The Critical Importance Of Effective Teamwork And Communication

Challenges in communication skills

Discuss about the Critical Importance Of the Effective Teamwork And Communication.

Communication is among one of the many vital skills in life, therefore, an effort taken to developing one’s skills in communication is not a waste of time but a great investment that we all should bank all our resources and time on. Communication actually benefits someone in all aspects of their lives be it professional wise, even in all sorts of social gathering (Scullion et al,2011)

Communication challenges are however inevitable we all o have various spots of weaknesses and strengths in our communication. This writes up is actually a self-examination one and its purposes to uncover some of the challenges that I have in my communication in various communication situations (Thill & Bovée,2006). Basically there are five diagnostic tools that I am going to employ in this and they are; Self-perceived tool on communication competence scale commonly referred to as  (SPCC), this is was intentionally designed to get vital and necessary data primarily on how competent individuals behave in a wide range of communication and information  scenarios due to  distinct respondents and receivers , Nonverbal immediacy scale self-report(NIS-S) this has been of recent the most effective and efficient method of measure of non-verbal communication (Teven ,2010). its reliability always estimates around 90, Personal report intercultural communication apprehension (PRICA) this tool basically measures the number of fear people tend to experience when communicating and also relates properly with other persons from various ethnicity and cultural groups, The Talkaholic scale, simply measures an individual’s tendency to over-communicate which in most cases is usually self-perceived.  The last one is tolerance involved disagreement tool, this scale is purposely designed to check the level at which individuals at some point tolerate one another. This occurs when having a disagreement with people during a conversation more so what that individual believes in (Ting-Toomey & Chung,2005).

The results eventually came out, well I won’t say that I was shocked because the questionnaires kind of at some point bring out the so I would call naked truth about my communication strengths and weaknesses (Jandt, 2017).The self-perceived communication competence scale had it that I am somehow shy and not confident when an I am speaking in public, my confidence level is however much higher when communicating to small groups of people and is at its peak when having one on one communication with my friends and family. In public SPCC indicate that I had a score of 49 which is a very low mark, in small groups, it indicated that I had a score of 69 which is an averagely fair mark and I manage to score the highest in one on one conversation with friends and general family members with a score of 97 (Lu & Hsu,2012). My average was 71 which is not a really bad score by this means that my communication is still wanting. The nonverbal immediacy scale self-report indicated that when I talk to women I tend to use a lot of nonverbal cues of communication compared when am having a conversation with men. The PRICA, on the other hand, indicated that I had a score of 57 which means that my level of anxiety when talking to people from the different cultural background is extremely high. A low score in PRICA is 32 and below in which I was not even any closer to that mark (Asante et al,2013). The tolerance for disagreement indicated that I had an average tolerance for disagreement with a score of 41, here a score above 46 indicates that one has a high tolerance for disagreement while a score below 32 indicates that one has a low level of tolerance for disagreement. It’s a score between 46 and 32 that indicates a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement. The talkaholic as the name suggests indicates that I actually have a tendency of over speaking when am in a conversation.

Diagnostic tools in communication competence

Based on the findings I carried out an analysis and self-checking and that concluded that I am not a very good communicator but neither am I a bad one (Carnegie ,2017). I have quite a number of issues concerning my communication styles but there were two problems that were so chronic and I felt that I had to try and do away with them. It’s said that practice makes perfect and I was determined to see to it that these two problems that were so much grown in me and threatening my whole communication have to be done away with. The problems were, one I cannot speak in public, my confidence level is really wanting (Teven ,2010). The SPCCS score indicates a score of 49 which means that my confidence level is below average when I am speaking in public. This really eats me up and action needs to be taken immediately. I’ve always had a dream of becoming a great leader in future but with this level of confidence then my hopes are doomed literally it’s like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I do believe, however, that all is not lost and that something can still be done, something can still make me that great leader and still want to be after all the cornerstone of effective leadership is self-mastery and self-actualization (Grice et al,2015).

The second problem that I have in my communication is that I have a very high level of anxiety. Well, this is very true and it has been happening to me ever since I was a little kid. The PRICA indicated that I had a score of 57 which is really disturbing, I was not even any close to the average mark of 41 and the low level of 32 (Beebe et al,2009).

