For your
blog this week, think about the similarities and differences between how you
evaluated yourself as a communicator and how others evaluated you. What is the
one thing that surprised you the most? Why? What other insights about
communication did you gain this week? Choose at least two to share with others
through your blog and consider how each might inform your professional work and
personal life.
The two people that I had evaluate
me are my husband Adam and a previous coworker of mine, Danielle. Danielle and I worked many years together,
first at a private child care center and then at a charter school. One thing that surprised me was that both
Adam and Danielle scored me lower in the Communication Anxiety Inventory than
I rated myself. I feel that in some
situations that I have anxiety speaking and I do not like confrontation,
however I am happy to know that even if I feel anxiety ridden in some
situations, I am not necessarily showing it.
The other thing that surprised me was that both of them for the Verbal
Aggressiveness Scale and the Listening Styles Profile were in the same scale
range that I came up with for myself. My
husband sees me in mostly social settings communicating and my coworker saw me
mostly in professional settings, so to have both come out in the same range,
makes me believe that I am pretty consistent in both settings.
Jill
ReplyDeleteI have a high level of anxiety when speaking that's why when I did my evaluation I was shocked to find on one of mine that I had a level of aggression. That is never me. So now I will watch at least try and watch myself a bit closer.
Maybe the inconsistency in the anxiety results is reflective of you showing your anxiety a bit more than you realized. Anxiety is a hard thing to manage in public speaking. I've found that comedy helps, but what works varies from person to person. I found the opposite to be true, meaning I rated myself higher in anxiety than my two people, which I think means I'm good at managing my anxiety. Of course, it could also be because they know you well enough that they are privy to you talking about something that made you nervous. I think either scenario is worth exploring more, either for what you can do better or for what you already do well in managing anxiety.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill,
ReplyDeleteI think it is cool when we get the same scores as others who took the test for us. I wonder if the reason you got a higher score in communication anxiety because you only know how your body responds when you have to publicly speak. For example, you may know that you are nervous and can feel the shaking, but can come off as really calm and "together".
Cierra
Hi Jill,
ReplyDeleteThat is good when you get the same scores and a higher score in communication that mean that you are very calm when you are speaking in front of people, although you may not be. my scores was very low with anxiety when it come down to speaking in the public. Thank You for share this with us.