For this week's assignment, I completed three self assessments concerning my communication styles and listening: 1. ) Communication Anxiety 2.) Verbal Aggressiveness and 3.) Listening Styles. I also asked my husband and a colleague complete these same assessments to provide me with feedback regarding how others view my communication and listening. I was surprised that there was only one difference in the scoring of all the assessments between my scores and that of my family member and colleague. My husband rated my communication anxiety as very low and judged me to be very confident in my communication whereas my colleague and I noted that I am uneasy in some situations but that I generally don't worry about communication. The difference in the scores between my husband and I was substantial- over 10 points. This surprised me as I thought that my husband and I would differ on my verbal aggressiveness rather than anxiety.
My husband, my colleague and I rated my verbal aggressiveness as moderate. The results of this assessment show that I maintain a good balance between respecting the viewpoint of others and arguing the facts without attacking the person.
Concerning my listening style, my husband, my colleague and I rated me as people oriented- trusting of others and an empathetic listener who is concerned with the emotions of others. This result actually surprised my husband who after completing this assessment commented that he felt that I am action oriented- more business like, preferring clear to the point communication. (I think this is because my husband can never make up his mind and I often have to push him to get to the point and make a decision.)
The insight that I gained through this assignment is that apparently I have perceived my own communication and listening skills accurately since my scores for the most part matched that of my family member and co-worker. I would agree that I am an empathetic listener, that I will argue with others but keep my arguments factual, and that even if I am slightly uneasy in some communication situations, I tend to not display that uneasiness or let it affect my ability to communicate in a number of situations. Since I work on a daily basis with people in a variety of one on one, small group and large group situations it is important that I am able to communicate effectively.
Terri,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have great communication skills. You are a great listener; do not have any issues with verbal aggression and experience little anxiety when speaking is a variety of situations. Like you, my perception of my communication and listening skills was validated by the other two people who completed the inventories. My husband also rated my communication anxiety as lower than my friend and I did. This was somewhat of a surprise. I had just assumed that he realized how uncomfortable I am speaking in front of large groups. It sounds like your skills are well suited to your job. Thanks for sharing your scores and perceptions.
Geralyn
Terri, I too think your communication skills are very good and I also scored in the same areas. I also thought that because of my business like attitude at work and when training or presenting that I would have scored in the action-oriented listening style instead of that of people-oriented. Because we are in a field of education where we have to be cognizant of what we say and how we say it when speaking with children and parents, it is good that we are people-oriented and that we care about the emotions of others. We are good at building relationships. I think these are great traits to have as an educator. Enjoyed your post.
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