A couple of months ago I had an encounter that really kept me thinking once I had completed this analysis. I was actually finalizing my attachment. I had been in that law firm and being quite a social person I had to familiarize myself with almost everyone in that firm. I could actually walk around very freely during off duties hours to catch up with colleagues, I remember that I had even been nicknamed the Talkative (Beebe et al,2009). A time came when I was about leaving the firm to get back and continue with my studies. Having been such a friendly guy to everyone in the firm the senior partners saw it fit that they organize like some kind of farewell occasion for me. This really meant a lot. I was supposed to make a speech in front of all workers in that firm. I was very confident that It would not be a problem since I knew almost every single person in that firm but this was not the case. When I got in that podium to make that speech was expected to so deep and meaningful I froze. I hesitated, it was so embarrassing (Hogan et al,2008).

Personal communication competence analysis

Another incident occurred when we went to South Africa with the same firm. It was an exchange programme that was meant to act as an eye-opener and a means of learning by interacting with people from totally different social setups and background. I was so excited, everyone was. It was the first time I was going to Africa and I hoped that it would indeed be the greatest adventure of my life. Literally, it was the greatest adventure of my life but it happened in a way that I did not for. The first couple of days were pretty good but the remaining days were a nightmare I don’t even want to talk about. I was not really myself this happened during interactions and discussion with the lawyers and works in the South African firm (Von et al,2013). I was kind of overexcited, nerves and afraid at the same time. I could not communicate so well. I found myself over talking when I was spoken to saying things that actually really mattered but not in an appropriate way. It was some kind of fear couple with anxiety.

Based on these two incidents that happened to me I can clearly say that my communication is not exactly where I want it to be and its really affecting me. It even affects me mentally and psychologically I feel really disturbed and I even don’t have the peace of mind (Teven 2010). Communication development is mandatory that’s something that I have concluded and it should happen soon enough. I know it won’t be so easy but it’s a path that I have to take I can’t really risk what happened to me happen again on my watch.

From the diagnosis and reflection, I noted that I had two problems, the problem of low confidence and self-believe when speaking in public and the problem of having an extremely high anxiety when communicating and interacting with people from different cultural and ethnical backgrounds (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005).

Public speaking delivery is very key. Delivery is the actual presentation of a content that has been researched on. Basically delivery depends on not only verbal but also nonverbal communication techniques that need to be used interchangeably and simultaneously so as to ensure a great presentation and delivery. Speaking in public is not an easy thing. Statistics have that public speaking is among one of the greatest phobias that exist. Confidence is very key in public speaking and that’s something that I was actually missing (Hänninen & Karjaluoto,2017). Having confidence in public speaking is that character of having zero tension and being less nervous when communicating in public. It’s often normal to experience anxiety and other forms of communication apprehension commonly known as the stage fight. It happens to everyone even the greatest speakers that the world has ever known. There was this famous and great actor known as Mel Gibson is said to have experienced and struggled with tension and nervousness in a multitude of people during his first performances back in the days that he even had to sit down because his legs were too weak to be able to support him. Some other well-known celebrities that have been noted to suffer from lack of confidence and nervousness are Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand and Rod Stewart. Despite all this these great speakers have gone past their fears and managed to counter stage fight, lack of confidence and nervousness (Anderson et al,2009). It’s always every speaker’s objective to eliminate the feelings of apprehension and lack of confidence once they get on stage but this doesn’t come in an easy way. It’s usually the lack of confidence and nervousness that motivates most public speakers to prepare both extensively and intensively about what they are going to speak about and this makes their presentation captivating and even much more lively, at times someone’s greatest fear could actually be their greatest gift and weakness is not meekness. It’s all about turning the tables and mastering the art of turning a threat into an opportunity (Anderson et al,2009).

Overcoming communication deficits

Another important thing of instilling confidence during public speaking is how someone dresses. It works so easily, how one dress for a public function or presentation can have a great impact on how others respond to you. When you are well dressed too this gives you a great feeling and it kind of boosts your confidence because you feel well about yourself (Samson et al,2007). Confidence is very key when communicating since it gives one the command of the conversation. One being sure of what your speaking about is also another determinant of the level of confidence that one is actually going to portray while speaking. It’s always advisable that a speaker should have enough knowledge of what they are speaking about since this gives them command and as a result a major boost in their confidence (Hinman & Danitz,2010). In my communication, I lack the confidence and the things clearly mentioned above are some but just a few that I need to put into consideration so to improve my communication. About dressing that is not really an issue to me but I should also put that in mind. What I was lacking was actually the idea of not believing in myself not my content of delivery because I always do a very thorough research of anything before I make up my mind to speak about it (Leonard et al,2014).From some of the celebrities that have been noted to be having communication Barbra Streisand is one of my favorite speakers and a role model too, having to see that she also underwent exactly what I am going through at some point in my life is actually a motivation to me, it gives me the drive to strive much harder towards developing my communication skills and working on my public speaking confidence. I have this dream that I will finally get past this and I will that great speaker and leader I have always wanted to be.

