A Communicator

It gladdens my heart that I am a people-orientated person, ironically I do not trust people as much as will put me into trouble or alter my judgement for them. I gave the Listening styles profile test to my husband to complete and most of his responses tally with mine. The communication Anxiety Inventory and Verbal Aggressiveness Scale Tests were answered by my husband and two of my friends/colleagues. Of course I told them to be as factual as possible and to avoid sentiments.

Responses I got for the communication Anxiety Inventory are encouraging though I need ti improve. I hope to use my listening skill to serve families and children better. Because people who are in trouble most times just need listening ears and I am willing to do that since it is already a part of me. Aside this, children love being listened to. I will need to improve on my technical information listening ability.

Interesting assignment! I have learned again from this assignment that it is always good to be yourself because if one has two behavioral patterns it will be difficult for others to evaluate you.

Communication

I am not a 'TV Person' so it was difficult thinking and arriving at a show to see. Thanfully, I decided to see Bisi Olatilo Show. The show is owned by a Nigerian and operates in Nigeria, UK and the US. I saw the wedding ceremony of the daughter of the Nigerian President.
As a wedding ceremony, it is obvious the bride and groom are not too familiar with some of the guests.
 When the volume of the TV was turned down, I could see the expressions of fear, suspect and tiredness on the bride's face. One would have thought that the bride should be happy all through the event but she was at one time or the other looking rather scared. And her guests at sometime or the other were either frowning, laughing or dancing. From the looks on the guests faces, I guess the wedding ceremony had lasted for too long
My major observation is that if I didn't turn down the volume of the television, I would have been carried away by the boisterious noise and activities going on that I wouldn't have taken notice of the nonverbal communication. Like O'Hair & Wiemann (2011)said, most times verbal communication contradicts nonverbal communication. Though the atmosphere was supposed to be joyful, people still expressed their frustrations which means communication to an extent is an involuntary action.


With the volume turned on, it was something different; I concentrated on the verbal communication more than the nonverbal communication. I could relate the joyful music with the joyful atmosphere and did observe facial expressions or body movement less than when the volume was turned off.


The expressions on the bride's face could be that of anxiety but I assume she must be tired due to the stress of the day. Due to the security unrest in Nigeria for sometime now, she might be habouring the fear of an attack. My assumptions might be wrong or right. It only shows how people read different meanings to the same circumstance.












Reference


O'Hair, D., Friedrich, G. W., & Dixon, L. D. (2011). Strategic communication in business and the professions. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Communication skill

I coordinate the children's class in my church and usually I make a duty roster for those involved. But for a particular week, I was so choked up that I could not prepare a roster. Subsequently, I just called someone to teach the children some few hours before the time. The lady I called did not like the fact that the instruction or information came quite late. I like the way she approached the matter, first, she told me she will try her best to meet up  with the class and that let that be the last time I will give her such a short notice. Immediately, I acknowledged my shortcoming and promised her not to do that again. The issue was resolved on a low tone.

I wish issues and misunderstandings could be tackled in a similar way rather than bearing grudge.