Communication 1

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Melissa Weldon
Comm 122 Interpersonal Communication
November 11, 2015

Communication

I want to be able to one day switch smoothly between different types of communication

depending on what situation I am in and what type of communication is needed for that

particular situation. I interact with friends daily which requires me to constantly be aware of

how I am communicating with them both verbally and through my body language. By focusing

more directly on my communication skills I hope to become a better friend. To learn how to do

this I went googling and researching. I went to the library database and found some articles that

gave me some good insight on communicating, but I also went to Google because sometimes the

scholarly articles are hard to understand and the words they use are a little big. Google puts it

into terms that I can understand.

I found two articles that have different information in them, but they both have good ideas

on how to become a better communicator in a workplace and in everyday life. The first article

that I want to discuss is called Workplace Communication Essentials written by Jamie Walters.

This whole article is about different ways to become a better communicator in a workplace. The

tips that are suggested are things that I believe that we could all learn and use for every day

communication. Some of the tips include to get centered, listen well, speak clearly, be receptive,

stay relaxed, and to be genuine. There are just a few that I want to talk about because they are

the ones that people over look sometimes when they think about communication (Walters, 2005).

Get centered is one that I feel most people dont think of when they hear the word

communication. Get centered means that you are centered, rather than when you are

preoccupied, flustered, angry, or otherwise off-center"" (Walters, 2005). Taking the time to be
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centered will save you time in the end. It doesnt directly deal with communication skills, but

you need to be focused to have good conversation or just a conversation in general. I can apply

this to my life and to my goal by really focusing on what people are saying to me and not think

about what is going on in my life and what I have to do. I need to give them my full attention. If

I do that then they in return will hopefully be more apt to do the same.

Another one that I didnt put with communication is staying relaxed. I never thought that

being agitated could affect my communication skills. In this article it says stress and tension

often lessen our ability to be present and skillful. Practices that test relaxation and calmness are

beneficial in many ways, and ultimately allow you to be more centered, present, skillful, and

effective. Choose . . . strategies . . . to help you stay relaxed, regardless of what is happening

around you (Walters, 2005). This one goes hand in hand with get centered. Without being

relaxed I feel like I could never get centered or focused and visa versa. You cant have one

without the other. This one is a good one to remember, especially in a work place. I work in a

restaurant and sometimes there are a few people trying to talk to me all at once and I can get

flustered and stressed, but I just need to remember to take a deep breath and focus on one thing at

a time. Everything will work out and get done.

In a world that has so much untruth and sarcasm going around it is hard sometimes to

determine what is true or not. We dont have to let that be the same way with our

communication. One of the other tips that they give is be genuine. This is one that I feel that

people dont think of, especially now days. To be genuine one of the things that they say is to

speak honestly. Speak honestly in a way that you still have compassion and sympathy but at the

same time have excitement or sadness or sympathy when you feel it (Walters, 2005). With

being honest it doesn't give you the right to be rude or unskillful. We need to say what we need
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to say, but in such a way that lifts you up as well as the other person. This is a good reminder for

any setting, but I feel like I could work on this with my friends. With my friends I tend to be

more sarcastic with them and says thing that I dont really mean. I need to work on being

excited for them when they tell me things. Whatever they are sharing with me is important to

them and they are probably excited about it. I need to be excited with them.

In one of the other articles that I liked is on being a more mindful parent. I know that this

is talking about parenting and a lot of us are not in that stage of life yet, but the things that they

suggest to do to be a more mindful parent are things that I could take into a friendship,

relationship, a workplace, any where I use communication skills. They suggest three things, . . .

listening with full attention, . . . emotional awareness, and nonjudgemental acceptance . . .

(Duncan and Coatsworth and Greenburg, 2009). The first two I feel like are self explanatory.

Listen with full attention means to really listen to the person speaking and show that you are

listening. Emotional awareness means be aware of what the other person is feeling and how they

are reacting to what you are saying or what they are saying. Nonjudgemental acceptance is the

one that I want to focus on. To me nonjudgemental acceptance is being able to say what you are

feeling or thinking and know that the other person is going to accept you no matter what. This is

a big one in communication. People will not say what they really want to for the fear of being

rejected and laughed at. In any communication scenario nonjudgemental acceptance needs to be

there for both parties. If either don't feel comfortable with the other person then the

communication between you both is not going to be very good. It is going to be very short,

quick, and to the point. If you have that trust between you both then things are more open and

have an easier feeling.

I am a manager and waitress at a family owned restaurant. This requires me to interact

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with the public and many employees that are under me as a manager. I have already found that

how I verbally communicate with both strongly affects the mood and respect of those I serve and

direct. By bringing in and remembering these communication skills that I have learned from

these articles I feel like I can be a better manager and also a better employee because I will be

more focused on other people and not myself. When I manage I have a lot of responsibilities and

employees that I need to take care of and please. At times everybody wants me somewhere and

needs to talk to me. I need to remember to relax. Sometimes I get so busy and so many things

are going on I am not relaxed. In stressful situations if I am not calm and relaxed then things

dont get done right.

Each of these are good to remember in a workplace setting. Sometimes it is easier to

incorporate these skills than other times, but it is worth the effort. It will make a better and

happier workplace. One thing at a time and it can start with communication. If I start then other

people will follow and in return my workplace communication will improve.

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References

Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenburg, M. T. (2009). A Model of Mindful Parenting:
Implications for Parent-Child Relationships and Prevention Research. Clinical Child &
Family Psychology Review, 12(3), 255-270. do:10.1007/s10567-009-0046-3.

Walters, J. (2005). WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION ESSENTIALS. The Officer, 81(8) 4

2-44. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.ldsbc.edu/docview/214103474
accountid=27877