to them. Be careful that intimate and very personal behaviors are not role played in class. For this reason, you may choose to use the role play sessions when you return the essays; that way you can hand-pick the behaviors the class will enact.

Watch out for silliness; a role play session can degenerate quickly. If the class is used to debriefing or discussing issues of the role play, you can also discuss the "silliness" behaviors here.

The debriefing should include questions relating to the behavior change process--what cues, strategies, etc. were used. What others would be helpful?

As far as extending case information for the discussion, consider Andrea's need to "be prepared." Sometimes the information is at employees' fingertips; however, they do not realize it, do not see the connection, or, sadly, do not make the effort. Emphasize that to be persuasive, individuals have to have data. The customer records probably contain demographic information. A search of customers near renewal periods paired with these demographics can help Andrea "flag" those clients with probable need for policy changes and upgrades.

Option 2: Workshop and essay

How could this case relate to individuals in the class? Ask them, " Would you like to be more effective at initiating a discussion, listening to a colleague, making reasoned assumptions rather than jumping to conclusions? " Have each student select a focused topic/behavior and support that choice in a reasoned argument. Develop an outline or an essay with supporting information and bring it to class.

Divide into pairs. Take at least five minutes to inform each other about your behavior and the probable reactions of the other person to make the role more realistic. When you role play your "personal behavior," plan to lead the discussion about strategies. Be creative here; ask the group questions about what they noticed! Remember that the situational nature of behavior means that the outcome might be different from the first time. Go with it!

Be prepared to role play various incidents to demonstrate

• the behavior a person wants to change (or emulate); discuss the behavior for a few minutes.
• next, a "rehearsal" using the behavior. Discuss the strategies you tried to use. Ask the others for questions and comments.

Role plays may be short but usually spur discussion. Keep the discussion focused on the incident and the behavior. Here it is most important to practice critical listening skills.

Essay Assignment

Purpose: Identify specific communication behavior that you would like to change. Support your choice with specific examples.

• Describe an undesired behavior pattern you want to break. Describe it specifically.

 

• Consider the specific problems it creates for you--at work, in your personal life.

• Describe a real incident to demonstrate your need. Who was involved? Where and when did it take place? What were the concerns? What happened? Include language, feelings, and behavior. Use sample dialogue, if possible.

• Identify internal and external cues to recognize situations needing change. (These cues often are unconscious--difficult to recognize but are critical to behavior change.) Consider cues prior to incidents: Internal: thoughts, self-talk, physiological symptoms. External: you? others? What do you notice before the behavior occurs?

• Identify specific strategies for improving your communication. What alternative behaviors can lead to change? List and describe. Be specific. Don't generalize as "listen" but use specific listening techniques--question, for example.

• Describe a plan or mental rehearsal. How will you make yourself conscious of the need to use the skill?

• Develop a way to evaluate your own progress. Your habits will not change without a plan.

• What counts as evidence of improved skill development? How will you check your progress over time?

• Discuss the consequences of using the new behavior. Be realistic rather than idealistic here. Implementing change can include both positive and negative consequences.

Sample Essay

In all aspects of my life, I have noticed several areas of communication behavior that I need to improve. One of them is a specific behavior I have noticed myself doing at work. In order to change, this behavior, I must be able to recognize the cues which precede it. Also needed are strategies to change this behavior and a plan to remember these strategies. I might notice both good and bad consequences resulting from this change in behavior.

The communication behavior I would like to change is the reluctant and awkward feeling I get when I have to delegate work. As a result, both parties in the situation feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, because of the awkward feeling, I may not explain the assignment sufficiently, and it may be done incorrectly. This undesired communication behavior is best illustrated by an experience I had at work. I had a fairly large assignment that needed to be completed in the next couple of days. My schedule, which was very busy, would not give me sufficient time to do it. My boss suggested that I go ask two specific people to complete the assignment that needed to be done. These two ladies were phone operators, and they were completely unrelated to my department and to the assignment that needed to be done. I was very reluctant to ask them to do it, and when I did, it was a very uncomfortable situation. As a result, I didn't explain the assignment sufficiently, and I wasn't sure it they understood it. Luckily, they understood the assignment and completed it correctly. I need to change this nervous behavior in order to prevent future problems.

To change this undesired behavior, I need to be able to recognize the cues which precede it. I have noticed several internal cues which come before this behavior. One of them is that I keep thinking to myself, "I wish I could just do it myself." I also feel intimidated by the person(s) to whom I am delegating work. A third internal cue is that I keep repeating the phrase, "What if they don't want to do it?" in my mind. Of the external cues that I have noticed, one is that my hands are "shaking like leaves." My face also flushed slightly red, as if I were blushing. These cues help me to recognize that my undesired behavior is soon to come.

