Authority and Power

Authority is the use of power which one person has over another person or more people. Throughout our classes and meetings we discussed the concept of authority by relating it to our basis, OFNR model and we had some exercises about being able to say no to the authority. This exercise is important, because in our daily lives, there are many people who takes authority as a taboo and they think they cannot cross the line. The person with the authority may think that the other person should not say no to him or the other person may think that he can't say no to the request or reject the person with the authority. Well, that's not the case. Even though the person with the authority has more power, everybody has needs and feelings so you cannot simply take this as a simple mathematics problem. If we understand our feelings and needs than we are able to reject or say no the figures with authority by using these in a strategy to reach our goal. 

There were many uses of authority and the video that we watched; the types of conductors and their uses of authority over the orchestra was a really good example. 

Power is not equal to authority. Authority is something we see in an organization, it is given to some subordinates of that organization so that by using this, he/she helps the organization to operate efficiently, by influencing others. Leadership skills are dealt with when a person with authority is trying to influence his/her subordinates. And right use of authority is one of the main skills of leadership. 

Power is another thing. It's something you have and when you have it, you have control over other people. You can even influence beliefs and actions of other people. Power and authority relate, but they're not the same thing.

Listening Effectively and Empathy

In order to have an effective communication in our daily lives, the only thing that we are focusing is not only the way we talk, or the way we communicate. It all starts from ourselves, we must understand our feelings and needs first in order to understand other person's needs and wants. So an effective communication can be seen as a tennis rally, we do not focus on who gets the point, but the quality of the rally is "the point".

If we think that we clarified ourselves, it's not just because we open ourselves, the help of the other person is important too. What other person or other people are doing is listening. So it's now time for you to listen effectively, for the sake of an effective and healthy communication.

We need to focus to the words and the eyes of the other person when we are listening and leave no distractions. Using body language and paraphrasing the opposition will ease the job for a desired communication. Being patient and absorbing what other person is telling to you is the key.

One of the most important thing again is the empathy, where you put yourself to other people's shoes, trying to get a glance to their perception and understand what they are really talking about, basically understand their feelings and needs. Empathy is not justifying but its understanding one another.