Communication style evaluation
Leaders spend 70-90% of their time communicating with others and hence the ability to communicate effectively strongly influences who is perceived to be a leader or who gets promoted to a leadership position. Adroitness at communication skills is therefore paramount especially for those who envisage being future leaders. The aim of this essay therefore is to summarize succinctly the findings of an evaluation of my current communication style, identify areas that merit further development and the resources that can be employed in developing these areas.
Body
On the issue of decision making, I tend to make most decisions by myself. My fear of failure and my perfectionist nature strongly contribute to this. As such, I rarely consult others while making decisions regardless of whether such decisions have an impact on them or not. In social interactions, I talk too much and more often than not, people tend to find me domineering. I at times feel as if I have pressure of speech in trying to get my points across hence I rarely listen to others. When communicating, I provide too many details. This does not however imply that I have tangentiate or circumciate around the point. Rather, I always establish clarity and a logical flow to my thoughts. I do not enjoy being alone hence you will always find me interacting with others. Lastly, while communicating I prefer to convey my message in a manner that produces immediate effects that is, I never leave my listeners to infer the message I am trying to communicate for themselves.
Based on the findings of the communication style evaluation, certain areas of my communication style need to be improved in order to be congruent with those required for effective communication in leadership. Active listening skills, open mindedness, interpersonal skills and the skills needed to adapt communication to different situations are the communication skills that I need to develop.
Active listening skills are the central tenet of effective communication. They enable one to receive the verbal, nonverbal and visual message that others are trying to convey to them and in effect to interpret the meanings of this messages as close to the sender’s intended meaning as possible (Wong, 2009). As such, they will equip me with the ability to pause from my own narrative and understand the issue at hand from the point of view of others. The active listening skill of rephrasing is particularly crucial in achieving the latter. Active listening skills will also help me present my ideas in a manner that is not belittling to others. This is especially so considering that the few times I do listen to others , I do it purposefully to identify the weaknesses inherent in the information they are trying to communicate so as to prepare my rebuttals as well as to determine where to insert my views. Understanding of the view points of other people will additionally enable me to incorporate their input while making decisions.
Open-mindedness, the second communication skill I need to develop will enable me overcome my fear of failure and delegation whilst making decisions. Being open-minded will imply that I will no longer be an unyielding advocate of my own personal opinion on the false belief that it is the best. Rather, I will be able to respect and listen actively to what others have to say. Consequently, I will be able to not only involve others when making decisions but also to incorporate their input when I have to make such decisions alone.
Interpersonal skills will help me to be able to interact and communicate effectively with others at the individual or group level (Hendricks, 2010). This is especially so considering that personality types determine how people interact, perceive information, orient their lives and make decisions.
Development of skills for adapting communication to a variety of scenarios is crucial because different circumstances call for different forms or styles of communication. For instance, some require lengthy and detailed descriptions; others merit short and précis information whilst others call for the use of figures of speech such as metaphors. As such, development of different communication strategies will enable me to analyze my audience and adopt a communication style appropriate for the particular audience in both formal and informal situations.
A personal coach, training such as audio-visual programs, evidence based information from books and journals are the resources I need to develop my communication skills. A personal couch will provide expert advice, motivation and insight on soft spots, facilitate planning of the learning process, and evaluate my progress so as to ensure I meet my goals of learning effective leadership communication skills (Carroll, 2005). Training courses on interpersonal skills, public speaking amongst others on the other hand have been shown to equip students with effective leadership communication skills (Hendricks, 2010). Such training sessions are available for individuals and for groups and they utilize evidence based information from books and journals.
Conclusion
In conclusion thus, some areas of my current communication style such as incorporating others in the decision making process and listening are not in line with the communication skills necessary for effective communication in leadership. As such, they need to be enhanced or developed. A personal coach and training programs are some of the evidence-based resources that I can employ to improve my communication skills.
References
Carroll, T.L. (2005). Leadership skills and attributes of women and nurse executives: Challenges
for the 21st century. Nursing Administration quarterly, 29(2), 146-153.
Hendricks, J.M., Cope, C.V., & Harris, M. (2010). A leadership program in an undergraduate
nursing course in Western Australia: Building leaders in our midst. Nurse Education
Today, 30(3), 252-257.
Wong, W.N. (2009). The strategic skills for business continuity managers: Putting business
continuity management into corporate long-term planning. Journal of Business
Continuity and Emergency Planning, 4(11), 62-68.
