Communication Assessments

The biggest thing that surprised me about the assessments was that the scores were mostly the same. Between myself and the two people that took the assessments, I fell into the same category each time. This surprised me because I thought that the responses would be different, but instead, they were the same. One insight that I gained about communication is that it is very situational. We talk and listen differently depending on the situation and who we are talking to. The second insight that I gained this week is that my schemas regarding communication affect how I communicate and how I see things. 

Communicating with Other Cultures

 Thinking about the groups that I communicate with often are my workplace, family, and a group of friends. I feel like I do communicate differently depending on who I am talking to; I adapt my tone and communication style. I know which co-workers I can talk to in a more friendly manner were other ones I talk to professionally. I don't really change my communication style based on gender, but based on their personality. One strategy I learned this week, I already knew but did not realize I did it or its importance.  Our book talks about effective communication and the importance of knowing the expectation that someone has and adapting to that (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2018). A second strategy would be that communication can change based on the setting (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2018). We communicate differently in a workplace setting and a home setting; we must learn each setting and proper communication. The final strategy I learned is to be aware of other cultures and how they communicate. Each culture has different communication rules regarding eye contact, tone, and more; it is important to be aware of that. 

Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real communication: An introduction (4th. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Nonverbal Communication

The show that I picked to watch was “30 Rock,” first it was weird to watch a tv show with no sound. I found myself reminding myself to look at the screen; I didn’t realize how often I looked away. I didn’t really know what was going on in the show; first, I tried to make guesses about the relationships. I could see many nonverbal cues, such as eye-rolling or arms crossed. I learned the importance of using nonverbal communication, along with verbal communication. The two work together to tell a story and to communicate. When we only use one type of communication, strings can get crossed, and we can easily misunderstand one another. My aha moment was to actually watch for nonverbal communication in the beginning I had to remind myself to focus. This can be the same when other people are talking, but it is important to look for nonverbal communication as well.

Communication

 When I think of a person who exhibits competent communication skills, I think of my old professor I had while completing my bachelor's degree. The thing that made her behaviors effect was that she was always on time; if she was ever going to be late, she would message us and let us know prior to class. She consistently kept eye contact with everyone in the class, and if you talked to her personally or privately, she would actively nod along. When I spoke when her, I could tell she was genuinely listening and caring about what I said. Her phone never went off in class, and she never checked it while someone else was talking. If she didn't know that answer to something, she would find out for us and actually got back to us when she found out. I would model some of my communication behaviors after her, specifically actively listening to other people. I always felt like she actually heard and listened to me; I also like that she never checked her phone while we were talking.