As soon as I notice these pre-behavioral cues, I need to apply strategies to stop or change my undesired behavior. Of my strategies, only the first one takes place before the actual delegation incident. This first strategy is that I will try to get to know people at work better; after all, it is easier to delegate work to your friends than to your mere acquaintances. My remaining strategies are to be applied during the delegation incident. I will try to use the negotiation level of communication, which is high on the impersonal-interpersonal continuum that will allow me to negotiate selves so that it is not a complementary, but a symmetrical and more comfortable relationship. My third strategy is to use an "I" statement. An example is as follows, "I am unable to complete this assignment because of my schedule. I would be very appreciative it you would complete it for me." My fourth strategy is to watch for the external or physical cues of the involved person(s). Hopefully, in this way, I will be able to determine if the assignment has been understood, My last strategy is also designed to make sure the assignment is understood. I will ask the person(s) involved to paraphrase the assignment back to me. I will say, "Would you please tell me what you are going to do so that I know I have explained it correctly?" Using the above strategies, I hope to be more comfortable when delegating work. Ideally, that would lead to a less awkward exchange, and a better understanding of the assignment.

I have developed a plan to remind myself of my strategies and to evaluate my use of them. To remind myself of them, I will review my strategies before each delegation incident. By doing so, they will be fresh on my mind, and I will apply them when I recognize the cues of my awkward behavior. In order to evaluate my use of the strategies, I will create a chart, which I will keep in my desk at work. After each time I delegate an assignment to someone, I will make an entry on my chart. (See appendix) I will enter the date of the delegation on the left side of the chart, and each strategy will be slotted across the top. This will create a space for an evaluation of each strategy for each date. I will write in that space how I felt the particular strategy worked. If I don't use one of several of the strategies on a given date, I will indicate it in the corresponding space. By looking at this chart, I will be able to monitor my progress of using my strategies to overcome my awkward behavior.

There might be good and bad consequences resulting from my change in behavior. Hopefully, after the change, I will be more relaxed when delegating work, possibly translating into a more comfortable exchange, and a better understanding of the assignment. However, my change in behavior could backfire on me also. If I get really good at using my strategies, people might think that I am trying to manipulate them. They also might think I am treating them as children when I ask them to paraphrase the instructions back to me. Hopefully, my strategies will improve my behavior.

In the general participation in life, I am made aware of several communication behaviors which need to be changed or improved. By recognizing the cues which precede them, I can apply strategies to fix these undesired behaviors. Hopefully, using my strategies to improve my awkward behavior while delegating work, I will remedy this particular undesired communication behavior. Then, I will be able to move on to a multitude of other similar problems that need work.

Analysis of Sample Essay

This assignment requires participants to write down the behavior change process as it relates to a specific change in their work and/or personal lives. Overall the sample essay is written well and demonstrates the process for changing a specific work behavior according to the "Specific Behavior Change Plan" attached. This discussion points out how instructors can use the example and where the assignment can cause problems for the writers.

The sample essay contains a comprehensive, although overly general introduction and conclusion that direct the reader. The specific behavior"...reluctant and awkward feeling when delegating" presents a work-related behavior that participants can visualize as they read. After the realistic scenario, the essay presents the "self-talk" cues (what the writer said to himself) and his own external physical cues. Keep in mind that when discussing many behaviors, participants may include external cues from other people also, such as no eye contact, frowning, etc., if those cues occur prior to the behavior. Participants have a hard time initially identifying these cues--which are almost in their subconscious. Provide several examples to help them.

The five strategies for change in this essay use language relating to interpersonal communication from the text Together, Fourth Edition by Stewart and Logan. The instructor may want to include criteria in the assignment about the number of strategies, reference to course materials, etc. to guide both writing and evaluation.

The third strategy, an "I" statement, provides an example that does not fit. The "feeling" statement describes, not how the speaker feels now (rushed, hassled, stressed) but how he would feel if someone else did the job. A better example might say, "I feel stressed because my schedule makes it impossible to complete some projects. I need you to complete and deliver the Jackson policy for me by Friday."

To strengthen the essay the writer should provide a specific rehearsal or role play of a specific incident. He does provide some examples to strategies, however. On the other hand, one of the strengths of this essay is the plan to focus and evaluate strategies. The chart provides a way for the writer to examine strategies and evaluate them daily. Because many participants tend to gloss over and generalize this evaluation section, a strong example should be helpful.

The consequences section lets the writer deal with real hopes and worries when changing behavior. Watch out for writers who generalize to only wonderful results regardless of situation.

Overall, this essay provides a way for participants to integrate the behavior change process.

As they move from paper to role play, they begin to realize how the steps in the process work to facilitate new behaviors in specific situations.

References

Fisher, B. A. (1987). Interpersonal Communication: Pragmatics of Human Relationships. NY: Random House.

Stewart, J. & Logan, C. (1998) Together: Communicating Interpersonally. Fifth Edition. NY: McGraw-Hill.