Level 1 Listening Reflection Paper

The moment I found out that a course called listen, discern, and decide was available, I knew that I had to register for it. I am thankful that I did because this course has illuminated the ways in which one can come to a decision. Prior to course, decision making has always been my weakness because I was paralyzed with fear about the consequences. Although I am not claiming that I can now make decisions with ease, I am affirming that I have been educated on the steps and skills that are intertwined with decision-making. In this paper, I will discuss an example of level one listening, and how I can improve my listening capacity. Next, I will reveal how listening influences my discernment process. After, I will talk about the vroom decision …show more content…
For example, one of my best friends is going through a difficult situation – her parents are getting a divorce. Although she is twenty-three-years-old, there is nothing that can take away the pain of her parents separating. My friend came over to my house to bake, but we ended up having a conversation about how she was coping with the separation, especially since this will be her first Christmas without both of her parents together. She opened up to me about things that I did not know that were straining the relationships within the family. My friend stated that she was being used as a mediator between her mom and dad, yet this was a role that she did not necessarily want because it was adding additional stress and worry to an already stressful situation. Although I really wanted to communicate my feelings about this situation, I knew that it was not my place at that time. “At this level, listeners refrain from judging the talker and place themselves in the other’s position, attempting to see things from […] her point of view” (Burley-Allen, 1995, p. 14). As her best friend, I knew that the best thing for me to do was just let her verbally communicate her frustrations and fears to me. When her heart aches, as does mine because she has been my best friend since elementary school. Burley-Allen (1995) declares, “the overall focus is to listen from the heart, which opens the doorway to …show more content…
The Vroom model is seeking to understand those factors that have an influence on a decision that needs to be made. For example, one factor in the decision making process could be time. If there is little time in which this decision needs to be made, then the leader might not have time to seek out opinions from other members of the organization. Therefore, with no input from others, the leader would have to make an autocratic decision because the leader only listened to his or her opinions. However, if there is time to consult with other employees, then that decision would lean more towards a group-center leadership style. The leader would take the time to listen to the employees concerns about the issue at hand. In addition, this could also help align all of the workers with the main goal of the organization which creates something incredible – team unity (Vroom,