Developing Self-Awareness and Skills

This assignment focuses on self-reflection and development. The writer identifies areas needing improvement in emotional intelligence, cultural competency, and listening skills, which negatively impact teamwork and organizational productivity. They outline specific strategies to enhance these skills, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, empathy, cultural sensitivity, and active listening for professional success.

Running head: REFLECTION IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
REFLECTION IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REFLECTION IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Effective communication is one of the most important aspects of business management as it
helps to express our needs and wants. It also helps to others to make us know what they want to
reveal to us (Hogue et al. 2015). Successful communication leads to successful completion of
work, smooth workflow, reduced cases of miscommunication, higher productivity, team binding,
relationship building and many others. Reflecting oneself in his business communication skills
will make the individual identify the mistakes or the weakness he has in his communication
skills and help him develop strategies by which he can overcome the weakness and perform
successful communication (Davidson 2015). In this assignment, I will be reflecting my
experiences while conducting business communication, stating what went wrong and developing
strategies which would help me to overcome such incidences in my future endeavors.
While I was under my internship placement, I was allocated in a team of 8 members and there
were altogether 7 teams in the placement. We were assigned a task for our team where each and
every of the 8 individuals had to complete a chapter of total 8 chapters. The work was to be
proceeded only when the previous chapter was completed by other team members and discussed
thoroughly before starting about the summary of the previous chapters. While conducting such
team work, I faced a lot of issues. As my team member who was to perform the previous task did
not submit it on time as he found it hard. This made me disappointed and I perceived that he was
making excuses for which I had a verbal fight with him where I could not keep up my temper
and humiliated him stating him to be a poor performer. Moreover, my biasness made me talk
negatively with a rude tone to the other cultures specially who were Chinese and Japanese in my
team which created an unstable environment in the workplace. There were many instances where
I could to control myself and criticized my team members for being late of being poor in quality.
All these were making me upset later for which I was getting depressed. There was an instance,

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where a member of a diverse background was arguing with another team members on a
particular ground. In such an instance, I tended to support my friend without trying to know
about the real issue which affected my relations with the opponent members and also showed
that I am culturally biased. All these incidences showed that I am poor in my emotional
intelligence as many of the characteristics required in order to be emotionally intelligent was
absent in me. Another issue I faced was due to my improper oral communication skills. While
conducting teamwork, I was absent for a day for which my team members came to me the next
day. They wanted to discuss the changes in the planning that took place when I was absent.
However, due to my impatient listening skills, I cut them short and stated them that I had already
understood. They felt disappointed for cutting them short but wished me luck. However, I did the
wrong work as I did not hear their plans entirely and it affected the team performance. I was
criticized for that by my team members which affected my ego.
Through the different events described above, I noticed that several of my soft skills are not well
developed and for this reason I am failing miserably to be emotionally intelligent while
conducting my communication in my workplace. I noticed that I have very poor self control
which is an important element of being emotionally intelligent. I could not hold on to my temper
when I saw the improper work of the team member. This incidence, besides reflecting my poor
self control a tribute also showed that I do not show empathy towards others. Although, the
member stated that he found the work difficult, still I did not show him any empathy and
humiliated him. This attitude also showed that I also have no proper skill in relationship
building. This skill is very much important in a team work for proper coordination and
collaboration while performing a task which increases the productivity of the organization and
helps to align with the objectives of the organization (Celly and Thomas 2015). I also could not

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develop trustworthiness among the members as they were not able to rely on my changing
behaviors. Moreover, I also have no proper knowledge in conflict management procedures as I
commented in the conflict between the team members without judging the main issues and trying
to solve them. Rather I took sides which only escalated the issue rather than creating solution for
this. I also failed miserably in social skills like building bonds, conflict management,
collaboration and cooperation. Secondly, my biasness towards cultures also shows that I have
poor multicultural communication knowledge and did not have any idea about how to behave
and communicate with people from other cultures so that the workplace stability is maintained. I
am also an impatient listener which increases the chance of miss-communication, inappropriate
work submission, duplication of already completed task, improper collaboration, negative feeling
among team members and others. Having proper emotional intelligence is very important as
individuals with high emotional intelligence has the ability to identify and use, understand and
thereby manage emotions in proper as well as an effective and positive ways. The component
attributes of emotional intelligence when achieved successfully can help to communicate in a
better way and also help in reduction of anxiety and stress. I was mainly getting upset after such
incidences which were resulting in increasing anxiety and stress in me. I also realized that I was
becoming physically ill as such stress was having a negative impact both on my mental and
physical health. I could not empathize with others which made them develop negative outlook
for me for which I could not get their help and they also tried to avoid collaborating and
coordinating with me. As a result not only the team performance was affected but my individual
performance was also affected since I was not being able to discuss or get help in any barriers I
was acing (Thompson 2015). All this was affecting the production of the company. As I had no
proper self-awareness, I also suffered since this enables us to lead much better lives with correct

