Communication Assessment Reflection

At first, I only planned to ask two people from my personal life to do the communication assessments for me this week. I was thinking that asking a colleague to do something like this on a holiday week was just, well... rude. However, in the end I did ask my supervisor to complete the assessments and she agreed. In the chart below you can see how I "rated" according to myself, Dean (my boyfriend), Jenn (my sister), and Andrea (my supervisor/colleague).

I think the one outcome that was the most surprising was how low the others believe my communication anxiety is. In fact, Andrea rated me the lowest and she sees me in my most anxiety provoking situations when it comes to communication. She has observed me in meetings and presenting professional development opportunities to groups. This is when, internally, I feel the most nervous and anxious. However, she apparently sees me as more cool, calm, and collected than I feel.

One thing that I learned about my communication this week is that I possibly morph myself into different listening styles based on whether it is a business situation (action oriented according to Andrea) or personal situation (people oriented according to my family). I think this is okay, but I also feel like I need to work more on focusing on a people oriented listening style in my coaching work. Being action oriented in my professional life is also something that is necessary if progress toward quality is going to be made. So, while I want to continue to be more sensitive/people oriented in my work I also know that this is not always the best approach to getting things done.

The second insight I gained this week is that I, and everyone who helped me this week, see me as moderate in the verbal aggressiveness scale. My sister was somewhat surprised about this saying "On the verbal one I was actually surprised you fell into the moderate range. Thought for sure you'd be more in the low. I mean, not that moderate was bad or anything but I just don't see you as a verbally aggressive person AT ALL." I went on to explain to her that I really wasn't surprised that I fell into the moderate range for verbal aggressiveness when I read the description. I do like to make my point and won't just agree with others because I don't want to get into a debate about something. I feel this is a good balance for me- not a person who insults others but also not a wallflower. I think this is exactly how I want to communicate with others in most situations.

I also feel that my continually reflective nature allowed me to understand most  of my communication styles in the same way that others see me. It felt good to know that how I view myself is mostly aligned with how others see me- both family and colleagues alike. This was a really fun and informative assignment. I hope you all enjoyed it too!