The Art of Listening  

The show I chose to watch was Golden Girls, with four women a show, one older woman and three younger women.  As I watched the show in silent mode, I was able to see that the four women same living arrangement.  It was kind of difficult to know exactly what was going on, however I come to the conclusion that there was some disagreement going on.  It seemed that the argument was having to do with the older woman going away on a trip.  In further viewing the show I came to the conclusion that it was not a happy discussion because of the facial gestures the women were having.  I assumed that the women were not related, just friends helping each other economically and to help each other not be alone in life.


Upon turning up the volume I was able to see what the discussion was all about.  The older woman was the mother to one of the other three and the other two were friends.  The daughter was having to make the   decision of sending her mother to a retirement facility because she thought this would be better for her.  One of the friends did not agree with the older woman’s daughter because she said she would become lonely and die all alone in that place and that no one could take better care of her that her own daughter and friends.  The second friend agreed with the daughter because her argument was that the mother would be able to meet more people her age and she would have different activities to fill up her days.  At the end of the show it is decided that the older woman will continue to live with her daughter and two friends.

I truly believe that if I would have watched this television show previously I would have known what the show was all about and how the characters were all connected and I would have probably know a bit more about the plot of the show.

I found out that it was difficult to get the information about the show because of their nonverbal behaviors, however I was able to make out that there was some disagreement going on.  I also found out that without verbal communication I was missing some clarification to what was causing the disagreement.   What I have learned from this experience is that it is very important to listening very carefully when someone is talking to you.

Communication Skills/Professional

The person who I believe demonstrates competent communication is Mr. Jack Damron. Mr. Damron just retired as our Executive Director, but he has the communication skills that I want to follow.  During his time as Executive Director he made sure that he went around each morning to the different departments to say good morning and ask if there were any concerns.  He made sure he complimented his employees in a positive manner and remembered every little detail of each one of us (there are over 200 employees).  During our staff meeting he made sure that he praised his employees and stressed the fact that his job was made easier because he had the competent staff to make sure the job was done.  

He made himself accessible to all employees and never had a negative attitude, no matter what the problem was.  He made sure he gave his employees his fullest attention when discussing any topic, never gave the impression that he was bored.

I would want to model some of my communication behaviors after Mr. Damron because I believe his method of communication was very effective.  I saw how every one of his employee had the respect and admiration for this gentleman.    I want to be able to have the same positive effect that Mr. Damron had when he went around inquiring about how our day was going.