Improving Communication Effectiveness: Identifying Personal Capability Areas For Development

Analysis of Diagnostic Tools and Reflection

The purpose of this study is to identify two major areas in communication that lack proper support and there remain the need for improvement.  In order to understand the major communication deficit areas, an evaluation shall be made on the basis of the result gained from a number of diagnostic tools (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). Apart from this evaluation tools, two personal experiences shall also be narrated. On this basis, two communication barriers shall be identified. The aim is to come up with an action plan that would eventually lead to improvement in my communication skills and ability.

The five diagnostic tools that have been used for the purpose of identifying the issues related to communication are Johari Window, Communication Style Questionnaire, Assertiveness Questionnaire, the Emotional Intelligence test and the Quinn Management Questionnaire (Della Giustina & Rinaldi, 2015). A detailed analysis of the result obtained after the test can be stated below. (Refer to the appendix for the result) 

1. Johari Window:This test helped me to understand the relationship on mine with others. This test revealed that I am indeed a cheerful person who likes to spend time with others but in terms of communication, I faced certain difficulties in facing people; I get nervous easily. However, it has to be said that I live in the open arena and I like to be a part of group, but the Blind Area revealed I face issues when keeping an eye contact with people (Den Hartog et al., 2013). Therefore, it can be said that there is problem in terms of inter personal communication.
2. Communication style questionnaire:After the test was over, I was able to understand that I am comfortable in communicating with people. I have a tendency of nodding yes to the one whom I make communication with but I have considered that I lack the proper approach of gaining the right feedback from them. In this respect, I would like to mention that I should improve my listening skills and ability. I do not carry the capability of making right judgment and I often land up in considering the emotions of others rather than focusing on my communicative skills (Peters, Ruiter & Kok, 2013). There is definitely lack of personal communication skills in me.
3. Assertiveness Questionnaires Test:This test helped me to understand my behavior with others. With the analysis I have understood that I have great dedication towards my work and I completely focus on it while I carry out my responsibility. The result of the test showed that I get disturbed in case of any kind of noise or if any person shouts at me. I feel very bad when people treat me in bad way (Siegman & Feldstein, 2014). Therefore, I feel that I require respect from people. This could be a result of proper feedback from the people with whom I communicate.
4. Quinn Management Questionnaire:This test helped me to understand my level of competency with others and my capability of dealing with others. This test showed me how I am prepared for the professional level as a leader or a manager. It has to be understood that there is a gap between talent and competency (Sbattella et al., 2014). It has been observed that I have the proper talent that is required for the industrial knowledge but I could not use the same knowledge for the purpose of communicating with others.
5. The Emotional Intelligence Test:This particular test enlightened me towards self awareness and self management. The result of the test revealed that I am aware of the behavior of others; but I find is really difficult to estimate the feeling and mood of others. Thus, there is definitely a lack of gaining proper feedback from others that actually hinders the performance of communication (Burgoon, Guerrero & Floyd, 2016). Apart from this, I have understood that I share a good relationship with others in professional and personal level.

As commented by Burgoon, Guerrero and Floyd, (2016) that the personality communication tests are not the only means of detecting the ability of a person to communicate with others but personal experience also helps to understand the actual scenario and the basic communication problems that one faces. In this respect, I would like to mention two such professional experiences that occurred within last few months.

Experience 1: About a couple of months ago, I went to an office party. These parties are not unfamiliar and I knew that I would have to confront many unknown people as well. It is not necessary that we have to communicate with every people in the party but it is a common etiquette that we should maintain a good level of understanding and talk with people. However, I faced certain issues when I approached to talk with a lady. She was from another company and we did not know each other. We started talking about our job roles. Throughout the communication, she was very comfortable in talking with me but I could not say the same thing because I felt a bit shy in talking to her. This clearly showed that I face certain issues in terms of inter personal communication.

Experience 2: Another similar incident that occurred once that I clearly remember is that once I had a meeting with some of my colleagues. The meeting was regarding a professional project where we all have to come down to a particular decision. At this point it was important that I should have taken care of the every single individual’s point of concern in considering the decision of the matter. At that time, I could not decide on a particular matter because I felt that I was not capable of understanding others’ point of view. This was when I felt that in terms of communication, I lack the approach of gaining proper feedback from others.

With the detailed evaluation in terms of the several diagnostic tools and by personal experience as well, I have identified two major drawbacks in my communication ability. These are:

1. Lack of proper interpersonal communication:It has been clearly identified that I lack proper approach of communicating with others. I cannot be very frank or fluent with others easily. I do not have the tendency of making eye contact with others at the time of communication. Therefore, it is important that I develop my inter-personal skills.
2. Lack of gaining feedback:I have faced many hurdles when I failed to receive proper feedback from others. This resulted in a situation where dilemmas are common and this should be the major concern for people in order to achieve better result ultimately in the communication process. Therefore, listening to people and gaining proper feedback from them is the ultimate need in order to improve communication skills.

Professional Personal Experience

This part of the report carries out a literature review of the major concepts of communication. This would eventually help in considering the major areas where the improvement is required. A critical analysis of the overall approach shall be undertaken in this report.

