Improving Communication Skills: A Reflective Practice Assessment

Diagnosis and Reflection

I have analysed my strengths and weaknesses with reference to communication skills using certain diagnostic tools and the results are presented in this report along with the action steps that I would be taking to overcome my weaknesses to improve my communication skills. The report first explores my communication skills through various tools including JOhari Window, Big Five Inventory Questionnaire, Communication Style Questionnaire, and Empathy Quotient test and then presents the results along with the interpretations of each. Based on the interpretations, I have come up with an improvement plan for myself which is presented at the last.

The Big Five inventory questionnaire helped me understand my personality on following dimensions –

Introversion or extroversion: I rated high on extraversion and thus, I can say that I am very extrovert as I more talkative and social

Agreeableness or antagonism: I found myself only average in agreeableness which suggests that I do not agree to things easily. I am blunt and forthcoming when expressing emotions which causes difficulties in maintaining relationships

Lack of direction or Conscientiousness: I found myself very low in Conscientiousness suggesting that I am not organized and I do not take responsibility very easily.

Neuroticism or emotional stability: An average score in this dimension suggests that I feel negative emotions some times and feel low about myself

Openness or closeness: I am extremely low in openness suggesting that I do not like trying new things, going to new places, like to follow routines, need stability, want security, and I am politically conservative.

My results confirmed my finding that I am an extrovert as I was found high in openness. However, the test shows that I am only average in agreeability and low in conscientiousness and neuroticism. The test also revealed that I not ell organized but I am more spontaneous and at times careless. I also found that I do not feel negative emotions very easily so I do not get upset very easily.

I have used Johari window as a self discovery took that has revealed a lot of information about myself with respect to communication and personality aspects. This includes the information that is known to me as well as the world and the information that is either hidden from me or from others. The Window divides the information into four quadrants including open areas which is known to everyone, hidden area which I know but haven’t told anyone, unknown to me which others are aware about me and blind spot which is not known to anyone.

It contained an 80 pair question set and I needed to choose one from each pair that I could relate with most. The questionnaire helped me discover my communication style. Various kinds of styles that could be found included process oriented that made a person value facts while communicating, action oriented valuing results, idea oriented or people oriented who believed in building relationships in teams (Massey & Nelson, 2008).

Big Five Inventory Questionnaire

I found from this test that I am action oriented and value achievements. I work hard to achieve things in life. I also somewhat people oriented because I socialize and value relationships. As an idea person, I did not find myself very strong which could be the reason why I am unable to come up with innovative solutions to problems around me. In understanding of concepts and theories, I was found average (Goldsmith & Robinwitch, 1959).

My score was lowest in process orientation which suggests that I am not very good with analysis of facts and formation of strategies. I usually avoid logical thinking process while going through told steps. There were other things that I found myself lacking in such as controlling, organizing, managing emotions and patience  (Langston, 1991).

I used the assertiveness questionnaire for understanding my level of comfort with difficulties.

I found myself on the level 4 of comfort with problem solving.  

This test also had 80 questions that explored my comfort with the empathy. I scored 46 suggesting I am not very good with empathy.

The scores from the four tests release many of my weaknesses and out of these following 2 were found to be most affecting and thus, I would like to work to solve them in order to enhance my communicator skills.

• Inability to use logic in my communication
• I lack openness

Interaction analysis helped me explore my behaviour patterns and identify various associations I had between my communication styles and their outcome. I have explored two intersections I had with other people as given below (Pesarin, et al., 2012).

Me: Why didn’t you send him the mail?

Colleague: What mail?

Me: Do I have to remind you every day?

Colleague: Why don’t you do it yourself? I am not at your service

Analysis: The conversation I had with my peer resulted into resentment and heated argument after which we rarely spoke to each other. It could be due to the fact that I started the argument as a personal attack and my colleague responded to me with a negation.

Me: Do you agree? (Pause) I am sure you do not.

Professional friend: I am not too sure. What about you?

Me: I could never agree

Analysis: When asking my friend about his opinion about the speaker, I assumed his response and presented my views indirectly stating that it had to be correct without letting him think of his own argument. He was however, doubtful so responded moderately. He gives me back the question I had asked and I responded boldly and clearly reconfirming my disagreement with the speaker (SCOTT, 2002).

