After reading the description for the Application this week, I believed that I could properly identify myself accurately within the three categories: Listening, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Communication Anxiety. After doing the surveys, I realized that I am very much in tune with my communication skills as I have always been one to listen, rather than talk. I believe my communication anxiety has gone done from what it once was, yet I still feel extreme anxiety in a larger group setting. My verbal aggressiveness is almost non-existent which would explain why I would rather simply listen than argue.
After realizing how confident I was in my knowledge of my own communication skills, it was interesting to see how others perceive me. I asked my husband, the person who knows my communication skills on a similar level as myself, and a colleague at work who sees me communicating in a more professional manner. The results were interesting as my husband did not rate me as high in the listening skills category "because I talk too much" (according to him) and that my verbal aggressiveness was higher than what I ended up with personally as he says that I know what I want to talk about and make sure the task gets done. Both my results and his results based on my communication anxiety reached the same level as he has been a witness to my anxiety about public speaking as well.
My colleague's results on my communication skills were astounding and proved how differently we see one another compared to how we see ourselves. My colleague's results showed that my listening skills were much higher than what I received as a result as she said that I was always lending an open ear, even when the time did not permit it. Her results on my verbal aggressiveness was about even with my own results as she did not believe I ever insulted anyone or brought someone down to get my own point across, yet the most surprising result was her results for my communication anxiety. Her results rated me extremely low with anxiety as she says that I am always speaking out in meetings and voicing my opinions in order to make a change for my team. She said that it was something that she was extremely thankful for as I spoke out for things she was feeling, but too shy to say out loud. It was extremely surprising to see and hear all of this, but it made me more aware of how we perceive one another and how we perceive ourselves, especially when it comes to communication.
great post. I too was a bit shocked at how my coworkers perceive me. I always find it interesting to see how other people 'rate' me on different topics. I think it helps us to become better people.
ReplyDeleteWe sound alike with how your coworker perceived you. I think its important to voice how you feel and things will not change. Good job on expressing your how you feel.
ReplyDeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteIf there was enough time I would have loved to asked everyone I work with their opinions on how I communicate with everyone. It is always eye opening to see how others perceive you. I can remember being in high school and taking a psychology class and one of the assignments we had involved us anonymously writing two positive things about each person and one thing we thought they could improve on. This was an interesting assignment for me when I was in high school and definitely eye opening. Great post!
- Traci