Human Relations Seven Themes PDF

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LP10 Assignment: Seven Themes Crystal Rae Hill National American University

SEVEN THEMES

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Introduction The following paper is a self-assessment of my skills and abilities in each of the seven major themes of Human Relations. Communication Communication is a process of exchanging information between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior(Communication, n.d.). I see myself as a person with strong impersonal and interpersonal communication skills, but I believe I have some improvements to make. For the most part I communicate with clarity, open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, empathy, confidence, respect, friendliness, and active listening. However, I am learning that when caught off guard, my facial expressions and body gestures lead others to believe I am closed off and somewhat disrespectful. For example, last week, out of the blew I was demanded to fire one of our employees. I found out a week later the owner felt disrespected from my reaction to her demand. She said my face turned red, my eyes grew big, and rather than asking her to explain I got defensive and shut down. It made her feel uneasy and disrespected. I’ve learned the significance of communication filters and that not everyone gives and receives messages in the same way. I’ve also learned that developing good communication skills comes with learning and accepting traits about myself regardless if I like them or not. Accepting that I reacted to the owner that way is the only chance I have in making sure it does not happen again.

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Since taking this course, I have become mindful of the way I communicate with people on both a professional and personal level. I’ve accepted that I as much as I want to think I’ve mastered communication; the reality is I have some things to work on. Self-awareness Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of self-including traits, behaviors, and feelings (Cherry, 2019). I see myself as a very independent person. I know who I am, I know what I want, and I know what I can achieve. I see myself as someone who is very intuitive. I am transparent and when my emotions are all over the place it is very hard for the people closest to me to deal with. I am aware of my thoughts, feelings, and actions one hundred percent of the time and sometimes have a hard time keeping them to myself. I also see myself as someone who takes on too many responsibilities to avoid dealing with some of the things I do not want to deal with inside. For example, if I stay busy, I do not have time to focus on whether I am too skinny, too fat or not pretty. My whole life I struggled with eating disorders and addiction. Staying busy keeps me from going back to old behaviors. What I learned is that being self-aware can lead to better communication and repair relationships. One way to do so is keeping a journal. It gives me the opportunity to reflect on my emotions and circumstances throughout the day to get a better understanding of myself and the way I react to situations. Once I do so, I can make things right with anyone who I may have hurt or treated unfairly. Since taking this course, I am more aware of how my personal traits, behaviors, and feelings affect the people around me. At the end of the night of a challenging day, I write down a list of the things that bothered me and afterwards share them with my husband.

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Self-acceptance Self-acceptance is acceptance of self despite weaknesses or deficiencies (Freebase, n.d.). I accept myself for who I am regardless of my weaknesses. I also accept that I am a work in progress and there are a few significant personal and psychological matters that will always be a challenge for me. Regardless, I love myself for who I am. I accept my eccentricities, talents, and how I look. I recognize not focusing on how I look is something I will continuously need to work on for many years to come because I was a full -blown anorexic and bulimic for sixteen years of my life. I accept that the only way to stay in remission is to practice self- acceptance affirmations daily. I have compassion for myself and work hard to be less judgmental of myself. Most importantly, I no longer dwell on past mistakes. What I’ve learned is that part of self-acceptance is being self-aware. For example, being aware that I’m am too much to handle for some people. This is something I must accept about myself. For many years, I did not accept it which led me down a very destructive path in life. However, once I learned to accept that not everyone will like me, my life became much easier and I developed a peace within myself that is indescribable. Since taking this course, I’ve accepted a few circumstances that were causing me anger and frustration. In doing so, my relationship with both my husband and stepdaughter has changed drastically in a positive way. Motivation Motivation can be defined as the influences that represent the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of behavior (Reece & Reece, n.d.). I thrive on motivation. It is what drives me to get things done and to live life with a purpose. What motivates me the most are my

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family, my sobriety, my faith in Christ, my health, my desire to help others, and my passion to show others that change is possible. I’ve learned that most of my motivation comes from the power of accepting my past life struggles leading me to desire independence, power, order, and family. For example, my motivation behind making sure my physiological needs are met comes from my experiences of feeling what it’s like to not have food, proper clothing and shelter . Another example, my motivation behind making sure my safety and security needs are met comes from my experiences without freedom and the life I once lived that resulted in my loss of freedom. My significant experiences throughout my life have motivated me and shaped me into the person I am today. For example, driving to Ohio from Minnesota to finally reunite with my son after giving birth to him in prison. This experience motivated me to be a good mom and to do everything I can in life to never be away from him again. This course opened my eyes to the many challenges and struggles I had to go through to be where I am at today. My motivation has intensified and inspired me to share my story in front of the women at Shakopee Correctional Facility. In doing so, I hope to motivate them to change their lives much like I did. Trust When trust exists in a relationship or workplace, all aspects of the relationships involved become easier (Heathfield, 2019). Basically, without trust, there is no such thing as an effective team. I am a trustworthy person but have difficulty trusting others. I understand this comes from being a dishonest person for many years of my life as well as from putting my trust in others and being let down. I value the relationships I have where trust goes both ways. For example, my

