Diagnosis And Reflection Of Communication Skills: A Literature Review

Diagnosis and Reflection

Interpersonal interaction is hugely dependent on effective communication, therefore, for successful interpersonal interaction, one needs to possess the skills of effective verbal and non-verbal communication (Blizard, 2012). Effective communication skills is a major problem to many people, and this has been a major stumbling block to successful interpersonal interaction. This has negatively impacted the activities of leadership and businesses management. To enhance this leadership and management through improved effective communication, it is important that people should be informed of their strengths and weaknesses with regards to effective communication and interpersonal interactions. In this regard, scientists have developed various diagnostic tools to that are used for self-assessment to help people to spot their strengths and weaknesses and how to boost their weaknesses to become better communicators. In line with these aspects, this paper is going to carry out a reflection and a literature review of my communication skills based on the results of five selected diagnostic tools that are related to communication. The paper is going to identify these weaknesses and develop an action plan to enhance my areas of weakness in communication.

For the purpose of this assignment, I used selected five communication diagnostic tools namely, Assertiveness questionnaire, active listening skill tool, communication style self-assessment, effective communication questionnaire, and the Johari window. The self-assessment based on the Assertiveness questionnaire revealed that I am not an assertive communicator. The results of the assessment revealed that I scored 46 points, which is way below the minimum points of an assertive communicator. According to this tool, an assertive individual should score at least 60 points. This finding reveals that I am not assertive, and hence, I cannot out rightly express my opinion (Elder & Paul, 2009).

The second diagnostic tool that I used is the communication style self-assessment. The results of this tool revealed that I am an expressive communicator. An expressive communicator is one who is persuasive to his or her listeners. This is a major source of my weakness because I talk a lot to engage and persuade my listeners during interpersonal communication. This makes me rush into conclusion without evaluating and analyzing the information that I receive, hence, illustrating the lack of critical thinking during interpersonal communication.

The third tool that I used is the Johari window, where I utilized all the four windows to assess my characteristics of effective communication. According to the findings of the Johari Window, I am aware that I am an introvert, logical, and relaxed as shown in the table below. As an introverted individual, I am less outgoing, and hence, I do not engage in conversations with strangers. For one to be considered an excellent communicator, he should be outgoing and be in a position to initiate communication with strangers. An excellent interpersonal communicator should be talkative’ however, he or she should not talk a lot more than he listens to acquire ore information from people (Abbasi, Siddiqi, & Azim, 2011). As an individual, these are characters that I lack. I do not have the ability to come out and talk to strangers. Similarly, even while talking to the people that I do not know, I do not express myself so that they know how I feel. Conversely, I am not so mindful about how other people feel during an interpersonal communication, hence, the lack of my emotional intelligence.

Reflection on Two Recent Professional Interactions

In addition to this, the Johari window also reveals that I have significant weaknesses in communication that are visible to other but are not visible to me. This is according to the findings that the revealed by the blind side section of the diagnostic tool. According to this section, it emerges that I am an unrealistic communicator, for example, when I respond to issues, provide solutions that are not practical in implementation. The blind side of the Johari window also reveals that I am proud and rude, attributes that emerge during my interpersonal interaction with others. In this regard, the tool reveals that I do not care about how others feel during interpersonal communication. In this regard, another major communication issue is the lack of emotional intelligence, which requires development.

Open area: · Introverted · Logical · Relaxed · Observant · Energetic	Blind area: · Unrealistic · Rude · Proud · Cheerful · Giving · Self-conscious
Hidden area: · Idealistic · Dependable · Complex · Shy · Intelligent	Unknown area · Witty · Sentimental · Nervous · Tense

The fourth tool that I used to diagnose my interpersonal skills is the effective communication questionnaire. This tool revealed that I am poor at both verbal and non-verbal communication. This is because I send mixed messages with my posture, gestures and facial expression during an interpersonal communication. The final communication tool that I sued is the active listening skills tool. From this tool, it emerged that I am a very poor listener, with a score of 21 points. Based on the assessment question, my major causes of poor listening skills interrupting the speaker and getting attracted to the events that take place in the environment (Wright, 2002). This means that I have to work hard to develop my active listening skills.

