Lesson 23 - ENTER AND EXECUTE YOUR PLAN - COPE
Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything. Billy Graham
Four ways to approach a difficult person situation:
As mentioned earlier, the strategies are the action
plans on the COPE procedure. (I had to find a word that
began with the letter P.) The E in the COPE model stands for entering
and executing your plan. You may have a plan but you still have
to implement it. That is, you have to decide what exactly you
will say and do.
In review, the last few lessons dealt with the 12 strategies
or plans that are suggested for coping with difficult people and
communicating more effectively under pressure. Note that they
are listed on the back of the COPE card. By the way, if you carry
the card with you, you can always pull it out when needed and
refer to the options. This will also have the effect of stopping
your automatic knee jerk reaction to the situation and will no
doubt help you center yourself, as well as cause the other person
to wonder what in the world is going on.
Armed with these 12 different communication alternatives, you ought to have enough options to handle almost any difficult situation. Someone has said, "If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." If your only strategy is Making Your Case, you end up using it in every situation, because that's all you know how to do. But, it's not always the best choice to meet a particular objective. If you can master these strategies, you'll have 12 different options to choose from to best deal with a particular situation.
Now let's look at how the whole COPE process fits together and is designed to work. In any situation in which you are having to deal with a difficult persons and or communicate under pressure, these are the
Steps in the COPE Process.
1. Tune in to your Awareness Wheel - Gives you a tool
to help you understand yourself and the difficult person.
2. Look at Sense Data - Helps you think from a detached
perspective and identify what is going on.
3. Check your Feelings - Helps you understand the level
of importance of the event to you and what emotional buttons have
been pushed.
4. Check your Thoughts- Helps you understand the meaning
of the event and helps you control its impact on you.
5. Ask yourself, "What are my objectives? - Helps
you focus on what outcomes you want to best merge with the situation
and manage it.
6. Select a coping strategy or plan (back of COPE card)
that fits your objectives.
7. Implement your plan - Formulate exactly what you will
say and do to blend with the situation and move it in the direction
you want it to go.
Your approach to solving people problems can make a difference!
Assignment
10: Applying the COPE Process (Lesson 23)
The Case of the Angry Surgeon
Assume you work in a large hospital. You have been given the responsibility
of setting up a conference at the hospital for surgical nurses.
The three day conference includes seminars and workshops on all
aspects of surgical nursing. Your job includes arranging for the
audio-visual equipment as requested. Requests for equipment were
to be submitted in writing on a form which you sent to all the
presenters.
On the second day of the conference you are confronted by a
surgeon who is angry about not having an overhead projector in
his seminar room. You have no recollection of his requesting a
projector.
Surgeon: "Where's my overhead projector? I'm supposed to
start my class in one minute and there's no projector. I can't
believe the inefficiency around here. I am really upset."
If you have QuickTime (Apple's technology for handling video) installed on your machine, you can view a video clip of the Angry Surgeon scene. If not, just continue below.
What do you do? Remember, you have no recollection of having been asked to provide a projector but you believe there is one available. The surgeon is an important person on the hospital staff. You enjoy your job and you want to keep it. You have a good relationship with others on the staff.
Apply each of the steps in the C-O-P-E process to this case and explain how you would...
C - Center yourself - How would you keep cool?
O - Identify your Objectives - What would be your general and
specific goals?
P - Make a Plan: What communication strategy or strategies (back of COPE card) would you select for this situation?
E - Execute the plan: What might you say?. (Write one statement related to your plan/strategy.)
Write your responses to each of the questions in the COPE process above and send the assignment as an email to the Instructor, Marshall Chatwin
(The above case is adapted from Dobson &
Miller, Giving In To Get Your, Delacorte Press, 1978, pp. 216
- 217)
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