Activity 3.1: Communication Skills Analysis

For this discussion, you will have the opportunity to complete the communications skills assessment and discuss your results with your peers. You will also be able to share which types of professional communication modalities you would like to develop further and how they might benefit your ability to effectively interview. To prepare for this discussion, review the Importance of Communication Skills article to build your understanding of the importance of effective communication skills, as they can be instrumental to your success in the workplace.

Secondary Responses

Provide at least two secondary responses to your classmates for the Discussion by answering the following questions:

What did you find most important or interesting in the initial response?

What was something you agree or disagree with in the initial response?

one paragraph for each of the secondary responses.

• Madelyne: After completing the communication skills assessment, I received a score of 48. Any score within the range of 36-55 shows that “you’re a capable communicator, but you sometimes experience communication problems” (MindTools, n.d., p. 55). These results are very agreeable based on what I have experienced in the past as far as my communication skills and barriers. When looking at the professional communication modalities, I can notice many that I would like to develop further to help improve my skills in communication. 
• When looking at planning my communication message, I feel like this will help me better my communication skills. Doing so, I can learn not to continuously keep talking to feel like I am getting the message across – good chance is I am just making it more confusing for the recipient. When it comes to interviewing, this skill can help me understand the audience and not wasting their time by continuously rambling. Along with planning a message, creating a clear message is another modality that can improve my communication skills. When preparing for an interview, these two skills can help me ‘practice’ before an interview, so I know exactly what and how I choose to communicate. 

When looking at an improvement in my communication skills, it can ultimately benefit me when completing and presenting my final project in week 7. When doing this project, preparing an outline will assist me in figuring out exactly what I choose to present and how I choose to present it. Working on these communication skills will also help me to prevent any stuttering that may come up during my voiceover within my presentation. Lastly, an improvement in my communication skills will help me find out how to support my community issue with both power and confidence in my research and project overall.

References: 

MindTools (n.d.). How Good Are Your Communication Skills? Retrieved from: https://www.mindtools.com/a3y5cte/how-good-are-your-communication-skill

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Ruth: My score was a 56 which was explained as the following:

Excellent! You understand your role as a communicator, both when you send messages and when you receive them. You anticipate problems, and you choose the right channel to communicate. People respect you for your ability to communicate clearly and they appreciate your listening skills.  

I do agree with the results, as I have learned how to become an effective communicator through experience and feedback. I communicate primarily by email in my current role. Being an inventory controls analyst at a large manufacturer involves touching almost every aspect of the facility. I must be able to communicate effectively with large groups of our employees while understanding the message and their perspective.  

At times I do continue to struggle with concise communication. I do work towards the ‘less is more’ concept. I love words! Sometimes too many words can be confusing, not clarifying. This is something I work on with each communication I send out.  

Pertaining to face-to-face communication, I have been given two valuable feedback points. It has been expressed to me I can talk with anyone, and I can! I enjoy conversing with others and most generally enjoy any conversation I am involved in. I have also been told I should never play poker! This means my body language and facial expressions are a ‘tell’ and the person I am communicating may be able to read my thoughts. This may be to my advantage or disadvantage. Learning how to manage this has been a goal of mine. 

Knowing how to properly communicate during an interview is a skill set that takes practice. Rarely is someone natural in all aspects of an interview. Being able to answer interview questions fully but concisely is important.