Improving Communication and Collaboration Skills: A Reflective Essay

This essay delves into the critical importance of communication and collaboration skills in professional settings, examining the author's personal experiences and areas for improvement. The essay uses the Gibbs reflective cycle to analyze instances where the author's speaking, teamwork, and compromising abilities were tested. The author reflects on a presentation where speaking skills were found lacking, a team assignment where effective collaboration was challenged, and a leadership role where compromise was necessary. For each area, the author provides objective evaluations and personal development plans, outlining specific actions like joining personality development classes, reading widely, and practicing patience to enhance these essential skills. The conclusion emphasizes the necessity of these skills for organizational efficiency and the author's commitment to continuous self-improvement.

COMMUNICATE AND
COLLABORATIVE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Speaking...........................................................................................................................................1
Objective evaluation....................................................................................................................1
Personal development plan.........................................................................................................1
Team work.......................................................................................................................................3
Objective evaluation....................................................................................................................3
Personal development plan.........................................................................................................3
Compromise.....................................................................................................................................5
Objective evaluation....................................................................................................................5
Personal development plan.........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Communication is considered as a very essential tool that helps in exchanging the
information between two or more bodies (Patel, Pettitt and Wilson, 2012). It can be either verbal,
no verbal, in written form etc. Better communication skills can actually make the conversation
interesting but a bad mouth always can ruin the whole conversation. Collaboration is termed as a
process when the employees of an organisation work together in order to achieve all the targets
and goals. There is a very essential requirement of these collaborative skills such that a well
interaction, team work, efficient decision making skills etc., just to make the processes and
operations of a company smooth. The essay is about describing my communication and
collaborative skills and also including ways how I can make improvements in it.
Speaking
Objective evaluation
Speaking is considered as an essential act of communication. It can also be said as
expressing feelings or emotions to some other person. If speaking of a person is not well, then
there may be the possibility of the whole conversation being exploited (Dettmer, Knackendoffel
and Thurston, 2012). I am describing here the case, where I realised that how much I somewhere
lack in my speaking skills. I will take help of the Gibbs reflective cycle to express the whole
situation. I had to give a presentation and there was the audience in a much huge amount. It
would be about 100- 150 people in front of me. As I started speaking, initially it went good but
after sometime, I actually forgot what to say and that time, I realised that I was not even able to
speak about the topic on my own as well. That time, I realised my actual level of speaking. I was
not even able to control the situation by continuing on my own. It went too bad and I was feeling
like very bad. The good thing about that was I got to know where I lack, so that I can focus on
making it better. It is because that time, I concluded that there is much still to be learn. I am
planning to go for personality development classes so that I can overcome from the issue and be
able enough to speak next time.
Personal development plan
Objectives Activities to implement Time Frame
Speaking skills  For implementing good
speaking skills, I am
1 month
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planning to join
personality
development classes
because I presently
lack in my speaking
skills, so in the
personality
development classes,
they will be able to
teach me speaking
skills as well as others
that can help me in
developing a better
personality. Also, I will
be able to learn various
speaking skills and also
some others as well to
manage the situation.
 I will also start reading
newspapers, novels and
magazines so that I can
improve my
vocabulary. This will
also help me in making
my communication
skills efficient and also,
help me in getting a
command over words.
By this way, it will also
help me in situations
like I faced before
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while giving the
presentation.
Team work
Objective evaluation
Team work is considered as a way of getting involved in some specific task along with
the others and have an effective decision making process. The person has to stay involved in
every activity taking place. Whether it would be the decision making or some other, involvement
of the person in each task is necessary (Politi and Street, 2011). In team work, there are various
conflicts as well that occurs as many times, the ideas of people did not match. Describing an
experience of my own below. I was discussing with my team mates about the assignment we all
had been given. So we were 10 on an over in one team. At the time, we were discussing the
assignment, few of my team mates were not agreed of the fact what I was saying. In my opinion,
I was pretty sure about the matter and it was relevant enough. Some were not satisfied with it
and for few hours, the discussion went on. I also started losing my patience as per my opinion, it
was efficient enough and they were not accepting the fact. For much time, I argued with them
without realising the fact that it is a group and we all have to make a decision that can be
effective enough to get the targets and objectives. Later, I realised that I should have dealt the
situation with patience because it is team, it is not about myself only. So, I have to listen to
others and they have to listen to me. Then only, we can reach to a conclusion. So, I will make
sure next time to stay patient in such situations and listen carefully to each other and also I will
keep my point as well but next time, more patiently I will make them understand my idea or
thought.
Personal development plan
Objectives Activities to implement Time Frame
Team work  I will make sure to
involve such ways so
that I can become more
patient and efficient
enough to deal with the
2 months
3

