Importance of Communication Skills for Personal and Professional Growth

The  business communication is an integral part of the professional communication. It is important for the growth and the professional development of an individual. It is widely acknowledged that in order to grow professionally, it is important for an individual to possess both technical as well as behavioral skills. There are several aspects of business communication. A person must be able to present himself effectively and with confidence. In personal perception, the overall behavior and perception of an individual is made of several aspects. I believe that I am confident and have the ability to present myself in front of other people. However, I have confidence issues while communicating with a large number of strangers. I feel that I am hesitant when communicating or presenting myself in front of other people. Moreover, I feel aggressive and angry sometimes. I get frustrated with other people if they do not agree to my notions or thoughts.

In this module or exercise, I understood that communication is important in personal and professional lives of the people. Communication skills are essential for the personal and professional growth of individual (Archer, Sarah Brick, 2001). The communication skills are essential in sharing the information with other people. It is important in exploring the communication issues and develop strategies to mitigate them. Different communication issues such as expressing thoughts are important in the interactions in professional interviews and corporate communication. There are several impacts of communication issue such as lack of eye contact, giving wrong answers or mismanagement of the time schedules (Baraldi, 2017). Self-perceived communication competence scale was used to analyze the personal behavior. The results showed that I find it difficult in talking to a group of strangers. I also find it strange when I am in a group of acquaintance or older people. If the people are not in the same age group, then I find it challenging to communicate with them in a proper manner. However, I perceive that I have adequate skills in dealing with people. I also understand that when someone else challenges my thoughts, it becomes difficult to present my thoughts in proper manner. I become aggressive, which is a negative trait.

b). In order to analyze the communication style. We have undertaken several exercises to identify the weaknesses in the communication style. Different scales such as Self-perceived communication competence scale, communication skill self-assessment and non-verbal communication skill were used to identify the communication style. In the SPCC Scale, I got the lowest marks while talking to strangers. However, I got high marks in the question regarding the comfort while talking to the strangers.  

Assessment of Communication Style

It has been identified that I feel comfortable while talking to friends and strangers in the same age group. I feel comfortable while talking to a large group of friends or the people in the same age group. Other than that, I feel challenged while presenting to a bunch of strangers. Professionally or personally, I feel hesitant while talking to strange people. In the communication self-assessment test, I found that I find it difficult in dealing with emotions. It is also challenging for me paraphrase the words of others. It is also difficult to deal with situations when people do not agree to me.

 It has been analyzed that I have adequate verbal communication skills. I have an extrovert personality and have the ability to clearly posit my disagreement. However, if I am not able to understand the views of other people, I cannot ask for more details and clarification. I also have difficulty in paraphrasing the words of other people. I also find it difficult to understand the other person’s frame of reference while communicating. I also find it difficult to understand nonverbal cues; therefore, it is little difficult for me to understand the perception of other people.

It is identified that I also find it difficult to adopt the body language which clearly discusses my ideas and perception. It is also difficult for me to pay attention to the non-verbal cues of the other person.

c). Based upon the findings of the analysis, it has been identified that there are two major issues in my communication style. These issues can be identified as the difficulty in identifying non-verbal cues of the people. Another issue is the aggressive behavior which is experienced when the people do not agree with me. These issues are significant one and will restrict my professional and personal growth (Dolan, 2016). Understanding non-verbal cues is important in being an effective communicator. There are several forms of non-verbal communication such ad body languages, gestures, touching and other expressive choices. The non-verbal cues are gestures and body postures which sends a communication idea to another person without the use of words. However, in different cultures, different non-verbal cues have different meanings. The non-verbal communication are transferred by the means of intonation, change in voice, body postures, gestures, facial expressions and pauses (Fearn-Banks, 2016).