In the view point of Beattie and Ellis, (2014), interpersonal communication is the means of communicating with others and exchanging information or feelings with others either in terms of verbal communication or by written communication. The concept of inter personal communication si to relate one’s self disclosure with others. Interpersonal communication theories also tell about the behavior of people and the success or the failure of the complete communication process. As pointed out by Wood, (2015), in order to develop the interpersonal communication there are some active and passive processes and certain interactive processes as well that lead to the situation of approaching people. The passive approach is to observe people from a distance while, the active approach is to ask about the person from someone else directly. On the other hand, the approach made by people to initiate any kind of conversation with others is known as the interactive approach. In this respect, West and Turner, (2013) pointed out that when people are able to make self disclosure in front of others, interpersonal communication gains momentum because they are able to approach the person easily without considering any other factor. It is when the intimacy between the two persons increases, it is expected that the interpersonal communication between the two would be achieved in the right way.

There are a number of stages that ultimately leads to the fact of self discloser in front of others. It is when the primary stage of conversation gets successful there remains the chance that the inter-personal communication would take place more precisely (Brannen, Piekkari & Tietze, 2014). The discloser of the relationship between the communications is important as it help to reveal the characteristics and features of others among the people in conversation or communication (Rudick & Golsan, 2014). At times, it happens that the communicators face issues related to language barriers as well but all the issues can be easily overcome if right approach is undertaken. In order to avoid any kind of misrepresentation or misinterpretation, it is important to develop the basic skills and ability that would help to improve the interpersonal communication ability. In order to avoid any kind of jargons and the inability to understand others language or perspective, it is important to consider the language capability of others.

As commented by Piekkari, Welch and Welch, (2014), an individual who receives message is not the one who merely absorb message but the person is the one who would like to respond to the message as well. In fact, in this respect, Lane, (2016) commented that the communication process is fulfilled only when both the parties share their individual part of communication. Therefore, it is not that only a person would speak and the other would listen but it shall be the role and responsibility of both the persons to take part in the process of communication equally (Berwick & Chomsky, 2015). It is only when this is achieved, the complete process of communication can be said to be fruitful. In fact, if the speaker is not able to get proper feedback, the communication process would not be effective at all.

Communication Issue Identified

In terms of the importance of gaining feedback, Hybels, (2014) pointed out that an effective and constructive communication process should always focus on getting feedback from the listeners. In fact, Hybels, (2014) commented that feedback is not only about gaining the response of the message sent by the person, it is more than that. For example, the feedback has to be based on the behavior and personality of the personality (Baxter & Norwood, 2015). Feedback also helps to analyze the emotion and the intension of the people as well, which is indeed an important element in the process of communication. In this respect, Dragojevic and Giles, (2014) argued that feedback can only be effective if it is gained within a limited time. The feedback should not be delayed at all. Moreover, it should be rather specific to the point of communication because if the feedback happens to be late, the communication might washes away from the mind of the communicators. In fact, when proper feedback is not properly received, there remain the chances that the communication process does not take place properly and the ultimate result of the communication can fail as well (Danziger, 2013).

Conclusion and action plan:

The report has discussed the major areas where I lack proper communication skills and ability. With the analysis of the literature review, I have understood that communication is an important part of life that is required in both professional and personal life. As it has been evident that from the analysis of the tests and personal experience that the two major areas where improvement is required are interpersonal communication and the ability to gain feedback easily. Therefore, an action plan for the coming six months that shall help me to improve these communication barriers can be stated below:

Action Plan 1: To improve my interpersonal communication ability:

Action Plan 2: Improve the ability to gain feedback

References: 

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences. 

Baxter, L. A., & Norwood, K. M. (2015). Relational dialectics theory. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. 

Beattie, G., & Ellis, A. (2014). The psychology of language and communication. Psychology Press.

Berwick, R. C., & Chomsky, N. (2015). Why only us: Language and evolution. MIT press. 

Brannen, M. Y., Piekkari, R., & Tietze, S. (2014). The multifaceted role of language in international business: Unpacking the forms, functions and features of a critical challenge to MNC theory and performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5), 495-507. 

Burgoon, J. K., Guerrero, L. K., & Floyd, K. (2016). Nonverbal communication. Routledge.

Danziger, K. (2013). Interpersonal Communication: Pergamon General Psychology Series (Vol. 53). Elsevier. 

Della Giustina, D., & Rinaldi, S. (2015). Hybrid Communication network for the smart grid: validation of a field test experience. IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 30(6), 2492-2500.

Den Hartog, D. N., Boon, C., Verburg, R. M., & Croon, M. A. (2013). HRM, communication, satisfaction, and perceived performance: A cross-level test. Journal of management, 39(6), 1637-1665.

Dragojevic, M., & Giles, H. (2014). Language and interpersonal communication: Their intergroup dynamics. Handbook of interpersonal communication, 29-51. 

Hybels, S. (2014). Communicating effectively. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 

Lane, S. D. (2016). Interpersonal communication: Competence and contexts. Routledge. 

Peters, G. J. Y., Ruiter, R. A., & Kok, G. (2013). Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory. Health psychology review, 7(sup1), S8-S31.

Piekkari, R., Welch, D., & Welch, L. S. (2014). Language in international business: The multilingual reality of global business expansion. Edward Elgar Publishing. 

Rudick, C. K., & Golsan, K. B. (2014). Revisiting the relational communication perspective: Drawing upon relational dialectics theory to map an expanded research agenda for communication and instruction scholarship. Western Journal of Communication, 78(3), 255-273. 

Sbattella, L., Colombo, L., Rinaldi, C., Tedesco, R., Matteucci, M., & Trivilini, A. (2014, January). Extracting emotions and communication styles from prosody. In International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems (pp. 21-42). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Siegman, A. W., & Feldstein, S. (2014). Nonverbal behavior and communication. Psychology Press.

West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2013). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application (2013 Ed.). 

Wood, J. T. (2015). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters. Nelson Education.

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