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Effective Communication Methods and Strategies Memo To: Business Communication Class BIZ3158-01 From: Ha Ram Kim Date: Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021 Subject: Personal Effective Communication Methods and Strategies PURPOSE The main objective of this memo is to provide an in-depth analysis of my communication methods and strategies. Based on the results of various personality tests taken, it aims to evaluate if my communication methods fulfill the criteria of effective communication and suggests areas of improvement. Effective communication in the following context is defined as the use of verbal and non-verbal methods to precisely deliver the original meaning of the message as intended while being attentive to what others are thinking or feeling (Prachi, 2018). It is extremely important in settings such as businesses where accurate communication amongst coworkers is crucial in achieving cumulative goals. For instance, those who possess effective communication skills display calm, concise yet direct delivery, carefully selecting words that suffice the other person’s understanding. DETAILS OF TESTS TAKEN 1. MindTools: Communication Skills Quiz: Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Reading (Appendix A) The “How Good Are Your Communication Skills?” on MindTools is a test that consists of 15 questions that evaluates the 4 basic skill areas required to be an effective communicator: speaking, listening, writing, and reading. It tests how effectively the different channels of communication are used in daily life. Some of this includes writing, face-to-face, online, etc. Furthermore, the test highlights that an effective communicator is someone who is not only a good sender of a message but also a receiver. I wanted to see the variety of communication channels I effectively use daily and look for channels I could improve on. 2. IDRlabs: Personality Test based on MBTI (Appendix B) The MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test is a widely renowned personality test developed by mother and daughter, Myers and Briggs. They developed a personality test based on the work of the famous psychologist, Carl Jung, to make it accessible to many people (Block, 2018). The test consists of multiple questions that divide four core personality traits such as extroversion/introversion, thinking/feeling, sensitive/intuitive, and judging/perceiving. The reason I chose this test what that the MBTI test did not entitle me to one fixed personality, but allowed me to be flexible to come up with my combination of different traits to make up a unique personality type. 3. Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NIS-S) (Appendix C) Professors at West Virginia University provided a scale in which one can self-evaluate his or her usage of nonverbal immediacy. Each question asks about if the participant would usually
perform these nonverbal gestures during conversation and the participant is given a number from a 5-point scale where 1 indicates “never” while 5 indicates “often”. I wanted to measure how frequently nonverbal immediacy is used during my communication with other people and see if excessive usage would have adverse effects. 4. DISC Personality Test (Appendix D) William Moulton Marston developed the DISC personality test in which he validated during his studies at Harvard University. The DISC test is designed as a personal evaluation of personality based on four main factors: dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance and reveals which trait is more prominent. I hoped to examine which trait was more dominant within me and sought to evaluate which traits were weaker. 5. Glassdoor Quiz: What’s Your Communication Style (Appendix E) Glassdoor is a worldwide recognized headhunting company that provides insights into jobs and companies. The test consists of questions that ask about the five different communication styles. I chose this quiz because I believed that since Glassdoor is a headhunting company that gathers data about various people working in the business world, they will give an insightful analysis about my communication style and evaluate its effectiveness in the business world. RESULT ANALYSIS 1. Emotional Persuader I make use of empathy and identify emotions to establish effective communication. The MBTI test results have shown ESFJ, with a 92% emphasis on “S” which emphasizes my sensitivity to emotions and how I am quick to pick up emotional cues. For instance, during my internship last semester, by being attentive to the overall intonation, choice of words, and nonverbal behaviors of my supervisor, I was able to swiftly interpret my supervisor’s mood. During times when my supervisor was in a bad mood, I would ask him about his day before anything else. Genuinely trying to seek his emotions and thoughts helped him open up to me. Thus, he was willing to listen up to what I was trying to say and actively helped me with tasks I asked of him. Whenever I sought out to comfort him, he would always respond with thanks or a smile. Thus, these positive cues helped me to understand that I have effectively empathized with him thus he would be more inclined to heed my questions and requests. This reflects my 7/10 score on observation of feedback on the MindTools communication test and how effectively one can pick up the body and facial language in response to what I say. However, I also scored a 5/10 for planning my message on the MindTools test for not being able to properly plan out my speech. Trying to establish communication with people by trying to empathize can oftentimes lead to sidetrack conversations which lead me astray from the original purpose of the conversation.
