This week we continued to explore communication and focused on evaluating our own communication styles. We used three online assessment tools that evaluated listening, communication anxiety, and verbal aggressiveness. We were asked to have two people in our lives complete the assessments on us as well. After completing the assessments and looking at the results from two others, I noticed that there were some differences, surprises, and some results that aligned with the way I see myself as a communicator.
The insights that I have gained about communication this week are that I seem to change my persona based on the audience or context and that I seem to be more confident in my professional communication than my personal interactions. This may be the result of the amount of time I have spent on refining my presentation, supervisory, and leadership skills in recent years. I also know that I do have a lower self-esteem in social settings and become more reserved with people I do not know.
The second part of our assignment this week asked us to create some communication goals. I think this will help in all areas of my work and personal life as I look to increase my ability to work with a diverse population of children, families, staff, and community agencies.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Communication and Culture
This week we have been studying the intricate nature of communication across cultures and the role we have as professionals of ensuring that we are communicating effectively with the various groups with whom we work. We have looked within ourselves to identify the biases and ideas we have about other groups and how that affects the ways in which we interact with them. We have studied the definitions of various culture groups again to remind us of the characteristics they hold.
I think that there are many strategies that we use to communicate effectively with others. The first is to reflect on and have a genuine understanding of our own culture and the groups with whom we identify. These ideals, traditions, and beliefs have an impact on the way we view the world and other individuals and groups and "it is critical that we reflect on the various aspects of our own cultural identity and examine their positive and negative impacts on our personal and professional development" (Vukovic, 2008, p. 49). The second is to identify your own biases and understandings of the communication partner's or group's culture. We need to understand our own ideas about the other person before we can truly listen to their ideas and share information. There may be ideals and beliefs that we do not fundamentally agree with or that do not align with our own ideals, but in a professional (and often personal) settings, we need to set those aside in order to reach the common goal. Finally, we need to understand our own communication style as it relates to others. Some of us are observers and take in other people's opinions before we offer our own. Others are initiators and lead the conversation. It is important that we understand how we choose to communicate and how others choose to communicate so that we can interpret the subtle behaviors correctly.
References:
Vuckovic, A. (2008). Inter-cultural communication: A foundation of communicative action. Multicultural Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47–59.
I think that there are many strategies that we use to communicate effectively with others. The first is to reflect on and have a genuine understanding of our own culture and the groups with whom we identify. These ideals, traditions, and beliefs have an impact on the way we view the world and other individuals and groups and "it is critical that we reflect on the various aspects of our own cultural identity and examine their positive and negative impacts on our personal and professional development" (Vukovic, 2008, p. 49). The second is to identify your own biases and understandings of the communication partner's or group's culture. We need to understand our own ideas about the other person before we can truly listen to their ideas and share information. There may be ideals and beliefs that we do not fundamentally agree with or that do not align with our own ideals, but in a professional (and often personal) settings, we need to set those aside in order to reach the common goal. Finally, we need to understand our own communication style as it relates to others. Some of us are observers and take in other people's opinions before we offer our own. Others are initiators and lead the conversation. It is important that we understand how we choose to communicate and how others choose to communicate so that we can interpret the subtle behaviors correctly.
References:
Vuckovic, A. (2008). Inter-cultural communication: A foundation of communicative action. Multicultural Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47–59.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Language, Listening, and Nonverbal Communication
This week we were asked to watch a television show, once with the sound off and once with it on, to observe the use of nonverbal expressions. I chose an episode of "The Big Bang Theory". In this episode, the four male friends are gathered in the living room talking. One character, "Raj", is talking excitedly, smiling and gesturing with his hands. The others are leaning in listening to him. At one point one of the characters, "Sheldon", gets up and walks tot he kitchen. When he turns back to the group, his face is stoic and he is talking quickly and shaking his head. As the camera shows Raj again, his posture has changed and he is no longer smiling. Given the little I know about the show, I assumed that Sheldon had made a comment about what Raj was talking about that proved him wrong about some scientific fact. The other two characters, in looking on at the exchange, go from intently engaged with eye contact, smiles, and raised eyebrows, to looking down and no longer smiling. Raj gets up and leaves. The other characters look at Sheldon and begin speak emphatically, with furrowed eyebrows. Sheldon remains expressionless and shrugs his shoulders.
In watching it again, Raj was given recognition for discovering a new star and Sheldon downplayed the event as minor when there are other facets of science that are "more important". I was correct in my assumption about Sheldon's act of commenting on Raj's idea.
This exercise proved difficult because you could interpret the expressions in so many ways based on the knowledge you have of the individuals. Knowing that Sheldon often expresses such comments in his peer group, one watching might have been able to predict that this would happen. It shows that it is important to have an understanding of individual personalities in order to effectively interpret their communication styles.
In watching it again, Raj was given recognition for discovering a new star and Sheldon downplayed the event as minor when there are other facets of science that are "more important". I was correct in my assumption about Sheldon's act of commenting on Raj's idea.
This exercise proved difficult because you could interpret the expressions in so many ways based on the knowledge you have of the individuals. Knowing that Sheldon often expresses such comments in his peer group, one watching might have been able to predict that this would happen. It shows that it is important to have an understanding of individual personalities in order to effectively interpret their communication styles.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Effective Communication
This week, we begin a new course on communicating and collaborating in the early childhood field. We all know that it is important to be able to communicate ideas and information to our staff, families, community partners, and colleagues. However, there is so much to communication that is subtle and intricate and it is our ability to identify those behaviors and characteristics that will determine the effectiveness of the exchange.
When I think of good communicators in my personal and professional life, there is one person that stands out. She is the facilitator of a work group I have recently joined in the community to discuss and plan for increased and improved social and emotional learning opportunities for children and families in our area. The group consists of professionals from school districts, private organizations, and community partners, such as the local health nurse. Rachel is organized in her approach to each meeting, where we have limited time to discuss all of the important information we have. She actively listens to each member of the group, invites participation in engaging ways (like writing ideas on post its and having us post them on her larger easel paper on the wall), and summarizes each meeting with immense detail. She has a way of interpreting what we are trying to say when we often have trouble saying it. She asks questions in ways that allow for meaningful discussion and is very thoughtful about the process. And did I mentioned the detailed summary! It is generally a four page document with tables and charts that outline the work that we have done and the goals for the next meeting. I am in awe of the ways she can extract information and interpret it in ways that I often don't see until I read the summary! I would very much like to adopt her ability to take in large amounts of feedback and information and process it, then communicate it back to the group in an organized fashion.
When I think of good communicators in my personal and professional life, there is one person that stands out. She is the facilitator of a work group I have recently joined in the community to discuss and plan for increased and improved social and emotional learning opportunities for children and families in our area. The group consists of professionals from school districts, private organizations, and community partners, such as the local health nurse. Rachel is organized in her approach to each meeting, where we have limited time to discuss all of the important information we have. She actively listens to each member of the group, invites participation in engaging ways (like writing ideas on post its and having us post them on her larger easel paper on the wall), and summarizes each meeting with immense detail. She has a way of interpreting what we are trying to say when we often have trouble saying it. She asks questions in ways that allow for meaningful discussion and is very thoughtful about the process. And did I mentioned the detailed summary! It is generally a four page document with tables and charts that outline the work that we have done and the goals for the next meeting. I am in awe of the ways she can extract information and interpret it in ways that I often don't see until I read the summary! I would very much like to adopt her ability to take in large amounts of feedback and information and process it, then communicate it back to the group in an organized fashion.
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