Evaluation of communication

This week, I took the Communication Anxiety Inventory, Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, and Listening Styles Profile.  I scored moderately one the first two scales.  The scores were 61 for communication anxiety and 64 for verbal agressiveness.  I was categorized in group one for listening styles.  This information showed me that I was a people person.  I am a moderately anxious during speaking, and I moderately agressive.  I agreed with these results because I tend to be mildly anxious when speaking in public and I do not like agression.

After reviewing the reactions and responses of my two participants, I was shocked that they both scored me high in aggression and low in anxiety.  They perceive me as a strong speaker who is willing to speak her mind.  However, this is not how I perceive myself.  I found it odd that they rated me high on the agression scale.  This showed me that I may be more agressive than I thought.

I will use this information for my personal and professional development.  I like being a people oriented speaker.  However, I will evaluate my future speeches and conversations for aggression.  Based on what I have learned, I may be more aggressive in my personal life due to my level of comfort with friends and family.  However, I am well aware that I am anxious when speaking in professional settings.

Communicating with people

This week, I learned that the Platinum rule is to “do unto others as they would do for themselves” (Beebe, Beebe, and Redmond, 2011).   This rule applies to communicating to diverse groups of people.  After evaluating my communication with others, I realize that I communicate differently in different situations and different contexts.  When I talk with colleagues, I am more professional and flexible with my communication style.  However, in personal communication, I am very informal and I do not try to incorporate cultural awareness in to my communcation.  As a result, I experience cultural myopia during personal communication.  When I work with parents, I am informal yet professional.  I try to talk to them in terms that they can understand.  However, this makes it difficult for me to avoid implying my own cultural beliefs in the conversations.  Therefore, I will work to establish better communication practices with others now that I am aware of my current communication styles.

Three strategies that will help me communicate more effectively are developing cultural competency, monitoring nonverbal cues, and avoiding industry jargon.

 

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon

Communication in Television

I recently watched a show called "Grimm".  I downloaded one of the espisodes and watched it with the sound off.  During the episode, I could see the nonverbal communication between the characters.  This helped me to understand when something was funny, when people were excited, and when people were arguing.  Based on the physical interaction and facial expressions, I could determine that there was concern in one scene and anger in another. 

Next, I watched the same episode with the sound on.  I was correct that there was humor in one scene and anger in another.  However, I was incorrect when I thougt that the two main characters were arguing.  They looked angry at each other; however, I learned that they were angry at a suspect they were discussing.  This helped me to better understand how verbal and nonverbal communication play a role in understanding the context of the message.

Role Model

Communicator Role Model

My communicator role model is Louise Lloyd.  Mrs. Lloyd is the director of the agency where I work.  She is a strong ethical communicator because she is professional, uses inclusive langauge, and works well with a diverse group of people.  Mrs. Lloyd exhibits professional behavior and shows respect for diverse cultural beliefs and traditions. 

I would like to model myself after Mrs. Lloyd by learning to communicate with a variety of diverse people.  Sometimes, I do not understand that I may offend others by communicating with them based on my own beliefs.  Therefore, I want to learn to disclose what is relevant to me and the audience.  This will help me establish stronger relationships with parents.