Who Am I As A Communicator?

          As I reviewed the assignment for this week and I proceeded to evaluate myself, I was provided valuable information that will help me build a communication style that will allow me to express myself in a professional and meaningful matter. I was able to see that yes I am sometime uneasy in some communication situations and in other communication opportunities I am more confident.  I can certainly see that when I am in small settings or conducting one on one conversation I am more at ease with my dialogue.  When I am in a large group setting, I tend to become tense because I want to ensure that I stay on target and that the information that I am presenting comes across effectively.

          I do agree that I am apt to become aggressive when communicating with staff members about their performance especially when it becomes repetitive in addressing what is desired and what the staff member is actually doing which does not meet the standards for programming and customer service.

          It was also interesting to see that through the eyes of my family member and colleague, there were similarities in the area of communication anxiety and listening styles. I was more intrigued with the evaluation of my family member who evaluated my verbal aggressiveness as being moderate and my colleague’s response was similar to what I had evaluated as being at a significant level of crossing the line and being aggressive to the listener which could cause hurtful feelings.

          Upon assessing the evaluation, I do acknowledge that I need to be more attentive in the way I verbally communicate.  I must say that I would have considered myself to be an action-oriented person when it comes to listening. The evaluation results reflect that I am people-oriented listener. With this in mind, I need to find a medium in the way I listen and how I communicate in all settings whether small, large, or one on one.  I do not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, yet I want to make sure that I am effective and productive in anything that I am apart of whether it be on the job, at home or in my community.

References

Communication Measures: Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge. “Communication Anxiety Inventory" and "Verbal Aggressiveness Scale".  Copyright 2009 Taylor & Francis Group LLC Books. Used with permission from Routledge via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Communication Measure: Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge. "Listening Styles Profile-16". Copyright 2009 Taylor & Francis Group LLC Books. Used with permission from Taylor & Francis via the Copyright Clearance Center.