~How Others View Me As A Communicator~

~How Others View Me As a Communicator~

After getting both my husband and a co-workers to evaluate me this week as a communicator, I was shocked to discover that my husband score indicated that I am people-oriented, mild when it comes to communication anxiety, and significant on the verbal aggressiveness scale. My co-worker rated me as being time- oriented, low on communication anxiety scale, and low on the verbal aggressiveness scale.

One of the things that surprised me the most is the fact that my husband feels as though I am a little more verbal aggressive than I do. I have to admit that I communicate with him more aggressively than I do with others because I am more comfortable with him and I now that he understand me and where I am coming from. I was also surprised to learn that my co-worker feels as though I am time-oriented. I do not want my co-workers to feel as though I do not have time for them.

Two other insights that I learned about communication this week is that stereotyping may be positive, negative, or neutral and could possibly lead to negative and/or bad communication. The second thing is self-esteem. As the text book mentions, people that have high self esteem are more confident in their interpersonal relationships because they believe that they are more likely to believe that being friendly will cause others to be friendly in return. 

Two things that I have learned from this experience to do better is to treat my husband just as good as I treat the people that I work with and have to communicate in a positive manner. I also plan on having more time for my employees. I do know that there are things that I have to get accomplished throughout the day. I plan on making time out of my schedule that is strictly dedicated for listing to my employees.

~Communicating Differently~

On a day to day basis I find myself communicating differently according to the people who are in my surroundings. Diversity is all around us. We are all different and like to do different things as well as communicate differently.

When I am with my coworkers, I communicate in a professional manner. I use proper grammar, less facial expressions and I am very attentive to listening to the things that other may have to say. I could you could say that I am an active listener.

When I communicate with people that are older that I am, I always say yes ma'am or yes sir. I am very respectful and will never raise my voice. On the contrary, I am also very respectful to all but will raise my voice at a person that is around my age group or younger to get my point across.

When I am with my family and friends, I am more relaxed, use slang words when communicating and my facial expressions may tell it all. My husband would say that I am a passive listeners. He says that  I hear what I want to hear.

Based on the things that I have learned this week there are a few strategies that I can use to communicate more effectively.

1. I should be a better listener to everyone. Everyone wants to feel important and valued. If being an active listener works at work, I know that it will work with my family and friends. Being a people- oriented listener would be great when communicating with my family and friends.

2. The platinum rule is essential. When we treat others the way they want to be treated, everyone wins. Hopefully the same thing would be done with you.

3. Masking is importnat. Some times we have to let people know that regardless of what is being said or done, we can act accordingly. We should not show others the way we truly feel with our facial expressions. 

This week I have learned life long skills that will take me a long way. The things that has touched me the most is that we have to take the time to see things the way others may see them. We can  not be to quick to judges others until we have had the opportunity to see thing the way it may be according to others.  

Silent versus Sound Communication

The Nanny

The Nanny is a television episode that has been around for quite a while. However, I decided to pay it a little attention to completed this assignment. There were three main characters on the show, the nanny who is  a flirty lady (Fran), the butler and Mr. Sheffeld. 

When I watched the show on mute, Fran appeared to be a mean lady who used lots of facial expressions. She frowned a lot and used her hands to demonstrate things. She looked a little silly and moved around a lot.The butler appeared to be frustrated. He continued to look confused each time Fran said something or moved around. 

Mr. Sheffeld appeared to be calm and smiled a lot.After watching the show with the volume, I started to become interested. Fran turned out to be really cool and funny. even though she made facial expressions, most of the time the expressions were made to demonstrate the way she felt. She turned out to be nicer when the volume was up. She still is silly but she is more bubbly. She loves to use her hands when she communicates. 

The butler was more sarcastic than I imagined. He said little things that would conclude that Fran was a tad bit frustrating. Every time she talked, he would say something that attacked her character in a funny way.

I could tell that Fran was a little flirty when Mr. Sheffeld came around. Both with the volume and on mute, she continued to blush and used her hands to touch Mr. Sheffeld.
If I had been watching a show that I am more aware of. I would have known the personalities of the characters and even on mute, I would know whether or not the characters were playful or serious. 

If you have never watched "The House of Pain", try this exercise watching that show. I would love to hear the things that you all would have to say about Curtis both before and after.