Communicating with others

I feel that I was pretty fair but yet critical when I evaluated myself. I realize that I talk faster when I am talking to others in a group setting but I always keep eye contact and try to explain myself thoroughly when giving a lecture or answering questions. I scored a 37 on communication anxiety inventory and I was evaluated as a 42 and 44 by my son and co-worker. I scored a 62 for verbal aggressiveness scale and I was evaluated as a 59 and 60 by my son and co-worker. I was placed in group 1 for listening styles and my son and co-worker both scored me in group 1 too. It seems that the two individuals who evaluated me felt the same as I did about my communication anxiety, verbal aggressiveness, and listening style. My son is 17 so I expected a big difference in his evaluation of me. I was really surprised on how he placed me in group 1 for my listening styles. Group 1 is a people-oriented style and they are empathetic and concerned with the emotions of others. This style helps build relationships, and is trusting of others. I do feel this is correct of how I listen. I find that I would rather have time with others for listening and communicating to ensure that they understand and know that I value their input and ideas. An insight that I gained about my communication anxiety was that I was evaluated as being uneasy in some communication situations but I do not worry a great deal about it. The level I evaluated myself at and the level I was evaluated at was the same as my son and co-worker. I do feel comfortable talking and discussing issues and topics about early childhood and or teaching a class or mentoring others. I understand the information and have over 20 years’ experience teaching young children. I talked about talking faster in group settings so maybe this is a bit of anxiety for me at the beginning and then I work it out as I continue to talk or lecture. I am an outgoing person so I believe this helps me to feel comfortable in-front of others. Talking fast has always been an issue. An insight that I gained about my verbal aggressiveness was that I never thought of verbal aggressiveness before. I know that I critique my personal children a lot and my son even talked about that to me when he did my evaluation. He joked and said, “Yes mom you criticize me all the time and never let me finish what I am saying.” I am his mother and that is my job to make sure he remembers who he is talking to and how he is talking to me. Respect in my house is a must and I try to communicate that to my children on a daily basis through example and representation. My verbal aggressiveness evaluation said I maintain respect and consideration for others and what they have to say. I feel I do try to maintain and represent this type of moderate verbal aggression because I feel it is important to uphold others to respecting individuals for what they have to say and how they say it. Consideration for listening and not attacking others for what or how they say something is important. We are all different communicators and we each have a unique style on how we display our verbal and nonverbal communication. My professional life is greatly influenced by communication just as my personal life. We all need to realize our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to listening and communicating with others. This evaluation helped me to see where I am strong and where I am weak. When others evaluate you that provides you with a clearer understanding of how others see your communication skills and listening skills. To build communication skills we have to understand where others see our weaknesses and build upon those weaknesses to strengthen our professional and personal communication and listening skills. I personally and professionally need to work on issues that make me uneasy and make sure I completely listen to what others say before I give my opinion.