When a person speaks, he does not confine himself to merely the emission of different words. A significant part of the meaning is delivered by non-verbal cues which is important in communication (Henderson, & Mathew Byrne, 2016). The non-verbal cues predates in the verbal communication as the people use them since their birth. Even before a sentence is uttered, the observer observes the body language to interpret the real meaning of the person. People make sense of the non-verbal cues by attaching meaning to the actions of a person. Therefore, it is important to understand the non-verbal cues of a person (Koprowska, 2014). Moreover, a person also gives away if he is lying or nervous by his body language. It is significant in professional and personal communication. A person can also understand the real intent of a person by understanding the body language.

Identifying Weaknesses in Non-Verbal Communication

Moreover, it is also important to take the feedback in a positive manner. It is important to control behavior in professional and personal setting. Anger can be referred as a strong emotion which shows fleeting annoyance or full-fledged rage (Kuhnke, 2013). However, it can be stated that anger is a normal human emotion. However, if a person is unable to control his anger and it turns destructive, it can damage the personal relationships and quality of life of a person. If an individual is not able to control his behavior, then he is at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion. Anger can result in problems in work, changes in personal relationships, and can impact the overall quality of life (Leutenberg, Liptak, & Brodsky, 2008).

Anger is a negative feeling which is associated with the hostile thoughts and maladaptive behavior. Anger is established in response to the unwanted or undesired actions of a person. The actions of the person can be categorized as disrespectful, demeaning, threatening, or neglectful (McKay, Davis & Fanning, 2009).

The angry thoughts are accompanied by muscle tension, headache, or increased heart rate. There verbal expressions include yelling, arguing, and sarcasm. The anger is accompanied by physical actions, and sometimes, it remains as internal contemplation (Reilly and Hynan, 2014). Anger is often accompanied by intentional behavior to harm another person. The anger often reflects a desire to dominate and control others (Stueart, Robert 2008). Other than that, I generally demonstrate my anger by loud verbalizations.

Mehrabian stated (2017), anger can negatively impact the personal and professional life of an individual. It can strongly impact on different aspects of a person such as workplace, interaction with other individuals. It can also result in negative conflicts, inappropriate risk taking and substance abuse. Therefore, it is important to control anger in the personal as well as the professional life of an individual.

I have reflected in my previous professional interactions that anger as well as the inability to understand the human non-verbal cues has challenged my ability in the professional growth. I assume that my managers and coworkers perceive me in a wrong manner as due to my behavior. Several times, I cannot understand the ulterior motive of another person when they are discussing to me. I understand that I am not able to understand whether a person is lying to me or not. It becomes challenging when you are not able to comprehend the non-verbal cues. It has occurred twice in my professional life when a coworker has lied to me and I could not detect it. He stole my ideas and presented to my senior as their ideas. Therefore, it is important for the professional growth to quickly comprehend the hidden motive of other people. Similarly, the lack of anger control has also harmed me in a significant manner. Several times, I have fought with my senior managers when they contradict my stance. However, it is important to manage these situations in a polite and diplomatic manner. It is necessary that a person presents his views in a strong manner; however, it should not hurt the sentiments of other person. It once happened to me that one of my coworker challenged my views. I considered that I was correct; however, he kept on challenging me. As a result, I got angrier and raised my voice. The overall impact on my performance was bad and my seniors judged me for my aggressive behavior.

Issues with Anger Management

It can be summarized from the above description that there are two major weakness which should be addressed. They are: inability to comprehend nonverbal cues as well as managing my anger.

There are two major issues identified in the self-assessment which are inability to understand the non-verbal cues as well as managing my anger. The present literature review is dedicated in exploring these issues and identifying solutions for it.

As per the views of Mehrabian (2017) non-verbal communication cues can mark significant difference in expressiveness. These differences can create significant difference in fluency and the expressiveness capability. It is important to integrate facial expressions, voice, gestures, and body languages to transmit expressions or emotions. The nonverbal communication modifies and enhances verbal messages which allows quick, strong yet subtle transmission of different elements of interpersonal relations. As per the literature, expressive people use non-verbal cues to lead, motivate, and inspire others.

