Over lunch today, with two colleagues ,I brought up Dr. Thomas Gordon and his books on 'Effectiveness Training'. The first one was PARENT EFFECTIVENESS TRAINING which was followed by TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS TRAINING and several others of the same genre'. Gordon's genius was taking basic, sound, counseling techniques and principles, and packaging them for parents and others as helps for effective communication and relationship building.
The basic tools were effective listening, I-messages, conflict resolution, and problem ownership. I learned a lot from Gordon and his work. His concepts and principles remain valid today and I think it is unfortunate that it is not more widely used today. However, much of his work has permeated society even though many have no idea of the source of the language and skills. One of the persons with whom I had lunch said he'd found the Effectiveness material online.
In the 1970's the Lutheran Church was active in promoting his work as a way of helping create functional families. Both the Curmudgeon and the Curmudgeonette were trained as Effectiveness Teachers. When we were in Sioux Falls at Kate's and Brad's wedding last June two persons thanked the Curmedgeonette for the skills they'd learned when she taught Effectiveness Training there in the 70's.
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