2. Active Listener For most of my university years, I have part taken in many group projects, and most of the time, I was appointed as the leader. Many are fixated with the concept that leaders are characterized with a big voice; however, people found me approachable and appointed me as a leader because of my active listening. This includes nodding for affirmation, constant eye contact, and giving the speaker full attention with no distractions. I received a high score of 106 points in the nonverbal immediacy test (NIS-S) where more than 104 points are higher than the average. The test suggests that the higher use of nonverbal immediacy increases the positive perception of a person (Raymond et al., 2003). My ability to effectively use nonverbal communication channels has made me more affable and easier to approach. Additionally, DISC personality test results show that steadiness and influence each cover 40% and 38% of the whole score. The results highlight the fact that I am highly supportive, cordial, and listen with empathetic behavior Nevertheless, excessive focus on only active listening can sometimes lead to unproductivity. During my marketing group projects, I was only spending too much focus on trying to actively listen but failed to come up with decisions. I was easily sidetracked with attempting to take notice of everyone’s opinions, thus leading to unproductivity. 3. Respectful Speaker According to the IDRlabs MBTI test, one of the major attributes of an ESFJ is being respectful and considerate of others. Other test results such as the Glassdoor quiz categorized me as an assertive communicator who appreciates the respect of others as much as I appreciate respecting them. Regardless of the difference in social class, gender, or age, the choice of words, the intonation of my voice, and the posture of my body while engaging in a conversation are consistent most of the time. For example, while working as a part-time teacher at an English academy, I would treat the students with a respectful demeanor as I would with a teacher. They returned the favor to me and talked respectfully in response to my respectfulness. Treating others, the way I want to be treated is of my utmost priority. Even to the closest friends, I consistently consider what words or gestures may hurt feelings or upset them. In the process of being respectful, however, I sometimes focus excessively on the formalities thus tend to not get to the point of my speech directly. This may cause frustration for some people who are not looking forward to being respectfully treated but just want to get to the bottom of things. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT Although I am very attentive and actively listen to the people around me for effective communication, listening can often lead to sidetrack if the other person engages in off-topic conversations. It can take my mind off of the meaningful objectives that have to be accomplished. For instance, in the previous marketing course, my group only had a few days left to prepare for the presentation because of all the sidetracking and being unable to settle with ideas. This resulted in the overall poor performance of the team.
Effective communication in the professional setting is to deliver the intended message most efficiently to achieve an end goal (Prachi, 2018). To do so, one must practice clarifying the objectives in a conversation and acting assertively to time efficiently meet the end goal. The chart below organizes the areas of improvement and presents some concrete ideas to practice to improve: Areas of Improvement Significance Ideas to Practice Clarifying Goals • Having a grasp of a specific goal is significant in making conversations efficient as I would constantly be reminded to aim to achieve my objective by the end of a conversation • A set of well-defined goals assist in making a well- structured conversation that gets to the point without wasting time. • Take a minute or two to organize my thoughts • Make the use of notes and list the key points that I want to convey • Record myself talking in order to evaluate the logical flow of speech and identify inefficiencies. Assertiveness • Although my active listening has been a helpful attribute in communication, it sometimes hinders decision making because of excessive intake of opinions. • Being able to be assertive and make decisions based on own intuition and logic can effectively eliminate conversational sidetracking. It helps to achieve the end goal effectively. • Filter out irrelevant conversational topics and remind the other person to get back on track. • Politely yet firmly practice telling the other person to stop talking if the conversation is going of topic. • Keep a list of priorities and make sure those are accomplished through the conversations.
Plan of Action In conclusion, in order to improve my communication skills in terms of clarifying goals and being more assertive, for the next 14 weeks I will engage in the following action plan: Action Plan Number of Weeks Objective Action to be Taken Week 1-7 Clarifying Goals Identify problems within the logical flow of speech • Record myself talking about a certain topic and listen to the recording to identify the logical flow of speech used on daily basis. Set end goals for conversations • Before speaking, identify why you are trying to converse with the person and evaluate if you have achieved that purpose. Avoid excessive information • Tally up times when I give too much information than necessary in class or in a casual conversation. Construct Efficient Speech • Take recordings of how I speak and write them out in sentences. Eliminate phrases that hinder understanding or logical flow Week 8-14 Assertiveness Understand difference between being assertive versus stubborn • Research the difference between being stubborn and being assertive and how being assertive can be useful Filter irrelevant topics • Casually engage in conversations with classmates on group projects and whenever they go off topic, politely ask them get back on track. • Identify and take memos of topics that you are easily distracted by and learn to say no when the topic is irrelevant to the current task at hand Place priorities in conversations • Take a minute or two to think about what your priorities are when you are engaging in a conversation and try to achieve them by the end of the talk. Revaluate objectives • Write a brief summary of what changes occurred in your communication and repeat objectives in areas where reinforcement is needed.