In the views of Calero (2005), the expressive people are easy to identify; however, they are difficult to describe. The expressive people can transmit emotions and; therefore, they can incite thrills, or excite others. The expressiveness is related to the dramatic flair and can impact the aspects of personality. The literature highlights that the expressive people interact with lots of people. These people also have a lots of followers. Moreover, the skill of inspiring others is important in different occupations. These skills are important in leadership and training of different people. The non-verbal expressions are important part of the personal style of an individual.

According to the Burgoon, Guerrero & Floyd (2016), the people rely primarily on the nonverbal cues and ignore the verbal content of the message. Therefore, it is important to adopt effective strategy for the non-verbal cues of the other people. The non-verbal communication is important in sharing cues with different people which is used along with public speaking. It can include eye contact, frequency of blinking and observing others, face expressions, postures and other facial expressions.

As per the views Kreuger, (2008), professional communication, live presentation is one mode of communication which is persistent in every later of professional communication. Although the presentation style may get differed, a person has to give presentation to different people. The non-verbal communication can increase the clarity, trust and interest of other people. The non-verbal communication is an element of the presentation in front of complete audience. There are several significant elements of the effective communication which includes, repetition, contradiction, substitution, complementing and accenting. The repetition is used to reinforce the words which are already stated. The contradiction is another approach which is used to contradict the message or the words of other person. It is used to make the speaker untruthful. Other than that, substitution is another approach in which the non-verbal cues are used in the place of words. The complementing is another method is which they complement another person. The accenting is another approach in which change in voice or tone is used to emphasize another point.

Solutions for Improving Communication Style

It can be critiqued according to Riggio & Feldman (2005) that the non-verbal communication coexists with the verbal communication. It can affect the perception of the people sand their communication in different manners. The non-verbal communication includes various aspects such as body language, gestures, facial expressions and postures.  The touch is a non-verbal communication which reflects the feelings of a person, their level of comfort, and impacts on their personality. The handshake or warm hugs has a different impact in comparison to a timid hand shake. Moreover, the sound of a person’s voice, which includes pitch, tone and volume are also a part of the non-verbal communication.

As per the views of Mero (2015), interpersonal communication is more than the actual meaning of the words emitted. It encompasses the meaning of the information or the message conveyed to the persons. The interpersonal message refers to the implicit message which are expressed through non-verbal behavior or expressions. The non-verbal communication refers to the facial expressions which include the tone and pitch of the voice, gestures and body language. The physical distance between the communicators also has a significant role in the non-verbal communication. However, the interpretation of the non-verbal communication is not a simple task, as it is not a language with a fixed meaning. The meaning of the non-verbal communication is derived with the context and the situation in which it is emitted. It includes place, people as well as the culture of the people who take part in the conversation. Interpersonal communication complicates the conversation as it is required to interpret the gestures, or expressions. The interpretation of non-verbal communication is quite challenging; however, a person learns to interpret it in by observing his surroundings.

According to Knapp, Hall & Horgan (2013), non-verbal communication is the transmission of the information to an audience or receiver which are not transmitted by the verbal communication. There are several methods which can be used to convey nonverbal information to the receiver. It includes body language, facial expressions, postures, gestures, and eye-contact. In professional world, other factors such as clothing, briefcases, and safety glasses also send non-verbal message. The types of clothing, and the appearance also send non-verbal message. These message are also intentional as when an employee wears different types of garments, he sends different message every day. Moreover, people also send unintentional message without identifying the impact of their message on the receiver. The wearer of the dress can send unintentional message to the receiver without identifying the impact on the receiver. If a person is wearing conservative suit, then he may appear unapproachable. It can also send a message that he is ready for business, trustworthy or dependable.

As identified in the above discussion, stress and anger is another issue in the personal behavior. Therefore, it is important to control anger at the workplace. The anger management is the process of identifying the signs of anger and controlling or calming down before the situation gets out of hand. According to Tafrate & Kassinove (2009), are three main factors in anger management which includes assertion, empathy, and stress management. The assertion refers to a positive communication method in which the person comes forward to communicate a strong belief or idea. The assertion is the ability to communicate anger and anxiety in a positive manner. An assertive communication requires that a person understands the right of self as well as the right of the other person. The person understands that he has a right to speak his thoughts, and that he should respect the rights of other persons. The assertive communication is based on reflective thinking and requires that the person considers the right of self as well as other persons.

