Communication Styles Evaluation
This past week I asked two of my colleagues to complete
three evaluations to assess my communication skills. These evaluations included
communication anxiety, verbal aggressiveness, and listening styles (Rubin,
Palmgreen & Sypher, 2009; Rubin, Rubin, Graham, Perse, Seibold, 2009). I
found that their scores were similar to the ones I received when I answered the
evaluations based on my personal communication skills. This surprised me,
because I was expecting the scores to be different. I believe I have certain
strengths in communication, but was unsure if those were being perceived the
same way from an external perspective. Therefore, I was shocked to see the
scores were all nearly the same, placing me in the same categories for each
evaluation.
I think the two largest insights I’ve gained from this
activity are that I hope to be consistent with my communication skills across
all settings, and to be cautious of verbal aggression. Based on the communication anxiety
evaluation, I realized that I am confident speaking in certain situations but
not others, which makes me a situational communicator. I would like to be an
effective communicator in all situations, regardless if they are private or
public. I also was placed in the moderate group for verbal aggressiveness,
which means I “maintain a good balance between respect and consideration for
others’ viewpoints” but I still should be cautious that my aggressiveness does
not falter to significant argumentation (Rubin, Palmgreen & Sypher, 2009).
It is important to remember to be calm and direct in arguments rather than
attack the person or become frustrated, which I feel can be challenging
depending on how the other person is responding to you. Regardless of their
behavior, I hope to be consistent in my ability to be moderately or mildly
verbally aggressive and be cautious of how I treat others.
References
Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., &
Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009).
Communication research
measures: A sourcebook. New York:
Routledge.
Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E.
E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (Eds.) (2009).
Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
Tara,
ReplyDeleteThis week's assignment made us evaluate and examine our communicating styles through our eyes and the eyes of others. Forcing us to put ourself in a rather unusual situation of being judged. But through this process we were able to gain some new insights about ourself through our own evaluation and through the eyes of others. I as well, want to practice to monitor my communication through these lenses and hopefully will be able to apply these skills in my professional and personal life.
Thanks for sharing,
Paola
Tara,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the insights you gained this week from completing these evaluations. I too was surprised to see that the evaluations completed by my colleagues were practically the same score I received when I evaluated myself. This helped me to understand that these individuals know me well, but also that I portray confidence when communicating, even though I may feel uneasy in specific situations. It was very interesting to see the similarities between the evaluations. I also have the goal to be consistent in communicating and I hope to become confident in all aspects of communication.
Brianna
Tara,
ReplyDeleteI also scored in the moderate level for communication anxiety and verbal aggressiveness. The only difference was the two people I chose to evaluate me saw me differently when it came to communication anxiety. My colleague saw me as only having low anxiety and my husband saw me as having mild anxiety. I attributed their scores to context. One sees me mostly in a professional view and the other on a personal level. I agree that it was interesting to see how others perceive my communication and listening skills. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Trish
Tara,
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised to discover that my peers' evaluation of my communication paralleled my own ideas of my communication. It sounds as if our communication styles are very similar, as I was also rated in the moderate level on the verbal aggressiveness scale and communication anxiety inventory. I have spent much of my life working on being able to communicate in a non-aggressive manner. I was raised with outspoken adults in my life, which I believe has seeped into my communication style when I was younger. I realized much later in life that an aggressive communication style is not necessarily the most effective style of communication, but that can be difficult when I am passionate about an issue.