Page 179 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Appendix B 168

• By accompanying your criticism with, for example, a question—‘What did you hope to
achieve with your (re)action?’—and by contributing your own alternative or a better
(re)action, the discussion becomes more concrete.
If the observer has finished giving their feedback according to the guidelines mentioned
above, and if one of the trainers is present as an extra observer to the role play, then they
get the last word: first, to give any additions to the observer’s comments; second, to give
feedback to the observer on the way in which they registered the role play and their
observations and feedback.
It may be clear that not only a lot is expected from the conversation leader and
conversation partner, but also from the observer. At the beginning of a training
programme it will definitely not be simple to fulfil all the requirements of an observer.
Sometimes you are not able to determine which skill the conversation leader applied or
what the effect was of a certain intervention. It is helpful to develop an observation
system for yourself, in which you can quickly note your observations and recount them
during the evaluation. An example of such a system is shown below. To help you record
a role play we have created a short guide. Box B.1 illustrates an example of a method of
observing.
Box B.1 Observation system

Conversation leader’s learning points: ...............
Conversation Conversation Observer
leader partner

Note utterances Note utterances • Mention the skills
in keywords in key words • How do you evaluate this (e.g. +, −)?
......... .........
......... .........
......... ......... • Alternatives, suggestions (....)
......... .........
......... ......... • General impression of (e.g.) conversation style
atmosphere, conversation leader’s posture, eye contact,
......... .........
etc.
......... .........
......... .........
......... .........
......... .........