Assessing My Communication Skills: Results From Various Tests
The Importance of Communication in Business and Personal Life
Communication is one of the important aspects for any business or in personal context. Communication is a process that helps an organization or a person to transfer information from one place to the other. Without effective communication between persons or industry it is difficult to adjust and handle tasks and crucial decisions of the business. Communication is not only important for an individual to interact with other; it is also important for them to carry out business process smoothly. There are various traits that an individual needs to have in order to develop in every field (Bovee, Thill & Raina 2016). Thus, effective communication is the best way to carry out easy management of the organization. I will take up five communication tests such as Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist Model, Big Five Personality Model, Johari Windows, Assertiveness Questionnaire and Communication Style Questionnaire. The result from these tests will show my communication skills based on various traits.
Reflection of Communication Models
Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale
From the test result of Johari Window it can be seen that there are certain things that are known to others and some traits are not known to others. However, I was also unaware of certain traits I hold within myself. In the known quadrant I can see that I am caring and happy which is a positive trait as it helps me to love from others. On the other side from the blind spot it is seen that some of my traits such as able, extrovert, friendly and helpful are positive traits which were unknown to me. On the other hand some traits such as shy and tense which is a negative traits. The negative traits have bad impact on my personality as well as make it difficult for me to talk to new people easily. Even though I am extrovert, yet I take time to interact with new people. People are no aware of certain traits in me such as accepting, adaptable and cheerful. These traits are positive ones and people should be aware about it. It is still hidden from others because I did not get much chance to show these skills to others. All the four quadrant shows a mixture of traits in which some are beneficial and support my communication, while others might have bad impact on my communication ability (Businessballs, 2017). However, there is a close quadrant which shows that I need to open up more in front of others and to myself to make them know about my hidden skills and my strengths. The positive traits in me are my strength, whereas negative traits such as shyness and tense are my weakness which I need to overcome.
Results from Johari Window Test
Assertive Questionnaire is yet another important model that decides the communication traits within me that will be beneficial for my growth in life. It is one of the best models to define the communicative ability that I have to easily convey things to others. Moreover, it will also help me to now the pints in which I am lacking and I need to develop in order to succeed in life. The test was about the ability that I have in order to speak for myself in front of the others. In the test I scored 44 percent which shows that I lack in interacting with others. The result shows that I hesitate in many ways to interact and come up with my concerns in front of others. This makes me lag behind others as others show their problem easily and get rid of it. Moreover, at times when I see that I deserve respect, it is necessary that I fight for it and be self-assured even though others are not agreeing with me. Thus, this test showed me that I need to grow my communication skills even further in order to make my place in life.
Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report
Big Five Personality test is one of the biggest and well know personality test that describes each and every traits of a person in details. It describes the personalities of a person based on five personality traits such as experience, agreeableness, conscientious, openness and extraversion. People scoring low in these traits lack the ability of getting mixed in different and unfamiliar environment. I scored low in openness which shows that I lack the ability to open myself to others while kept in unfamiliar environment. My openness score was as low as 50 percent. This shows that I cannot think appropriately in complex and difficult situations. Moreover, the trait also showed that people having low score in openness are more practical, traditional and love to be surrounded by familiar people. Secondly, I am moderately conscientious which proves that I have moderately able to respond according to my impulses. Extraversion is the third trait of the model in which I scored low, showing that I am mainly an introvert person and is not comfortable in a new environment. The fourth traits shows the quality of agreeableness in which one sacrifices the need of itself it order to fulfill the needs of others. I scored moderate in this traits showing that I can easily control my own interest for the interest of others and can fairly sacrifice for others. I scored 65 percent in agreeableness. Next is neuroticism in which I scored 50 percent. This shows that I am moderately prone to various emotions such as anger, sadness, guilt and others. thus according to the test I am strong in most of the traits and have to work hard to cope up the weakness which I came across within myself after the test.
Assertiveness Questionnaire Results
Communication type questionnaire requires a person to answer certain questions through which the exact behavior and nature of the person is understood. Respondent needs to take the communication diagnostic test independently and depending on the result the communication pattern of the individual is perceived. From the Communication Style Questionnaire result it is seen that I have a personal and interactive characteristics. This means that I am very much interactive and can ix with others easily. However, I also love to keep my life personal and do not like sharing some of my personal life with others. The style I got in the result shows that I take time to relate to things. However, I am a good listener and listen to others problems and issues carefully. From the result it is also seen that as I am personal by nature and interactive, I take time to interact and get close to new people. I talk and get into discussion with other people only if I am able to make some connections with them. However, I am very friendly with someone that also interacts with me in a friendly manner and shares the same feelings and personal aspects as I do with him/her. This shows that my personal and interactive nature is good on some way and bad some aspects I need to improve on my weak aspects and make my communication style even stronger.