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intention, autonomy and purpose. Emotional regulation is extremely important by not acting on
the raw feelings in an impulsive way or in destructive manner as this my create rifts or raise
conflicts in team members. Moreover I also need to be culturally competent so that all the
members in the team feel that they are respected and cared for in the members. Negative
outlooks will destroy their motivation and will harm their ego which will in turn impact their job
satisfaction. This will in turn reduce the main productivity of the team (Martin and rough 2016).
I have realized that I need to modify a large number of my self-awareness skills and also my soft
skills so that I can successfully develop relationships with my coworkers. Maintenance of a
strong bond is very important as I have seen members who share good bonds are happier at
workplace and they have higher job satisfaction. People with higher job satisfaction face less
stress and therefore they are able to provide more productivity (Pool 2017). Having proper
empathy and interpersonal skills can help us build rapport and develop both formal and informal
bonding which reduces stress at work and also help to avoid any internal power struggles or
backstabbing behaviors (Higgs and Dulewicz 2016). Moreover being self aware is important to
remain motivated, handle constructive criticism and also to learn from mistakes. In order to
develop my emotional intelligence, I should note my emotional reactions throughout the day and
then reflect on the parts which I think I can modify for betterment. I should also pay attention to
my body language and be careful that it does not provide any rude vibe. I should also try
observing how my reactions and my behaviors are connected with my activities and hence try to
control myself in negative reactions. I should try my negative reactions to resurface and connect
them with the incidences which I need to stop exhibiting. I should notice my patterns in
emotional history and thereby practice deciding how to behave so that it does not harm any
emotions. I should be open-minded, agreeable, improve my empathy skills, and read others body

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language successfully. For being culturally competent, I first need to be aware of my biasness
and stop exhibiting them. I need to develop knowledge about other cultures like how they speak
or behave and also their cultural preferences and inhibitions so that I can be careful when
communicating with them. I should involve them in decisions making and feedback giving so
that they feel respected and cared for. I should have curiosity while talking with them informally
so that the feel enthusiastic about displaying their real self and cultural traditions which will
reduce their job dissatisfaction. Moreover, for development of my listening skills, I need to
attend workshops where I will be guided about the modifications I need to incorporate in my
communication styles. Moreover I can also read articles which provided with strategies to
develop listening skills. All these would help me to develop my emotional intelligence, cultural
competency and listening skills.
This reflection assignment helped me to reflect upon my own experiences which helped me
realize that I mainly have three issues like improper personal management skills, social skills,
cultural competency and also impatient listening skills. These are affecting teamwork as they are
creating rifts and conflicts. The organization’s production is also getting affected due to this
reason. Hence, I will take initiatives strategically which will make me more competent in my
career by overcome g the barriers. This would help me to reach the zenith of success.

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References:
Celly, K.S. and Thomas, C.E., 2015. Partnering for Purpose: Cross-Cultural Model to Encourage
Participation, Exploration, Appreciation, Reflection, and Learning in Undergraduate Education
and Beyond. In Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Leadership in Modern Organizations (pp. 83-
97). IGI Global.
Davidson, R., 2015. Wiki Use That Increases Communication and Collaboration Motivation: A
Reflection Several Semesters Later. Journal of Learning Design, 8(3), pp.92-105.
Higgs, M. and Dulewicz, V., 2016. The Importance of Emotional Intelligence. In Leading with
Emotional Intelligence (pp. 13-32). Springer International Publishing.
Hogue, A., Percival, J., El-Khatib, K. and Hayes, G., 2015. Reflection on Integrative Project-
Based Learning in Business and Information Technology Programs.
Martin-Raugh, M.P., Kell, H.J. and Motowidlo, S.J., 2016. Prosocial knowledge mediates effects
of agreeableness and emotional intelligence on prosocial behavior. Personality and Individual
Differences, 90, pp.41-49.
Pool, L.D., 2017. Developing Graduate Employability: The CareerEDGE Model and the
Importance of Emotional Intelligence. In Graduate Employability in Context (pp. 317-338).
Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Thompson, S.S., 2015. Emotional Intelligence and Elementary Principals’ Leadership.