INTERPERSONAL SKILLS LAB

LEARNING JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
degree of Post Graduate Diploma in Management in

MARKETING

Submitted by

SAYLI MAHAJAN
(201932096)
Batch – E2F

Under the guidance of

DR. SENTHIL KUMAR S

Academic Year 2019 – 2020

SESSIONS 1 & 2 (Dated: 8th January’20)

Topic:

Self-disclosure and Trust

Activities:

 Self Awareness
 People Hunt

Happenings and Learning:

We started the course with an assignment where we were given an idea about
the ‘Learning Journal’ which we need to submit at the end of this course. We
were asked to maintain a separate notebook and write entries of the learning
of each session into it. It has enhanced my learning and improved my thinking
process.

This was followed by an activity of Self Awareness. We were asked to describe

ourselves in the best way possible by using our creativity. I wrote my general
introduction, skills, strengths, areas of improvement and hobbies. To add
creativity, I drew a small white flower which is the meaning of my name. It
encouraged me to think deep about who I am. Self Awareness is essential for
self-improvement and for developing personally and professionally.

In another session we were given an activity of People Hunt where we had to

write down our hobbies, favourite TV shows, favourite colours, hometown, etc.
in a sheet given and then go around the class looking for people with similar
answers as ours. This activity helped me in knowing the names of people I
hadn’t interacted with before and it made us comfortable speaking with each
other as we got to know with whom we share a common background or
interest. We learnt the strategies for Self Disclosure and for building Trust. This
session made me realise how often I should disclose myself, how much and in
front of whom. We also had a discussion on Johari Window.
SESSIONS 3 & 4 (Dated: 22nd January’20)

Topic:

Listening and Nonverbal Communication

Activities:

 Extempore
 Debate

Happenings and Learning:

In this session, we learnt about Listening, why it is important and its types –
Passive, Attentive and Active/Empathetic Listening. We focussed on Active
Listening and how it becomes important in organisations. We also studied
about Nonverbal Communication and learnt that our verbal and nonverbal
messages should be in sync.

We were given an activity of Extempore where we had to volunteer and pick

up a chit and talk about the topic in the chit. The audience were asked to listen
to the speaker carefully and then give feedback to him. It was the test of Self
Disclosure for the speaker and Active Listening for the audience. I got to know
about various points which I failed to listen in the speech of the speakers.

This was followed by another activity of Debate in which two people had to
volunteer and debate on a particular topic such as ‘capital punishment’. When
one person was putting his points on the topic, the other one had to listen to
the former carefully and repeat the points he said and vice versa. This helped
us to know how to focus on one’s speech and how to listen actively and
effectively. We also got to know the barriers to Effective Listening.

This reminded me of the game where one person starts the game by telling a
statement to another person in his ears and this chain goes on till the last
person and he has to tell the statement to everyone which comes out to be an
entirely new statement to the first person who started the chain!
SESSIONS 5 & 6 (Dated: 29th January’20)

Topic:

Assertive Communication and Negotiation

Activities:

 Assertiveness and Communication Intelligence Sheets

 Dealing

Happenings and Learning:

In this session, we learnt about the three types of communication: Assertive,

Aggressive & Passive and the importance of communicating assertively. Many
of us feel that being assertive will give a wrong impression to the other person
or sometimes, it may create a misunderstanding of aggressiveness. But it is
very necessary to affirm our views without losing respect for others. We need
to inculcate fairness, directness, honesty and sensitivity to communicate
assertively.

We solved the sheets based on Assertiveness and Communication Intelligence.

The sheet ‘Who Am I?’ helped us to learn whether the mentioned behaviours
are passive, passive aggressive, aggressive or assertive.

In the next sheet ‘How Assertive Are You?’, we got to determine whether we
have a problem in saying “NO” or otherwise communicating assertively. I got
to know that I have to work on some areas to communicate assertively as the
count of my “NO”s was 18 that is, in (15-21). If I have loaned money to my
friends, then I will find it difficult to ask that money back. I will have to work on
asking directly to my friends in such a manner that they understand my need
and won’t get hurt. To increase the likelihood of success, effective
communication is very important and thus it is very necessary to work upon
the areas of improvement of assertive communication.
In the next session, we all got to indulge in an activity of Dealing. We were
divided into two groups. One group was of the manufacturing company and
the other group was of the company who had to buy parts from the former
company. Both the groups were given a “BATNA” that is, Best Alternative To
Negotiated Agreement, below which they were not supposed to go. From this
activity, I learnt that negotiation primarily should create a win-win situation
and we should always set our BATNA. The major take away from this session
for me was that I should have my BATNA set whenever I am in negotiating
terms with someone and I should try not to go below my BATNA.