In the views of Peacock & London (2000), other important factor in the anger management is empathy. A person should be able to understand the feelings of others. It is learned ability to understand and constructively express the feelings, thoughts and behavior of the others. When a person has empathy he listens to the viewpoint of others in a non-judgmental manner. The person understands the problem of other person and accept him as a person.

In the perspective of Elliott, Smith & Gentry (2015) empathy is the primary characteristics of a skilled communicator. It involves listening to the patient, being compassionate, and understanding others in a non-judgmental manner. When a person is empathetic, he is perceived as caring, genuine, and trustworthy person. It is an emotional skill which can be used to create positive relationships with others. The empathy is used in the management of anger as a person can control his aggressive behavior by understanding the thoughts and feelings of other people. In the views of Elliott, Smith & Gentry (2015) last factor which can be used as a part of anger management is stress management. It is the ability or skill to exercise healthy self-control or self-management skills which should be used as a response for the stressful events. The stress management is the skill of an individual in managing stress and anxiety in an adverse situation.

According to Tafrate & Kassinove (2009) involves the management of emotional intensity through self-regulation and using cognitively derived coping strategies. Anger can result in violence which is triggered through stressful events. The people capable of managing stress should be able to manage time and have capability increase their flexibility and self-reliance.

According to Peacock & London (2000), in workplace, anger management is important in corporate growth, stress management, assertiveness skills, increasing judgment skills, and enhancing optimism. The anger management training is designed to improve the people skills, increasing the productivity and assist the managers to manage their employees in an effective manner. Anger management training can reduce the conflicts at the workplace. Other than that there are also chances of nonverbal anger which can degrade the environment of the organization. It refers to the quite hostility, facial expressions, clenched jaws and heavy sighs. The anger in the workplace can affect the culture of the organization. The employees might not feel safe or consider themselves in danger.

The action plan is the process of outlining the actions and the timeline which can be used for the implementation of a few specific activities. It is the plan of implementing the selected activities which are developed for a specific target. All the details of the task should be included in the action plan. Their specified break-up actions and the time required for completing each of the action should be included in the action plan.

The action plan is a detailed action plan which encompasses all the actions required for achieving one or more goals. It can be defined as the series of actions or activities which are required to gain some specific goal or for a strategy to succeed. There are several benefits of developing an action plan which are beneficial for the business organizations. The advantage of developing the action plan is that a person has a structured plan for achieving the end goals which are desired to achieve. The action plan creates appropriate foundations for a task and it also prioritize the amount of time required for each task. It is also essential in creating bond within the team. With an action plan, different people of team creates a bond and they are aware of their roles. An action plan establishes guided steps for creating an action plan. It comprises of the necessary steps which can ensure success. It encompasses the process of outlining the milestones, solving any challenges, and taking necessary actions for achieving the target.

Time description	Activities plan	Details
1st to 3rd  month	Participating in short courses related to anger management	There are several short courses which could be used to control anger in personal and professional life. It includes professional courses which teaches how to control and manage anger at the workplace. The corporate also implements various program which suggests strategies to reduce the anger. §
3rd to 6th Months	Reading plan	Books and article reading will help developing the cognitive abilities. It will assist in learning the non-verbal cues in a professional or personal communication.
1st to the 12th month	Personal journal	A personal journal would be kept for 1 year. The journal would be used to evaluate the action plan and daily practices for addressing the issue.
1st to the 6th month	Mentor	The mentorship is important as it recommends a person how certain shortcomings in the professional behavior can be addressed.
9rd to 12th Months	Evaluation Plan	After completion of 6 months, anger-control test will be implemented to gain proper understanding on the shortcoming in communication

Activities	1st-3rd month	3rd-6th month	6th to 9 month	9th to 12th month
Short term courses for anger management
Reading Plan
Personal Journal
Mentoring
Evaluation Plan

References

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