Reflection On Interpersonal Communication Skills

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Interpersonal communication skills are essential for survival. These skills and abilities help us provide for ourselves physically, emotionally, and socially. Interpersonal competency levels vary from person to person. The key to thriving, rather than surviving, is improving your interpersonal communication competency. There are six categories of interpersonal communication competency: adaptability, conversational involvement, conversation management, empathy, effectiveness, and appropriateness. Revealed in the following pages, are my self assessments in those six categories. I will reflect on my strengths and weaknesses, while also providing examples of how these skills have played out in my own life. Through this paper, I hope to become more …show more content…

I am a more appropriate communicator in college than I was in grade school. When I was younger, I always had my cell phone in my line of sight. I even looked at it in the middle of someone trying to have a conversation with me. I was completely oblivious to how rude and inappropriate I was. When I was out with a new friend, I would check my phone during those awkward silences, rather than striking up a new conversation topic. A friend pointed my behavior out and was annoyed that I kept looking at my phone. She was upset, because she felt as though I did not care about her. Since then, I have always tried to be aware of how I am being perceived by others when I use my phone. I know now checking my phone, or even having it out, relays the message that what is on my phone is more important than the person I am hanging out with. It is easy to make that internal attribution error about people who are attached at the hip to their cellular devices. I avoid people perceiving me that way by putting my phone away when I am having out with someone. Because I am aware, I can be a more appropriate communicator than …show more content…

I feel that I am an ethical communicator in all situations. I try my best not to tell people what to do, because I am not qualified for that. I think that people are capable of coming up with decisions about their lives. I am not the expert on others lives, but I can help them identify their values then encourage them to make their own decisions based on that. I am very trustworthy and keep people’s struggles confidential— only discussing their issues between the two of us. For instance, one of my close friends in high school told me he was gay and was scared to let anyone find out. He struggled a lot with whether or not to make his sexual orientation public. He confided in me, because he trusted me. I kept our conversations secret, and allowed him to unload his burdens onto me. Even though my beliefs did not match his choices, I remained unbiased and did not judge him. This kept our communication and relationship open, and he felt comfortable being transparent with me. We were very honest with each other. I encouraged him to search himself and weigh his options. He decided he valued being open and honest about himself, rather than keeping on the public mask he created. Towards the end of our senior year, he asked his favorite teacher if he could “come out” during class. He asked my friend and I to play “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga, his idol, when

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