SEVEN THEMES relationship with my husband. No matter what happens between us, I know in my heart his intentions are never to hurt me. The trust we share makes all aspects of our relationship easier. I can say the same about the owners of the three companies I operate. Each of them has given me access to their personal information as well have given me the responsibility to manage the finances, operations and the people of their companies. They trust that I will do the right thing as much as I trust in my job security working for them. Needless to say, because of the trust we share, work comes natural and easier to manage on both sides of the relationships. What I’ve learned is that trust and communication go hand in hand. Trust is the foundation of an effective team (Reece & Reece, n.d.). To build trust within an organization or relationship, members must openly communicate. Without open communication amongst team members, a team is ineffective. Since this course my attitude on trust has changed. I’m more open to putting trust in others. I’ve recognized that as a leader, it is up to me to show others how to build trust. I cannot do that if I allow my insecurities of trust get in the way. Self-disclosure As an addict in recovery, self-disclosure is very important for both my sobriety and my sanity. I understand the longer I keep things bottled up inside, the higher chance I have of losing my mind and or relapsing. Not expressing my thoughts, feelings and desires leads me to accumulate anger, frustration, and resentments which cause me to treat others poorly and act out irrationally. By no means is it always easy to self-disclose to others, but in my opinion, the tougher it is to do, the more it needs to be done. In other words, being open about my thoughts,

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feelings, and needs can be uncomfortable but through experience I recognize that the more uncomfortable it may be, the greater the outcome for both myself and the other person involved. I’ve learned that self-disclosure, communication and trust are key factors for any effective relationship. Without them, relationships have nothing to grow on. For example, after moving in with my new family, I found myself constantly cleaning up after my husband and stepdaughter leading me to feel resentful, frustrated and angry. Rather than disclosing my feelings, communicating to them how it made me feel, and trusting the process, I ruminated over it for three weeks which led me to finally lash out on my husband. Come to find out, it was not that they did not want to help rather it was that neither of them has ever had someone care so much about neatness nor did they know it bothered me so much. Since this course, I am very mindful of what it does to others when I do not share how what I am thinking, how I am feeling, or what it is I want from them. Conflict resolution Conflict resolution means a process of resolving dispute or disagreement (US Legal, Inc., n.d.). I strongly believe the best way to problem solve conflict is to bring all people involved together to come up with a solution. In doing so, it’s important that everyone owns their part and understands the significance of compromise. For example, there was a ton of tension within the workplace after the owner and I had a disagreement about firing one of our employees. To resolve the conflict, a meeting took place between me, the owner and our CEO. In doing so, both the owner and I owned our parts and came up with a solution moving forward. Since then both the owner and I have a stronger relationship and the atmosphere at the workplace has become positive and friendlier.

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I’ve learned that conflict resolutions require communication, self-awareness, selfacceptance, trust, motivation, and self-disclosure. Communication must take place to resolve any conflict but even more so, all persons involved must be aware of their actions and trust in sharing them with everyone involved. The motivation lies within the desire to rise above and form a solution, so the same conflict does not present itself again. Since this course, I have toned down my reactions to conflict. When I am confronted or caught off guard, I take a deep breath before responding. If I feel like I need time to process before speaking, I simply respond by saying, “Please give me a few minutes to process”. This has been helpful in both my professional life and personal life. Conclusion This paper as well as this course helped me deeply assess my skills and abilities in each of the seven major themes of Human Relations. For that I am truly grateful.

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Cherry, K. (2019, June 24). Self-Awareness: How It Develops and Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-awareness-2795023. Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/communication. Freebase. (n.d.). Definitions for Self-acceptance Self-ac·cep·tance. Retrieved from https://www.definitions.net/definition/Self-acceptance. Heathfield, S. M. (2019, September 12). The Secrets to Developing Trusting Relationships in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/trust-rules-the-mostimportant-secret-about-trust-1919393. Reece, B., Reece, M. Effective Human Relations: Interpersonal And Organizational Applications. [Bookshelf Ambassadored]. Retrieved from https://ambassadored.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337003162/. US Legal, Inc. (n.d.). Conflict Resolution Law and Legal Definition. Retrieved from https://definitions.uslegal.com/c/conflict-resolution/....