LEARNING JOURNAL

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS LAB

SUBMITTED TO
DR. SENTHIL KUMAR

SUBMITTED BY

ROLL NO 201931026
SECTION E2F
MOHAMMED AZHAR KHAN
 JOURNEY TO SELF AWARENESS

Learned about self-analysis and why it is important. In the case where James is confused about
why his partners are not dedicated enough. After reading the case thoroughly I feel James lack to
convey the feeling he has and what he wanted to achieve in the organization. 
In this chapter course facilitator also discussed the importance of interpersonal skills. He asked
us about our strengths and weaknesses and asked us to work on them as we move on in this
course. 
My strengths are my communication skills, and I am always ready to perform anywhere about
anything on the other hand so far I have identified two of my major weaknesses and those are my
anger management issue and I am not able to understand people’s emotions very well.
We also did a fun exercise where we have to look for people who are similar to us, a sheet was
given to us where we have to answer the questions like favorite movie, food, music, etc.
fortunately I was able to find one candidate who was very similar to me. But on the other hand,
many of them didn’t find their partners. 
Then we discussed the chapter where we learn different ways of obtaining self-awareness and
self-analysis. But I found this chapter very similar to OB-1 from the first trimester, most of the
things we discussed in the class were already known to me. So, in short, it was like a revision
session for me of class OB- 1. 

TRUST & SELF DISCLOSURE

Trust no one. Not your closest advisor, your spouse, your brother, your God. 
Trust only yourself or you will face pain every day of your life.
 These above lines were quoted by Egyptian King Yul Brymer in movie Ten Commandments
In this session, sir has conducted an exercise where we were sat in two concentric circles the
inner circle is supposed to play the game and outsiders were to observe them. We were assigned
with the roles like a moderator, distributable creator, while one has to be silent. We were given a
topic for group discussion and needed to arrive at the solution. I played my role didn’t allow the
group to reach its conclusion. 
Through this exercise, we learned that every group discussion needs a moderator to successfully
conclude. 
In this lecture, I learn about self-disclosure why it is important. 
 How it can be used to gain trust from others. 
 How much disclosure is appropriate? 
 How revealing about yourself can improve the productivity of the team  
But even with all these, I am not convinced by the idea of sharing information. I feel if I reveal
my weaknesses other is going to take advantage of that. 
During my previous job, I have experienced this first hand. Even when we discussed this in the
class points which were opposing my idea did not convince me. Even this chapter’s case Mary
made the same mistake of revealing herself too much to her supervisor and paid the price of it.
Instead, if she would just focus on the job and did not reveal the information to her boss she
would be fine. 
My main concern is how any information will be received and utilized it depends on the other
person.     

LISTENING & NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Listening is the process of hearing someone speak, processing what you’re hearing and
demonstrating that you understand the speaker’s intent.
Sensing involves hearing the words and receiving the non-verbal signals that he or she is
exhibiting along with words 
Sir has created a debate between me and Deepesh on a topic of Indian Railways 
After the debate the even though I was appreciated for listening and interpreting the non-verbal
signals. I also get to learn on how to use numbers as I used too much data and less of words in
my debate
I also learned about active listening, passive listening, attentive listening, etc. 
In Non-verbal communication, I learned about KINESICS which was a revision of Business
communication from term 1 
Benefits of active listening 
 Shows speaker you are interested in him
 Encourages further communication
 Can calm down the person who is feeling very upset about a situation 
Sir has also given an example of himself that what he does when a student comes to his office
with a problem and how he shuts his laptop and leans towards him. These small gestures not only
calm him/her down but also create an environment of trust.
 Emotional Intelligence

Key Learnings – 
 5 components of emotional intelligence 
 Self-awareness
 Self-regulation
 Motivation
 Empathy
 Social skill
Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
Sir has conducted a game in which teams have to agree on one thing and create a win-win
situation instead of people act in their self-interest and nobody won the match. 
Turns out the more people you have the more difficult it is to create a win-win situation 
Strategies for increasing Emotional Intelligence
 Be candid
 Ask for feedback
 Be self-confident
 Don’t overreact
 Take time to choose a reaction 
 Be motivated 
I also learned about time management and stress management. The concept of time famine.
Time famine- feeling we have too much to do and not enough time
Time management strategies –
 Plan & prioritize
 Get in the habit of preparing 
 Follow 80 / 20 rule 
 Find your optimal work time etc.
I also learned about the time management matrix and how to classify the work into all four
quadrants. 

NEGOTIATION

Definition – It is a process in which two or more people or groups share their concerns &
interests to reach an agreement of mutual benefit 

But why we negotiate and how can we create a win situation for us. 
To understand this we played a game called car swap 
In this game, the class is divided into two groups buyer and seller and we were given a sheet
where the rules of selling a car and details about the deal were given. Everyone has to create a
win situation according to the rules given in the paper. 
After finishing the game, sir has introduced a new term in negotiation which is called BATNA
(Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). 
Learnings about BATNA- People who have higher BATNA tends to be a strong negotiator and
might not back down from their offer for the agreement. 
In a negotiation, if BATNA of both the people are strong, it is possible that the deal might not
conclude. 
Therefore some ground rules must be created before the negotiations happen. 

FACILITATING TEAM SUCCESS

What is Facilitation?
It is recognizing the potential that a collection of discourse individual can bring in the form of
innovation and effectiveness organizational leaders rush to do teams in hopes of reaping similar
rewards
But it is not as easy as it sounds team consist of different people of a different mindset and
making them work is not an easy task. 
Facilitation is a set of activities carried out before. During and after meetings to help a group
achieve its outcomes 
Why it is important?
Every team needs a facilitator simply creating a group of professional won’t do the trick 
A team without a facilitator is as good as the sports team without a referee
So what exactly a facilitator do? 
The facilitator is a neutral 3rd party monitor who helps in improving the effectiveness of the
team 
Learnings for facilitators behavior and skills 
 The facilitator should be aware of his strengths and weaknesses skilled in both verbal and
non-verbal communication he should be able to get the signals of team 
 He should not intervene in growing conflict because this conflict is necessary over the
life of a team. 
 The facilitator should establish a ground-rule, get agreement on the process and get
agreement on the outcome 
 Should stay neutral
 Always be in a positive state of mind
 Most importantly build on agenda
Some people can single-handedly hinder the process of the team. In this session, I learn how to
deal with them without creating a disturbance.
 PRESENTATION

Before starting this lecture few of us asked to make a presentation on a topic of our choice and
we then have to present this topic in a class. 
My topic of choice was the usage of smartphone 

After my presentation, I got constructive feedback on how to improve my slides. How to make
my story looks consistent. With this feedback, I prepared my final presentation.

After my final presentation result was very clear I got only two constructive that which were 
 My timing was off for my jokes 
 My topic was somewhat disconnected with a few of the audience 
Learnings from this session were
 Hoe to improve slide quality 
 How many words are too many words
 Use image instead of words
 Use infographics
 How to create a smooth transition 
 What are the things which can be avoided to make a presentation look good