Self-Assessment Essay Sample

In everyday life (both personal and professional), communication skills are vital to ensure we effectively communicate a desired message. The communication for managers’ course has opened a door of opportunities for me following the mastery of communication skills, both written and spoken in different business settings. I made it my goal to develop and sharpen my written and spoken skill as being successful meant that I had to express myself properly. I did my assignments diligently and sort for assistance in areas that proved to be very challenging. I vividly remember my first presentation, though familiar with the audience (my professor and colleagues), I poorly delivered since I was very nervous. I worked very hard to ensure my next would be done with confidence. I was relaxed and talked in a slow and less distracted manner. My professor’s advice was that the secret to giving a good presentation was to choose an attractive topic, make the presentation more interesting using visual aids and ensure my body language corresponded to what I was saying. Designing visual aids proved to be the most difficult assignment for it involved providing a simple and understandable summary of a wide range of information. Time was required to effectively design a presentation from the planning to the delivery stage. During the presentation, it was important to involve the audience by asking questions that attracted information and encouraged response. Finally, I had to make recommendations to the audience to make the presentation more appropriate and remarkable.
Prior to this course, my idea of debate was that two parties were given the opportunity to air their opinions back and forth without any arrangement. On the day I delivered my first debate, I would say I was good since my side won the motion but I later learnt that a debate has different arrangement and tactics. To provide a strong argument, it is important to provide examples supported by statistics in order to be more convincing. Overall performance was also judged by individual confidence, voice play and body language. Listening skills were developed so as to digest expressed ideas leading to problem solving, diffusion of conflict and teaching my counterparts while generally becoming a productive individual. By being an active listener, I had the opportunity to show respect to my colleagues as well as learn different concepts from their perspectives. On the subject of a cover letter, all I knew was that it was addressed to a potential employer and I faced the challenge of what information to include. I learnt that I should inform the potential employer of my skills and talents in brief making me the most suitable person to fill the vacant position. I also learnt that my cover letter should follow a given format and although brief, should be attractive at the same time. This was the most helpful assignment as it is my first step to entering a career path of my desire. The course has been challenging and interesting at the same time. The professor’s comments and advice have been very valuable in identifying my mistakes and sharpening my skills. The skills are important for my future profession as an aspiring manager. I realized that it is important to select the most appropriate approach of communicating a desired message as well as select an effective language to express my ideas in well-constructed memos, proposals, letters and emails.