There another huge problem that I do have in my communication is the anxiety I tend to have when communicating with people from another cultural background. In recent years it has been noted that intercultural communication has greatly increased despite language being an interment obstacle (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005).   Cultural differences that exist is an obstacle itself and this makes this kind of communications full of non-verbal ques this makes people not understand each other due to wrong interpretation of these non-verbal cues. Generally, it’s known that a person’s perspective and how he thinks is greatly influenced by one’s culture, therefore, people tend to learn body languages and gestures that are commonly used and acceptable in their culture this makes it even much harder for different people from different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity to understand each other when communicating (Miller et al,2014).Furthermore, the way in which people do address each other in these different cultural backgrounds is not the same, this makes it so easy for people communicating to respond negatively on things that they should have responded positively and respond positively to situations that they should have responded negatively, this brings about some kind of misunderstanding (Chamberlain et al,2009).Each culture has a certain way of internalizing and interpreting information once it has been received, another factor that comes in in intercultural communication is the degree of difference between the two cultures involved in the communication a big difference would definitely lead to a lot of misunderstanding and they might end up not understanding each other at all when there is no common language.  There is also the problem of anxiety where people tend to assume similarities instead of the differences (Martin & Nakayama 2013).  Under this context, anxiety can be defined as that strange feeling that someone feels as result of being in a completely new environment. It is believed to be brought about by the fact that each party does not really know how they are supposed to behave and act once the communication process is underway and this usually shifts their focus on the actual communication. The results of this anxiety always manifest itself as making very silly but noticeable mistakes such as over talking, stammering among others.

Personally, I had a very hard time in trying to master the intercultural communication skills I was actually assuming the similarities that existed between myself and my South African counterparts instead of assuming the differences. I personally assumed that it was indeed okay for us to behave in the same way we do behave in our respective cultures, this assumption, however, made me the very sensitive and important differences that actually existed between us. It was this caused the miscommunication (Hersey et al,2007).

For me to master the art of communicating clearly with people from different backgrounds and cultures then it’s important that I first start by appreciating the differences that exist between us.

Having understood in depth the problems that I do have with my communication I have to do all it takes to try and remedy this (Martin & Nakayama, 2013).   Communication is an art that can be learned and perfected it only takes the right kind of determination and the willingness to go beyond my comfort zone. For the next six months, there are a number of things that I am planning to do in line with the bettering of my communication skills. Some of the things that I am going to do are explained below.

One, I am planning to undertake a short cause of Public Speaking Mastery based on the actual communication cause (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005).  Public speaking is one of the areas that I am very poor at and I do believe that enrolling myself in this course will greatly help me remedy the impending situation. It will help me get information from the scratch and understand in depths the art of public speaking which is very crucial. I know it’s going to cost me a fortune but that does not really matter, all I care about is improving my communication nothing else.

Secondly, I am also planning to undertake an advanced postgraduate communication course at CQC or maybe any other institution elsewhere all with the aim of bettering my communication skills. There is also a reading plan in place (Bryman & Bell, 2015). We all know that knowledge is power and the reading will help me in acquiring conceptual knowledge that I cannot be taught in any class whosoever. This reading is meant to be tactical though, I am only going to engage myself in reading some communication texts and self-help books. I have not compiled a list of the books yet but I will do some research and make sure that everything is in place so as to make this plan a success.

It’s always important to keep track and check on progress in each and everything that we do, based on that I am planning to maintain a personal journal specifically reflecting on my communication interactions and how I did at the various communication interactions (Zikmund et al,2013). This will enable me to keep track on my developments and at the end of it, all give an account if it was really worth or not.

All these activities that I am planning to do will have timelines and a thorough follow up will be made to make sure that the ultimate goal of improving on my communication skills is achieved at any cost whosoever.

References

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Ting-Toomey, S., & Chung, L. C. (2005). Understanding intercultural communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Jandt, F. E. (2017). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications.

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Hinman, C. D., & Danitz, D. J. (2010). U.S. Patent No. 7,828,808. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Miller, A. N., Katt, J. A., Brown, T., & Sivo, S. A. (2014). The relationship of instructor self-disclosure, nonverbal immediacy, and credibility to student incivility in the college classroom. Communication Education, 63(1), 1-16.

Leonard, M., Graham, S., & Bonacum, D. (2014). The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. BMJ Quality & Safety, 13(suppl 1), i85-i90.

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Hänninen, N., & Karjaluoto, H. (2017). The effect of marketing communication on business relationship loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 35(4), 458-472.