SESSIONS 7 & 8 (Dated: 5th February’20)

Topic:

Negotiation and Paralanguage

Happenings and Learning:

Absent
SESSIONS 9 & 10 (Dated: 11th February’20)

Topic:

Persuasion and Facilitating Team Success

Activity:

 Role Play

Happenings and Learning:

In this session, we learnt a form of influence, called Persuasion and why it is

important. The persuasion process includes understanding others’ motivation
& needs, establishing credibility, framing for common ground, engaging in joint
problem solving, supporting preferred outcome with logic and reinforcing with
appeal to emotions & basic instincts. I used these aspects in my real life when I
had to convince my roommate to share room with me in the second year as
well. I explained her that we are not only in the same committee and forum
but also in the same section. I persuaded her into believing the fact that we
both will be having the same timings of classes & meetings of the committee
and we both will be of great help to each other.

We were given a sheet based on ‘Persuading Individuals and Audiences’. It

included creating consonance out of dissonance, applying the six persuasion
steps to our own and a given situation, understanding the power of leveraging
basic instincts and applying the ACE (Appropriateness, Consistency,
Effectiveness) theory.

In the next session, an activity was carried out wherein two rounds of chairs
one surrounding the other were arranged. The people sitting in the outer circle
were given a task of observing the people in the inner circle. The people sitting
in the inner circle were given a task of discussing on a problem and coming up
with a solution. Each one of them was secretly assigned a role and they had to
follow while discussing amongst each other.
I was given to play a role of ‘side-tracker’. So my job was to create confusion
waste the time of group. Similarly, others played role of being a whisperer,
late-comer, fighter, facilitator and many more. This made me understand the
importance of a facilitator and how he is responsible to initiate the discussion.
He takes care of bringing the team back on the track whenever it diverts from
its objective and gives chance to those who haven’t spoken. He also
streamlines the flow of the discussion and concludes it in a systematic manner.

This can be seen in any group, team or committee where cohesion is needed.
Dysfunctional behaviour of any member should be resolved with the help of
facilitation. This activity thus helped me to understand the team dynamics,
how people can differ in their opinions and how they contribute to solve the
problem.

SESSIONS 11 & 12 (Dated: 26th February’20)

Topic:

Presentation Design and Delivery

Happenings and Learning:

Absent
SESSION 13 (Dated: 1st March’20)

Topic:

Making Business Presentations and Demonstration

Activity:

 Demo Presentations

Happenings and Learning:

We referred to the book ‘Presentation Zen’ & Steve Jobs’ video of IPhone
launch and were taught how to make effective and attractive presentations.
We need presentation skills not only in corporate life but also in our day to day
life. The way we speak to someone, negotiate with someone, use our
convincing skills all require presentation skills. Coming to making formal
presentations, we got to know various techniques and methods on how a
presentation should be, how we can make it eye catching and what we can do
in order to engage the audience. We incorporated all of it while preparing for
our final presentations.

Some of us volunteered to give Demo Presentations and we gave them

constructive feedback which they could implement in their final presentations.
SESSIONS 14 & 15 (Dated: 4th March’20)

Topic:

Presentation Demonstration

Activities:

 Demo Presentations
 Final Presentations

Happenings and Learning:

The remaining Demo Presentations were continued in the first session and we
again gave the presenters constructive feedback which they could implement
in their final presentations.

The next session started with the Final Presentations. The good part was that
all the parameters such as presentation design & content, presenter’s
connection with audience & delivery and presenter’s body language & use of
audiovisual aids were put down on a paper and handed down to our peers and
we were anonymously evaluated on its basis. It also contained the good parts
and the areas of improvement of our presentation. These papers were handed
to the presenters at the end of the session. Also, the best presenter of the
session was declared.

I had my presentation in this session and I made sure that I incorporate most
of the tips in my presentation. My topic was “Astrology”. The audience liked
my choice of topic. I was confident and had good interaction with the
audience. I managed to engage the audience very well and used facts and
jargons. The audience was very impressed when I recited the twelve Hindu
calendar months and they couldn’t resist clapping in the middle of the
presentation. I was told not to keep the slides too much data centric &
descriptive and to work on time management.
CONCLUSION:

I learnt how to disclose myself and build trust, how to use verbal and non-
verbal communication effectively, how to listen and communicate effectively
and how to negotiate and convince people. I learnt how to make impactful
presentations and engage the audience. I have begun well at providing
constructive feedback to my friends.

Collectively Interpersonal Skills Lab was a course that had surprising and fun
activities awaiting us. We not only learnt concepts theoretically but also
practically. The in-class activities, role-plays, questionnaires, take-home
exercises and presentations helped a lot in gaining the practical knowledge. It
will help me to develop and foster strong relationships with my team mates
and ultimately contribute in increasing team productivity. The learning
obtained from this course will stay throughout my life.