Talkaholic Scale
Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist Model the last test that I conducted in order to judge my communication skills and my weaknesses while interacting with others. The test has been taken so that I can resolve my issues and work on my weakness effectively. In the first aspect that is building relationship I termed to score fair in most of the attributes. From the result it is seen that I am a person that is quite concern and think about others. I love to care for my relationship and keep it intact in some way or the other. In addition to this in the discussion aspect it is seen that I allow others to start the discussion and convey their feelings and views freely in front of everyone. Moreover, I also get into interaction and encourage others if they have anything others to add to the discussion. The meetings and discussions take place smoothly under my leadership and I am always open to any kind of discussions. The last aspect is gathering information about various issues and justifying it correctly. I cam good at communicating with people and gather information on various grounds without hesitating and asking open end questions to the people. I always try to be specific with any details that I need to clarify in order to get the full information. Moreover, I very patience at collecting information from various places and ask questions in case any gas occur in the collected information. Thus from the overall test result it can be seen that I am fair and good in almost all the attributes that I have answered. However, I have to work closely on the places where I lack or people find it difficult to approach me for something. Kalamazoo test offers a detailed analysis about my interaction quality and information collecting ability.
Big Five Personality Test Results
Importance of effective communication
It has been stated by Ben-Nun (2015) that effective communication plays an important role in every aspect of life. Communication very necessary in business or in personal life, in order to convey the right information. It helps in strengthening the administrative environment in an organization. However, the way a person communicates and deal with a situation largely depends on its own personality and the nature it holds. This shows that personality of a person is positively and rightly linked with their communication styles and pattern (Ben-Nun, 2015). It is important that a person has strong communication skills in order to progress in life and build up interpersonal relationships. According to Bovee, Thill & Raina (2016) Communication is not only necessary in personal life; it plays an important role in development of the professional life of a person as well. thus, the attribute of communication should be kept good in order to put a positive impact on the professional life of the person. However, a person should be well averse with both the verbal as well as written communication skills. This will help them to mix-up with people within groups even though they come from various backgrounds. A person should be comfortable I any situation they face in order to be effective in communication skills. Thirdly, it is seen that in order to build strong inter-personal relationships with others, it is necessary that one is fluent in both oral and written communication. Bovee, Thill & Raina (2016) has shown another aspect of communication is interaction. Communication of a person can only be judged if they can adequately interact with others in any situations. Interacting with a person in a positive way is not only necessary; it also helps them to achieve the objectives they want. Thus, positive interactions will not only help in getting positive touch from others, it also helps in achievement of desired result, however, the interaction is positive or negative largely depends on the way a person carry out the conversation. An interaction can either be positive or it can be negative because it cannot be neutral. This is because every interaction reaches to a result which can also be positive or negative (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2015). However, lack of interaction within a person also proves to be positive factors in works which needs thoughtful ideas and deep understanding.
Lack of verbal communication and its impact
Communication Style Questionnaire Results
Just like communication, verbal communication has long term impact on the life of a person. In this context it has been stated by Gamil & Rahman (2018) that verbal communication with employees in an organization plays a role of delivering the essential information in all work aspects. However, it has been seen that there are employees that still hesitate to take part in any of the office activities and discussions. This is due to their lack of communication skills and is afraid of taking any kind of risk in the organization. It has been discussed by Alexandra (2018) that an individual seems to be more successful in life and is demanded by a company only if they have a good interacting and communicating skills. This is because they can be able to interact in any situation within the organization and take risk without any pressure. Moreover, individual with good communication skill seems to be enthusiastic and energetic. This adds to the development and growth of the organization in a great way. They also have leadership qualities in them as they can effectively motivate their team with their communication skills. On the contrary, people with poor communication skills lack in the ability of getting recruited in any of the good companies. Moreover, they also lack the inability of being a leader in an organization (Alexandra, 2018). In one of the study it is also seen that lack of effective communication has crucial and detrimental impact on the patient care organization. In the sector of patient care t is important tp depend on free communication in order to get better result. Moreover, the sector demand group work which is only possible if the responsible person interacts with each other freely. This shows that productivity in any organization directly depends on the type of communications skills they practice and thus, any gap in the communication directly impacts the productivity of the organization. However, the communication gap arises due to gaps in the personality of a person. Personality plays a crucial role while defining the communication capability one has as it is the one that decides the interacting skills within a person. Thus a lack in personality or having a reserved personality impacts the communicating skills of a person in a negative way. It has been stated by Novik (2015) that a person lagging in their personality as well as communicating skills always lag behind others both in workplace as well as in their personal life. Thus, it is necessary for every adolescent to have an extrovert personality and outspoken communication skills. This shows that communication is a very complex process in every aspect and it has to be dealt carefully in order to grow fruitfully in life (Zamfir, 2017). In case of any leakage in developing better verbal communication may lead to various drawbacks as it stops transferring of message from one person to another.
