Who Am I as a Communicator?

The activity was interesting. After rating myself I was anxious to see how the others would rate me. My sisters scores were very similar to mine. They rated me 62 on the verbally aggressive scale 34 on communication anxiety and category 1 in listener styles profile. I rated my self as 61, 35 and category 1 in the same areas. However, my colleague's scores were a bit different. This made me realise that my communication with my family was more opened than with my colleagues at work. I take more time to be cautious about the way I communicate with colleagues, so they don't know me the way I and my family do.

I was surprised that my colleagues rated me well which makes me feel like I do a good job communicating with them. But in reality, I know that there are areas, such as my tone, that I still need to work on. 

I realise that much acting can occur in the communication process, because we are unable to read each other's thoughts. The negative aspect of this is that we may never truly get to know the individual. I see the positive aspect of this form of  acting being, we get to show respect despite how how we upset we are. We also get to change our form of language used as we communicate with different groups of people with whom we associate. This allows me to be professional and also use my 'high language' when I am in the professional setting but allows me to 'code switch' when I am in my personal space..

I have also learned that our words have moulding power as promoted through the 'Self-fulfilling Prophecy Theory' and we need to be cognizant of this when we communicate, especially with our children. I tend not to think about how my comments may affect others before saying it, especially with persons to whom I am familiar. The study this week has caused me to reflect and I plan to be more cautious and tactfully communicate what I need to say so as not to offend others especially my family and dear friends.