There are two important instances of professional interactions that brought my communication skills to test over the past twelve months. The first profession interaction was between me and a team of interviewers after I successfully applied for a job during my holiday session. During the interview, I provided lengthy responses to the questions that I was asked, and I realized later that I provided a lot of information that was irrelevant to the job that I had applied for. In addition to this, I responded in haste to the questions from the interviewers’ question without giving myself the time to analyze and evaluate the questions and respond appropriately (French & Tracey, 2010). This instance revealed the lack of critical thinking as a major issue in my communication, and that needs development.

The second professional interaction that I engaged in the last twelve months was during a presentation that I made before my class in a different course. During the presentation, I kept making reference to one of my classmates when giving an example of an individual from a racially marginalized community. After class, I was informed by one of my group members that I was blind to the feelings of the person I was referring to. This was a clear demonstration of the lack of my emotional intelligence because I do not care about how other’s feel during an interpersonal communication. In addition to this, I also lack emotional intelligence because I am also unapologetic when I offend my partners in interpersonal communication, hence, I should work towards improving my emotional intelligence.

Literature Review

Critical thinking skills play a vital role in successful interpersonal communication. The diagnostic tools that were selected for this assignment revealed that I have issues with critical thinking during interpersonal communication. Critical thinking enables one to judge and reason accordingly based on the information that he or she receives before providing feedback (Elder & Paul, 2009). Critical thinking helps one to analyze and evaluate the information that he encounters and to develop appropriate responses in a logical manner. Before providing feedback, one should take time to analyze and evaluate ideas before communicating. To be considered as a critical thinker, one should possess particular behaviors. There are also various models that are followed in the development of critical thinking skills that are applied globally. According to Adeoye and Yusuf (2012), the most common and widely applied model of critical thinking is Paul Elder Critical Thinking Model. The Paul Elder Critical Thinking Model elaborates the relationship between the process of communication and critical thinker.

According to the model, the information that one communicates shows his or her critical thinking capacity, in this regard, this model provides the conditions that should be met for one to acquire the critical thinking skills (Paul, 2004). These include logical reasoning, clarity in communication, and accuracy during interpersonal communication. Logical reason means that one should be able to express information in a sensible manner. This entails a well-reasoned response to show that the speaker understood the information that was received. After receiving the message the listener should be able to analyze and evaluate the information so that he or she provides feedback that is relevant, and one that he can justify with tangible reasons (Paranto & Kelkar, 2000). A critical thinker should be able to present accurate information in a short and concise manner to demonstrate the skills of critical thinking. Accurate information that is summarized facilitates interpersonal interaction because it helps the communicating parties to understand one another.

The development of behavior is also another critical part of developing critical thinking skills for interpersonal communication. One of the behaviors of critical thinkers is the practice of asking questions during interpersonal communication (Jagadeesh & Balakumar, 2012). To demonstrate the best practice during a business communication process, the listener should interrogate the information that he receives to demonstrate that he has analyzed, evaluated and discovered some issues in relation to the information given (Rueckert, Brandon, & Tiffany, 2011). Therefore, one should practice the asking of relevant questions during a conversation to demonstrate critical thinking. The ability to examine the information received is another behavior that should be developed to demonstrate the best practice of critical thinking. According to Wright (2002), one should examine and synthesize the information received in the effort to identify the assumptions and biases that are present in the information received. This is instrumental in the avoidance of arriving into hasty generalization (Laidlaw & Kishita, 2015).

