How Am I as a Communicator?
I
was surprised to learn that my colleague scored my communication anxiety as
low. She must perceive me as being
comfortable and confident in most situations.
I take this as a compliment. In
reality, I do get nervous when doing public speaking. I am comfortable talking with groups of
people I know; however, groups of people new to me such as new parents make me
a little nervous.
I
have gained insight into the fact that people can perceive you differently than
you perceive yourself. In my case, this
was a good thing. It must not show that
I am nervous or anxious at times. My
son, I knew would think I was more verbally aggressive than my colleague. I do treat my children much differently than
I treat colleagues or anyone else. This
is due to that fact that I am raising them and responsible for their
behavior. Being that parents discipline
their children, I am sure most children would say their parents yell or are
mean! LOL! We treat everyone
differently based on context. Our speech
repertoires help us decide what language meets the demands of the given
relationship, situation, or environment (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).
 |
| How my colleague perceives me |
 |
| How I perceive myself |
 |
| How my son perceives me |
Another
insight was that my son and colleague identified me as people oriented. I also identified myself in this
category. I am trusting of others until
they prove otherwise. I am empathetic
and love building relationships. This is extremely helpful in the early
childhood field as relationships with families and children are key components
to successful outcomes.
Reference
O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An
introduction. New York:
Hi Lynn. I’m sure you took your friend’s remarks as a compliment rather than criticism and it is a great feeling that people do look at with pride, admiration and respect. We also told our children that good communications brings our families closer, as we show trust and faith in each other…Jay
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience as you did whereby a colleague of mine assessed my communication anxiety as lower than what I experience it to be. Like you, I also took this as a compliment and even hoped that it might help to ease some of the anxiety that I experience in certain situations.
I absolutely love the pictures you chose to represent the different perceptions of your communications haha! I think that you make a great point when you say that people's children would differ in the overall assessment of their parent's communication as compared to a colleague or peer.
-Katelyn
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your comments and your graphics are adorable! I too had different perspectives from my co-worker and my husband. My poor husband rated me as highly verbally aggressive. I told him that I needed to do the assessment on him. It was fun to see what others thought of me and to compare it to what I thought. Thanks for sharing.
Monette
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteI agree that what our children see us as communicators and our colleagues are always going to be different. I guess we were no different with our parents. The pictures were great. The Hulk is what the girls say I look and sound like when someone cuts me off on the highway! ;o)
I enjoyed your post very much
Ivelisse
Good for you that you come off as having less anxiety when talking to others than what you see yourself. I think this is a great trait to have when working in education. I also find that it is harder to talk when thinks are new, but I think this goes along with change and adapting yourself. I am also very different with my son, because like you I am responsible for him. Sounds like you have great communication skills!
ReplyDelete