For a person to successful in any organization or in an academic curriculum, relationship building is important as it gives a person an opportunity to learn through interactions. This needs Active Corporation and contribution through communication in a group of people. Communication can be effective when there is a logical thinking involved in arguments. Logic refers to the speech or language and the process of speaking that is used for the transfer or information or an emotion between people (Shirmatov, 2017)

Johari Window

Logic can be seen as the knowledge of form of thinking that is correct. Logic was usually studied as a part of philosophy earlier but later it was defined as a knowledge that can be used for distinguishing between the right and the wrong. The key task of a logical thinker is to define a truth or identify ways it can be revealed (Mayer, et al., 2008).

Thinking in a person reflects upon facts, events, processes, objects, concepts, realities, and opinions. Thinking can happen through a set of stages including conceptualization of knowledge, considerations for alternatives, and decision making. In the consideration stage, problem, their causes and consequences are analysed to come up with a right decision.  (Jorfi, et al., 2014).

A process of logical thinking that can lead to a decision is reasoning.  Reasoning can be informal or formal deductive. Deductive reasoning is sequential and it is concerned with the logical consistency such that a series of logical steps and follow of rules lead logically to a conclusion. The reasoning can be syllogistic involving class membership and comparison of attributes or verbal involving rules and conditions  (Nordström, 2010).

TO learn logical thinking, it would be essential to understand the process of logical thinking or reasoning. There are some mental processes that are experienced in a logical thickening which includes selective encoding, comparison, and combination. In selective encoding, relevant is separated of irrelevant. In selective comparison, only relevant information is used for reasoning. Strategic combination involves formation of an argument based on reasons (USASK, 1990).

While communicating truth can be arrived in different and complex ways as it is based on the exchange of information. There can be different states of information that are modified with logic which can be dynamic involving relationships or epistemic involving universal, implicit or common knowledge (Benthem, 2002).

Openness in a personality would mean openness towards new experiences that could be related to fantasy, aesthetics, ideas, feeling, values and actions. In the Big Five Trait model refer to the intellect of a person. Openness can be reflected in the tendency to accept change and involve in a warm communication (Rockhurst, 2014).

A person with high openness appreciates arts, emotions, ideas, imagination, and adventure. This appreciation makes an open person acceptable to others and thus, communication is made more effective. Openness is also a predictor of interpersonal relationships as it creates influence on people communicating with each other (Ayodele, 2013).

When people are open to new experiences, they are curious to explore things and are somewhat flexible to accept new ideas. These individuals are mostly drawn to the novelty and seek advice from those they consider as experts. People who are open usually communicate with a large number o people and thus, communication time with individuals may be less  (Stys & Brown, 2004).

Because of less time spend with individuals, relationships may not be developed and thus, a high degree of openness would only allow people to communicate but would not help in building relationships. Thus, a balance may be created such that openness is there but it is not on a very high side but at the same time, it is also not low if an effective communication has to be achieved with an ability to build relationships with others (Wu, Foo, & Turban, 2008).

Communications Style Questionnaire

Psychometric researches have shown that various facets of openness can form a global personality that is shaped by a specific set of habits and traits that are grouped together.  Most people are moderate in openness. Openness can have positive influence on intelligence and creativity in a person. In order to assess openness of a person, often, vies of peers and observers are taken in addition to self-assessment. Self-reporting measures of openness are assessed through statements (Ames, 2009).

Openness to experience reflects upon the cognitive engagement of people with some facets including aesthetics, perception, fantasy, and emotions. The association between the personality of an individual and his or her creativity can explained by openness to experience as it makes a person interested in artistic areas. The cognitive process that openness relates with involves implicit learning through sensory experiences. Studies have positively observed a correlation between creativity and openness suggesting g that people with high openness usually achieve success in artistic professions. Thus when openness has to be measured, it uses statements like “See beauty in things that others barely notice” in the measurement scale. Researches show that openness gives achievement more in the artistic areas than an in science (Kaufman, et al., 2015). As

While these views understood openness as a cognitive dimension, some other researchers have counter views as they do not consider openness as a cognitive disposition but breadth and depth of consciousness that is enlarged with experiences. This view explains openness as esoteric phenomena that can to lead to responses like chills, déjà vu, and homesickness to specific experiences. It can affect the perceptions of people and thus, shape social attitudes in them making differences in the choice of friends, innovation, and political activity (Kelly, 2013).