Results from Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist Model
Lack of assertive communication and its impact
Assertive nature is seen in people that have the ability to fight for their own rights and show self-confidence. People that lack assertive nature gives others the chance to rule over them as they cannot speak for themselves with confidence. This leads to hurting one own self by allowing taking one for granted. However, it is easy to gain confidence by interacting with others freely and gaining confidence on their own self. For the purpose they have to share their views and ideas freely with others in every situation. Maheshwari & Kaur (2015) in its research shows that lack of assertiveness has been found to be the biggest problem in the international students which makes them lonely among others. Thus, lack of assertiveness also leads to loneliness and failure among the students to achieve the desired objectives. In today’s world it is necessary to be assertive in order to be on top of every activity in the competitive environment. In order to recognize our own skills it is necessary to know the intrapersonal skills that one holds within oneself. This is because own realization is the best way to grow and overcome the problems faced due to lack of assertiveness (Maheshwari & Kaur, 2015). If a person fails to realize their intrapersonal skills then it becomes difficult for them to deal with their lack of assertive nature. This reduces the ability in that person to think and act according to their own self. It also reduces the understanding person has within itself about certain things and lowers the confidence it can hold while doing certain things. Thus assertiveness makes a person act without using its rains and understanding. In log run lack of assertiveness affects the self-esteem of a person and makes them feel uncomfortable in every situation. According to Folkman (2013), people with low assertiveness cannot be an effective leader ever in life. It is seen that lack of assertiveness only leaves 4.2 percent chance for the person to be an effective leader.
Various models for achieving effective communication
One of the important models that define the behavior of a person such as whether he/she is an extrovert or an introvert and others is the Personality Traits Model. There are other tests as well those analyses the communication skills of a person such as Kalamazoo Test. This test checks the communication capability of a person through three mediums such as checklist, survey and oral communication test. Thus this test helps the person to know the communication capability it has from all aspects. The areas in which they are lacking can then be worked on by giving more importance. Novik (2015) in his research showed a modelling framework on communication capabilities among the adolescent and the ways they can achieve the desired communication capabilities. The paper described that both assertive and verbal communication can be improved if businesses start taking communication training to develop the skill among its employees. Developing effective communication among the employees help them to gain appraisals and growth within the organization in a short period (Ingram, 2017). However it has been argued by Maheshwari & Kaur, (2015) that improving communication of person in every situation largely depends on the efforts shown by both the sender and the racier. This is because communication is always two ways. It involves two person in which one speaks and the other listens and answer accordingly. Thus, in order to be effectively trained in communication skill sit is necessary that the business keep an interacting environment in which two persons can effectively talk to each other. This will reduce the gap between two people communicating with each other and trying to gain an outcome (Simmons, 2017). Thus, it will also increase the confidence level in a person that lacks assertive behaviour.
The Link between Personality and Communication
From the result of the test that I took part in, I realized that I lack in oral communication skills. This is because of my personal nature and lack of approach to new people. I also lack assertive nature as I am unable to speak for my own benefit. Thus, I have to plan my activities in such a way that I get to learn new ways to deal with my communication barriers. The plan should be the one that will work for both of my issues such as personal nature and lack of assertive behavior. The action plan will be made for the coming six months and I will try to follow it strictly to get the best result. There will be various activities which will focus on both the grounds of my issue. To be proficient with my verbal skills first I need to work on my vocabulary skills. This will help me to start a conversation with others without much hesitating about the words to be used. Thus, for the purpose I will engage myself to newspaper reading or listening to new every day. This will help me learn new words and better sentence building. Thus, with improvement in vocabulary it will be possible for me to improve my oral communication skills. This will automatically improve my verbal conversation skills. Secondly, I will always try to plan out my things before I speak before the audience, in order to reduce the hesitation that arises while speaking on the spot. This will improve my confidence level to a great extent because I will always be sure about what I want to share with the audience. While working on my confidence level I will always try and use honest and strong vocabulary that will have positive impact on others. In addition to this I can indulge myself in various training programs that can guide me with my communication skills and help me with few tricks so that I can face any situation confidently. There are many programs available for short term as well in which I can indulge myself.
I can take up self efforts to improve on my assertive skills. Being confident and building my strength depends on my own wish and will. Thus, before engaging myself in any program I should first make myself ready about the change and bail up self confidence within me. Mt behavior and my own efforts is the first thing that I should focus on before any other program. Thus I can take up certain steps such as valuing my own emotion, avoiding criticism and negativity, work on my weaknesses and using assertive behavior o the friends and closed ones. This will help me to open up slowly in front of people without hesitating much about what they think about me. These tools and guides will be followed by me on a regular basis to get habituated with proper communication skills. These steps if followed effectively will help me to develop both assertive communication and verbal communication skills
References
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