Resolving Conflict

I am not the type of person to get into disagreements or conflicts. I usually mind my business and stay to myself. At my job we are only in the office on Friday’s during the school year. Monday through Thursday we are at our designated high schools. But during the summer we are in the office together Monday through Thursday. There are nine women that shares an small office, so at times things are not always good. I have seen the women get into conflicts over things that could have been avoided if communication was more effective. One strategy that I have learned about that would be helpful in any conflict is listening. When you stop and just listen and hear the other person out, you learn that you could have misinterpreted something. One thing that learned from the NVC is listening to your feelings. I myself do not agree with acting with feelings because sometimes feelings could be impulsive, which is not a good thing and could lead to something worst. But I believe that things should be talked out amongst one another before going straight to the supervisor which is what most of the women in my office do. If you sit and talk face to face and let the person know what is going on, things can be settle.  

Communication Survey

This week after taking the survey on communication I realized that I care about others feelings and I can communicate in a group setting but just do not like to do it. I asked my brother and my mother to take the survey as well to see how they perceived me as a communicator. Maybe I should have done a friend instead of two very close family members. We all score differently in the number section but on the scale it came out to the same results. It was surprising because I thought that my mother’s answers would have been completely different from mine. In personal aggressiveness I scored  66, which means that I take people’s views into consideration and show respect. I scored a 55 in communication anxiety, which is moderate as well. I means that sometimes I am uncomfortable in certain situations and sometimes I am not. I believe that this survey was very accurate to my communication skills. And I enjoyed that I got to see what others think of my communication skills.

Communicating with People

When it comes to communication I do find that the way I communicate is different from person to person. The way that I communicate with my mother is different from the way that I communicate with friends. I also communicate differently with different groups of friends. When speaking with my mother or an elder I make sure to give them undivided attention. But when I talk to my I have my phone out,  sometimes not paying attention. I use different lingo when talking to my friends verses talking to my mother. My friends and I sometime over talk each other and when we are talking. I tend to blend in to the environment that I am in when it comes to communication.

Learning About Communication Skills

The show that I decided to analyze is Blackish. I comes on ABC. It is a thirty minute series about an Black American family.  

While watching this show without sound it seems to me that they are your normal family. The dad do things to irritate or embarrass the kids. And they mom finds it funny. There are four children and they seem to get along perfectly. Throughout the show they would be in one of the sibling’s room having discussions. The mom and dad seems to have a good relationship with one another. The family seemed very happy. The only time the father seem upset is after he came home from work one day and when his father called him he began to cry on the phone. During the middle of the show it looked like the younger two siblings tried to blackmail their oldest brother.

I did not enjoy watching television without sound, especially since I cannot read lips. My assumptions of this episode where completely wrong. The episode that I watched  was about serious family issues and I misinterpreted it because they were doing a lot of laughing and smiling. My assumptions about the characters being loving and getting along together well. They were a happy and loving family. I believe that my assumptions would have still been the same.

I really enjoyed doing this assignment. It made me think about how I view things. Just to know that I watched thirty minutes of television without sound and thought I knew what was going on is different. It made me think that nonverbal communication can be deceptive. And listening is very important, you can misinterpret things if you do not listen.

Communication

One person that I know who demonstrates competent communication is my boss. While in meetings she make sure that she makes eye contact with each and every one of us in the meeting at some point.  She leaves the floor open for us to give our opinion. One someone has the floor she makes sure that she gives them her full attention.  She never have her cell phone on her when she attend the meeting and she is always on time. If she has something to talk to someone one on one about she makes sure to ask them to stay after the meeting instead of discussing it in front of everyone.  She is always professional when commuting with her staff.