The diagnostic tools also revealed that I have a major issue with emotional intelligence in an interpersonal communication process. According to Webb, et al. (2013), poor emotional intelligence refers to a situation where one does not care about the feelings of the others who are involved in the communication process. For one to be considered possess the skills of emotional intelligence, one should be able to recognize and identify the emotions of other people, recognize the different feelings and effectively utilize the skills of emotional intelligence to avoid hurting the feelings of others who are involved in the interpersonal communication (Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, 2012).

There are several models of emotional intelligence, for example, the ability model, mixed model, and the trait model. The ability model which was developed my Mayer and Salovey regard emotional intelligence as the perception, integration and the understanding of emotions to enhance individual growth (Gutiérrez-Cobo, Cabello, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2017). This model advocates for the implementation of the reasoning capacity to facilitate thinking on emotions, therefore, one who is involved in interpersonal interaction should be able to perceive, access, and generate emotions in an accurate manner during interpersonal interactions (van Gelder, 2005). This model is based on the fact that people different in the how they process information related to emotions, hence, they relate differently to the emotions of others during professional interactions. Therefore, the model suggests that one should have four categories of abilities to achieve emotional intelligence. These are the ability to perceive emotions, the ability to use emotions, the ability to understand emotions, and the ability to manage emotions (Martin & Thomas, 2011). These will enable an individual to remain sensitive to the feelings of others and to take care of them accordingly during communication.

Behavioral development is critical in the development of emotional intelligence to demonstrate the best practice during professional interactions. The two major behavioral requirements that on should develop is self-awareness and other’s awareness. According to Slaski and Cartwright, 2003), self-awareness and the awareness of others refers to the ability to understand your emotions as an individual and the emotions of others. In this regard, one should develop empathy, which entails the understanding and caring for the emotions of others (Phelps, Lempert, & Sokol-Hessner, 2014). Another vital behavior that one should develop is openness, where one is required to speak frankly and let others know how they feel (Thompson & Danie, 2010). Finally, one should also remain sensitive during interpersonal communication, listen carefully to speakers and refrain from abusive or discriminative words or acts that hurt the emotions of others during professional interactions (Rueckert, Brandon, & Tiffany, 2011).

	June 1st – 30th 2017	July 1st – 30th      2016	August 1st – 30th     2016	September 1st – 30th  2016	October1st – 30th        2016	November 1st – 30th      2016
Keep a reflective journal on lessons learnt during my action plan.
Registering and attending a workshop and training on the development of emotional intelligence.
Registration for an extra post-graduate course on effective communication skills at CQU.
Working with a mentor.
Read one recent book on emotional intelligence and one recent book on critical thinking skills.

 As a part of my action plan, I will keep a reflective journal to help me in the monitoring of my progress regarding my development on the two communication issues. In this task, I will note down what I have learned during my entire action plan given above. I believe that this record will help me in the identification of areas to utilize the skills that I have gained in the interpersonal communication process (Sherrill, 2015). Also, I will also record the challenges experienced during the action plan, and the things that took place besides my expectations.

The second task in the action plan is the registration and attending of a workshop and seminar on emotional intelligence will help develop effective skills of emotional intelligence for professional interactions. I will register for four different workshops and seminars that will take place two weeks each but will be running continuously for two months. These training and seminars will facilitate the growth and development of my emotional intelligence skills. The seminars will also expand my knowledge and skills regarding effective business communication (Blizard, 2012).

Taking another extra course on effective communication skills at CQU will greatly boost my perspective on critical thinking and emotional intelligence, and therefore, I will improve my interpersonal communication and professional interaction skills. To achieve this, I will register for a two moths unit at my university to help me gain the four abilities that are relevant to emotional intelligence and also to develop my capacity to analyze and evaluate information that I receive.

Successful learning, growth, and development requires one to have a mentor to look up to and to seek for assistance during challenging times. In this regard, to facilitate the growth and development of my critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence, I will attach myself to a mentor who is knowledgeable enough in the field of interpersonal interaction. For this, I have chosen the head of Department of Business Communications in our school. The identified mentor will help me to enhance my ability to accurate perceive and utilize information related to emotions to ensure emotional intelligence.

