Every year, faculty and staff reunite for the Customer Service Conference. The Customer Service Conference helps train faculty and staff on different issues. This year, conference organizers went with interpersonal relationships as the main theme, presented by keynote speaker Matt Townsend, KSL radio host. The Customer Service Conference is annually held during the first week of October.
This year, Townsend spoke about the “Art of Healthy Relationships” to his audience, saying that everyone’s personal problems interfere with communicating in their work and home lives. He explained how it creates stress in relationships with co-workers and spouses.
“I believe Weber State University means better relationships,” he said.
Townsend also said that it’s not about changing, but about creating a better life for oneself.
“You cannot not communicate,” he said. “We are always communicating.”
Townsend said that how people communicate can be interpreted differently. He gave one example of how men and women communicate differently.
“Women: their primary goal is to bond. Men prefer to act, not talk about it,” he continued, saying how men statistically don’t bond the way women do. They instead rely on their actions when it comes to bonding.
According to Townsend, one main reason for miscommunication is the difference between women’s and men’s brains, specifically in the corpus callosum, a nerve fiber that divides the cerebrum into two hemispheres. With women, their corpus callosums are moving constantly, whereas with men, they move slowly. He said that women can multitask, while men compartmentalize.
“The No. 1 killer in relationships is that we ‘starve’ stuff,” Townsend said. S.T.A.R.V.E.D. stands for “safety, trust, appreciation, respect, validation, encouragement and dedication.” He said that when couples get into fights, it begins in smoke and can lead into a fire. He suggested to his audience to avoid that fire.
In further explanation, he said that where there is smoke, there are fights on turfs, benefits, promotions, differing personalities, diverging goals, entitlements and increased issues with communication.
“You see smoke,” Townsend said, “you see stupid stuff that becomes stuff.” By “stuff,” he said he meant arguments over little things that often mean nothing big.
He continued the presentation with examples of a dolphin and a cow jumping out of the water. He said this indicates how a couple can have problems because of their differences.The cow is hardworking and clumsy, whereas the dolphin is elegant and sleek.
“The reality about teams is we can usually do more together than apart,” Townsend said. He said even with the differences, relationships can do better if they work together than if they work apart.
He ended the session with a quote from Mahatma Ghandi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” He told the faculty and staff to change their ways if they want more safety, trust, appreciation, respect, validation, encouragement and dedication in their communication.
“You become the change,” he finished.