Openness is a quality that can be inherited and it is usually developed in early age and expanded in 20s while with the increase in the age, it tends to decline. Openness is difficult to measure as just one observer cannot consider a person open with only one interaction but collective observations of more people may be require to assess if a person is open. However, some characteristics of open people can be commonly observed such as high level of intellectual curiosity, creativity, humour, verbal fluency, artistic interests, unconventional styles, and expressiveness (McCrae & Sutin, 2009).

I lack in openness and logical thinking that I am going to work on using online courses, peer interaction, activities, and books. Some of the books that I would be referring to improve my communication skills include:

I will explore the above books as well as take the online MOOC courses to learn about methods that can help me improve upon y communication skills especially in the areas of logical thinking and openness. I will use the activities given in the books and courses for improvement. I will also make use of self-assessments in every 15 days such that I can see if the methods have helped me improve myself. Some methods may work for me and some may not so this assessment would also help me find out the list of effective methods that I would finalize after my assessment and would use them for the longer term to improve my communication skills. Specific steps that I will use to improve myself would be:

• Read books on logical thinking and make notes – 5 days
• Attend MOOC lectures on logical thinking and make notes – 2 days
• Read books on openness and make notes – 5 days
• Attend MOOC lectures on openness and make notes – 2 days
• Combine all the notes and list out all the exercises and action steps to take – 2 days
• Apply methods one by one and make assessment to understand third effectiveness –  1 day for each method
• Identify effective methods and make note of them
• Start using only affective methods from then on for every week

The steps defined above would be repeated after every 4 months so as to assess improvement as well add new methods if found for further improvement.

References

Ames, D. (2009). Pushing up to a point: Assertiveness and effectiveness in leadership and interpersonal dynamics. Research in Organizational Behavior, 29(3), 111–133.

Ayodele, K. O. (2013). The influence of big five personality factors on lecturers –students’ interpersonal relationship. The African Symposium, 28-33.

Benthem, J. v. (2002). ‘One is a Lonely Number’: on the logic of communication. Amsterdam & Stanford.

Goldsmith, H. H., & Robinwitch, E. (1959). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.

Jorfi, H., Jorfi, S., Yaccob, H. F., & Nor, K. M. (2014). The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Communication Effectiveness: Focus on Strategic Alignment. African Journal of Marketing Management, 6(5), 82-87.

Kaufman, S. B., Quilty, L. C., Grazioplene, R. G., Hirsh, J. B., Gray, J. R., Peterson, J. B., & DeYoung, C. G. (2015). Openness to Experience and Intellect Differentially Predict Creative Achievement in the Arts and Sciences. Journal of Personality, 1-11.

Kelly, D. (2013). Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder. Moods Disorders Association of Manitoba Inc.

Langston, S. (1991). The Passive-Aggressive Personality . Levfritt.

Massey, R., & Nelson, J. A. (2008). MICROECONOMICS IN CONTEXT, 1e : STUDENT STUDY GUIDE . Tufts University .

Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2008). Emotional Intelligence: New Ability or Eclectic Traits? University of New Hampshire.

McCrae, R. R., & Sutin, A. R. (2009). Openness to Experience. National Institute on Aging, NIH, DHHS.

Nordström, A. H. (2010). Effective Leadership Communications with Emotional Intelligence (EI). MMC.

Pesarin, A., Cristani, M., Murino, V., & Vinciarelli, A. (2012). Conversation analysis at work: detection of conflict in competitive discussions through semi-automatic turn-organization analysis. Cogn Process, 13(2), 533–540.

Rockhurst. (2014). Assertiveness Skills: A guide t positively successful communnication. University continuing Education Cneter, Inc.

SCOTT, S. (2002). Linguistic feature variation within disagreements: An empirical investigation. Walter de Gruyter, 22(2), 301–328.

Shirmatov, S. (2017). The Role of Logical Thinking in English Communication. Uzbekistan: Higher Military Customs Institute.

SPHE. (1997). ASSERTIVE COMMUNICATION . Dublin 1, Ireland : Mater Dei Counselling Centre .

Stys, Y., & Brown, S. L. (2004). A Review of the Emotional Intelligence Literature and Implications for Corrections . Correctional Service of Canada .

USASK. (1990). Assertive Communication. University of Saskatchewan.

Wu, P.-C., Foo, M.-D., & Turban, D. B. (2008). The role of personality in relationship closeness, developer assistance, and career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 440–448.

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