The final task in my action plan is to read a book each that is related to my two major communication issues. As already identified in the above sections, my areas of weakness are the lack of emotional intelligence and the lack of effective critical thinking skills. Therefore, I will go to the school’s library and identify one book on emotional intelligence and another one on critical thinking. These books have to be recently published, for instance, they have to be published in the last five years or less. This will ensure that I read updated information with guidance on current practice in business communication.

References

Abbasi, M. H., Siddiqi, A., & Azim, R. A. (2011). Role of Effective Communications for Enhancing Leadership and Entrepreneurial Skills in University Students. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(10), 242-250.

Adeoye, E. A. & Yusuf, F. A. (2012). Developing Critical Thinking and Communication Skills in Students: Implications for Practice in Education. AJOL, 6(1), https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/afrrev.v6i1.26

Blizard, J. L. (2012). The importance of effective communication. AORN Journal, 95(3), 319-320.

Elder, L. & Paul, R. (2009). The Aspiring Thinker’s Guide to Critical Thinking. Foundation for Critical Thinking Press: 17, 20, and 44. https://www.criticalthinking.org/ctmodel/logic-model1.htm

French, E. & Tracey, N. (2010). Critical Thinking and Organization Theory: Embedding a process to encourage graduate capabilities. E-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching, 4(1), 1-10.

Gutiérrez-Cobo, M. J., Cabello, R., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2017). The Three Models of Emotional Intelligence and Performance in a Hot and Cool go/no-go Task in Undergraduate Students. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 11, 33. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00033

Jagadeesh, G., & Balakumar, P. (2012). The basic concepts of scientific research and scientific communication. National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 3(2), 178– 182.

Laidlaw, K., & Kishita, N. (2015). Age-appropriate augmented cognitive behavior therapy to enhance treatment outcome for late-life depression and anxiety disorders. Geropsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(2), 57-66. doi:10.1024/1662-9647/a000128

Martin S. L. & Thomas J. (2011). Emotional intelligence: examining construct validity using the emotional stroop. Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. 2, 209–215.

Paranto, S. R., & Kelkar, M. (2000). Employer Satisfaction with Job Skills of Business College Graduates and Its Impact on Hiring Behavior. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 9(3), 73-89. Doi: 10.1300/J050v09n03_06

Paul, R. (2004). The State of Critical Thinking Today. Retrieved from, https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-state-of-critical-thinking-today/523

Phelps, E. A., Lempert, K. M., & Sokol-Hessner, P. (2014). Emotion and decision making: multiple modulatory neural circuits. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 37, 263–287.

Rueckert, L., Brandon, B., & Tiffany, D. (2011). Are gender differences in empathy due to differences in emotional reactivity? Psychology, 2, 574–78.

Sherrill, D.C. (2015). Writing Journal Articles. Retrieved from, https://vergil.chemistry.gatech.edu/resources/writing-papers.pdf

Slaski M., Cartwright S. (2003). Emotional intelligence training and its implications for stress, health, and performance. Stress Health 19, 233–239.

Thompson, A. E., & Danie, V. (2010). Sex differences in the ability to recognise non-verbal displays of emotion: A meta-analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 28, 1164–95.

van Gelder, T. (2005). Teaching “critical thinking” Some lessons from cognitive science. College Teaching, 53(1), 41-47.

Webb C. A., et al. (2013). Convergent and divergent validity of integrative versus mixed model measures of emotional intelligence. Intelligence 3, 149–156. 

Wright, I. (2002). Challenging students with the tools of critical thinking. The Social Studies, 93(6), 257-262.

Zeidner M., Matthews G., Roberts R. D. (2012). The emotional intelligence, health and well- being nexus: what have we learned and what have we missed? Appl. Psychol. Health Well Being, 4, 1–30.