Who am I as a Communicator

Who am I as a Communicator


The similarities and differences between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me, that surprised me the most, was how I scored myself as having high anxiety or concern about communicating in front of a crowd and mingling with strangers. The people that evaluated me didn't see that as an problem or concern. They mentioned to me that I seemed well versed and confident whenever I speak in front of a group and I get my point across well. They also felt that I am very friendly and a people person when it comes to talking to people. Where as i scored myself as having communication hypertension almost. I scored myself in the 70's and 80's where the people who evaluated me, scored me in the 30 and 40's. I guess my perception of self-efficacy will lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy if i listen to the people who evaluated me. They were very positive and nothing but praises for the communication part of the evaluation.


This gives me a sense of self-adequacy and makes me content, However, there is always room for self-improvement as a motivator.


The evaluation that I didn't like that I received from other people was the verbal aggressiveness document. I scored very high on this evaluation as being very aggressive when communicating. I always called it assertiveness because my intentions are never to hurt people or dishonor them. One part of the evaluation said that I resorted to character attacks and ridicule when talking to others who do not share my viewpoint. That is definitely not true, but what if that is the way people receive my communication. That really unveiled some things and I have work to do. I never want to come off as a person who does not care about other people feelings. I have work to do.

Reference

O'Hair, D. Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2015). Real communication (3rd.ed). New York:  Bedford/ St. Martin's. 

Non-Verbal and Verbal Communication -Television

I watched the sitcom New Tricks:

This is what I interpreted with the volume down…

The scene started with police rushing into a building in riot gear with men hosting a chicken fight. The police went through the formality of put your hands up, because that is what the men did and the men looked surprised. Then they showed a dog and then the police officer so I assumed that the cop shot the dog. Then in another room there was a man wrapped up in duct tape and it appears to be a hostage that the police was trying to rescue however, the man jumped out the window. When this happened the police ran into the other room and looked out the window and seen that the man landed on the hood of a car. The police officer shook his head in disbelief and almost like he was thinking, “it is going to be a long night”. When the cop took the helmet off to my surprise it was a woman cop. I assumed it was a man. The expression on her face was like she needed a drink.

The next scene was with the same female cop as she enters a room, not dressed in uniform, for a meeting. She had a very serious face. It was two other men in the room; one looked like he was giving a presentation so I assumed the other guy was someone important or in charge. The female cop had many non-verbal communication cues she looked like she was confused and wondering why this other man was in the room. She also looked like she was agitated because she had to wait. She smiled when they looked at her but frowned when they looked away. She did not want to be there.

The next scene was where she is finally having a one-on-one conversation with the man in the office that appears to be her boss or authority figure. He is doing the most talking and she is listening nodding and frowning. The man begins to pull out pictures of different men that I thought were suspects in a crime and the woman looked on in unsurely. Her facial expressions went from angry and insulted to frustration. She stood up and put her hands on her hips in disgust. She did not like what the man was saying and she looked angry.

Now the female officer is doing her job with another colleague questioning suspects. The first guy looks like he is lying, not looking at them directly and shaking his head like he doesn’t know anything and cannot help them. The second and third guy’s facial expressions were similar to the first guy nodding their heads and giving blank stares like they had no idea what the officers were talking about and could not help them. The 4^th person that they interviewed was a female who had a very mean face and looked like she barked at them so they were afraid of her. The 5^th person was so stressed during questioning that he had a heart attack and they had to perform CPR. Afterwards, the officers looked exhausted, flopping back down in their chairs and wiping their brows. The 6^th person that was interviewed looked like he provided some answers because the two officers begin to write and the 8^th person looked confused and delusional as the officers constantly looked at each other as he was talking. The officers were getting nowhere and that’s where it ended.

With the volume up….  

                                                                                               

In the beginning of the episode men are gathered around having an illegal chicken fight and the police bust in the house and order the people to put their hands up in the air. A dog runs into the room and the police shoot the dog. The person in the other room is blind folded and hobbles to the window and jumps out of it. One of the police officers ran into the room as the man was jumping out of the window, ran over to the window to see that the man had luckily landed on the roof of a car. Next she is going into the office to meet with her boss that sits her down and puts her on an assignment that she doesn’t want. Her boss said that this is punishment for screwing up by shooting an innocent dog. She yells, “But it was a mistake and this is the treatment I get?” Her boss tells her to it down and to calm down or she would not have a job at all. He pulls out pictures and explains further her assignment. He tells her that she is to interview all of these employees to find out what type of scam is going on at their company. This is an old case that needs to be re-opened. The woman gets up again, put her hands on her hips and yells, “This is ridiculous and a waste of my time.” They interview nine people and each one did not have the information that they needed to conclude their investigation.

This exercise was interesting. With the volume down you pay more attention to body language and gestures. These non-verbal cues will cause you to assume what is going on; sometimes being right and also sometimes being wrong. With the sitcom I picked I was off-base with the police officers assignment with the volume down which surprised me.

Competent Communicator

Competent Communicator

A person who demonstrates effective communication in my life is my girlfriend, my sister, and my children's' Godmother Valissa Armstead. I call her my sister because we have known each other for 20 years and she had never changed; always loyal and faithful to our friendship.

She is the greatest communicator I know. She is a net-worker, she always thinks with reason, she thinks outside the box for solutions and she never responds to a situation right away. She gather all the information first and then come back to the table with her suggestions. She never let her emotions take control. She is definitely a think tank. She knows how to quickly put things in perspective and then give you something to think about. She sits in boardrooms, and is on many committees. She is in great demand. She is a trailblazer.

She knows how to make people feel accepted and safe. She also knows how to make people trust her because many people confide in her for solutions. She gives sound advice and goes the extra mile to help people adjust to their situation. She is my shero.