Before you try to repair the communication challenge identified in Week 1 Part 1E, you first need to identify a pattern and understand where the breakdown takes place. Consider your encounters over the last few weeks. When did this challenge occur? If you have selected as your challenge “keeping a calm voice when instructing my children,” then identify when you did not keep a calm voice. Next, identify your challenge as a behavioral pattern. Here is this challenge stated above as a behavioral goal, “I want to keep a calm voice when instructing my children.” Now it is your turn, write your behavioral challenge as a behavioral goal that begins with the phrase, “I want to….”
Next, put yourself in someone else’s shoes. . . someone who has the same communication challenge you identified in 1E in Week 1. Answer the following questions as if you were watching the challenge take place.
• What did that person do to escalate the communication challenge?
• What could that person have done to de-escalate the communication challenge?
• What must that person be saying and/or doing for me to say that he/she has achieved the communication goal that he or she shares with you?