situation in a better
way because it is a very
essential skill to make
interactions with others
and also it is important
in the decision making
process as well. I am
patient enough but I
have to be more for
dealing with such
conversations.
 Also, I can get
involved in major
problems of the
company and solve the
same with all the other
members. This will
help me in gaining
patience and also, will
give me enough
confidence to sit in
such matters and
resolve the issue by
discussing the root of
the problem and
finding out ways to
resolve it. I will make
sure to give equal
participation in each
and every activity of
the organisation so that
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I can be able enough to
have efficient team
work skills.
Compromise
Objective evaluation
Compromising can actually help the person to stay positive and make the whole situation
positive in a work place (Cheruvelil and et.al, 2014). Complications and complex situations are a
part of every organisation. So, it is not necessary to fought every battle. One can make the
situation quite normal by simple compromising. Although compromising in every situation is
also not a good option but it can be done in some situations because it can actually decrease the
number of complexities regarding the issue. I can well explain the need of compromise with
respect to my own scenario. I was acting as a team leader and there were a few employees under
me. It is an obvious fact that some employees are more capable and some are less. So, there was
a person in my team who was very less capable. So, instead of giving the person more time, I
fired that person. I would have compromised with them and should have given him some time,
but I didn't compromise with him and fired him. So, it is very important for me to learn some
collaborative skills so that I can be efficient enough to follow my roles and responsibilities
accordingly. It is very genuine that every employee is not genius, everyone requires some time to
get comfortable with their role, so I must have to learn some collaborative skills that can help me
in achieving success in my life.
Personal development plan
Objective Activities to implement Time Frame
Compromising/Collaborative
skills
 From the next time I
will make sure to
appraise my team
members, no matter
what if some of them
are quite weak. I will
train them all myself
2-3 months
5

and try to take them to
their best level. It will
help them in gaining a
high level of
confidence, so they can
be able to put more
efforts in learning and
working.
 Instead of firing them
out the company, I will
provide them efficient
training skills and
efficient amount of
time to learn
thoroughly. I will
compromise in case if
some employee is
taking much time in
learning something.
For such cases, I will
switch to some other
methods by which the
person can learn
through.
 I will ask my team
mates for a feedback if
somewhere I lack. It is
because there has no
complexity if someone
under me teaches me
something actually
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beneficial. So, I will
ask for regular
feedbacks and improve
myself as well where
there must be
requirement. I will try
to compromise in
situations wherever it
may be possible.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the essay that communication and collaborative skills are a must
for working efficiently in an organisation. There are some skills in which I am quite perfect but
then there are some in which I lack. So, for those in which I lack somewhere, I will involve in
various such activities so that I can get better in my speaking, compromising and making
effective decisions to work efficiently and appropriately.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cheruvelil, K. S. And et.al., 2014. Creating and maintaining high‐performing collaborative
research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills. Frontiers in Ecology
and the Environment. 12(1). pp.31-38.
Dettmer, P., Knackendoffel, A. and Thurston, L.P., 2012. Collaboration, consultation, and
teamwork for students with special needs. Pearson Higher Ed.
Gress, C.L. And et.al., 2010. Measurement and assessment in computer-supported collaborative
learning. Computers in Human Behavior. 26(5). pp.806-814.
Patel, H., Pettitt, M. and Wilson, J. R., 2012. Factors of collaborative working: A framework for
a collaboration model. Applied ergonomics. 43(1). pp.1-26.
Politi, M. C. and Street, R. L., 2011. The importance of communication in collaborative decision
making: facilitating shared mind and the management of uncertainty. Journal of
evaluation in clinical practice. 17(4). pp.579-584.
Nancarrow, S. A. And et.al., 2013. Ten principles of good interdisciplinary team work. Human
resources for Health. 11(1). p.19.
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