UGB260 Personal & Professional Development: Communication Skill Essay

This essay is a reflective analysis of communication skills, focusing on their significance in personal and professional development. It begins with a definition of communication skills and highlights the author's perceived strengths, supported by the transactional model of communication. The essay evaluates the author's communication skills, emphasizing active listening, and the ability to adapt communication styles based on different models. It discusses attributes like empathy and fairness. The author also examines workplace experiences, identifies contradictions such as public speaking challenges, and concludes with the benefits of effective communication. The essay draws on models like the Johari Window and emotional intelligence to provide a comprehensive overview of communication skills and their impact.

Personal and Professional
Development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
What is communication skill.......................................................................................................3
Evaluation of communication skill and in what ways it is a strength.........................................4
Attributes and values related to communication.........................................................................4
Workplace experience along with challenges and uses of communication skill.........................5
Contradiction evident...................................................................................................................6
Benefits associated with effective communication skill..............................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development can be defined as development which is aimed to
increase value of individual at personal level and development which is also helpful in
professional life and career of individual. Personal and professional development of individual
includes several qualities which are helpful for personal growth and also professional growth.
The qualities are attributes that individual possess and they enable individual to complete task
and deal with varied situations in personal and professional life with efficiency and effectiveness.
Interpersonal skill is one of the skills which are important in personal as well as professional life.
This will be discussed in this essay and how it is an quality for individuals. Interpersonal skill is
mainly concerned with quality of an individual to facilitate communication and interactions with
others in a social setting.
What is communication skill
Communication is one of the important skills which allow people to interact with others
in an effective manner and share their informations. In this context I can say that Communication
skill is my strength which helped me out in my workplace and companies where I worked. I feel
that an effective ways of communicating or interacting with others is my main strength as it
makes me able to influence others and make them able to believe on my informations and all
other things (Moore and et.al., 2018). By making an effective use of communicational theory I
can explain effectiveness of communication skill such as:
Transactional model of communication: It is the model of communication of exchange of
messages between receiver and sender where each member take turns to receive and send
message. Both communicators, sender and receiver plays their roles at the same time and this
make a communication process successful. So, from this model I understood and got to know
that for reducing miscommunication problem it is important to give response to receiver when
we are sender. This model is also known as the process of continuous change because in this
process every component like people and environment changes and that is why it is assumed that
communicators are independent and they act any way they want (Transactional Model of
Communication, 2018).

Evaluation of communication skill and in what ways it is a strength
I want to discuss about my strengths which helped me out which helped me out in my
professional and in my personal life and one of the main skill which I consider the main strength
is communication. From my experience I can strongly say that I am good in this skill and it is the
one who allowed me to make growth at my workplace. While working in an organization and at
the time of workshop, we all were given task which we were required to complete in different
teams. While working on a project in a team we were allotted some work and I was asked to
share my views and also making all people or team member aware about informations of each
others. At that time I found that I have active listening skill and I have ability to listen
informations in a detailed manner which helped me out to share all those informations to each
other in an effective manner. This attention to detail and active listening made us able to make
best decision and completing tasks in a timely manner and without any conflict.
Transactional and interactive model: With the help of transactional and interactive model of
communication I get to know that it is important for receiver and sender to respond in formations
in a timely manner for making communication process successful. I tried to respond to all
questions and informations to sender by listening their views in a detailed manner. Interaction
theory of model made me able that as per the situation we can use our skill of communication as
either verbal or non verbal (MacLean and et.al., 2017). For example: if listener is not present at
that time then as per the situation we need to make use of written communication skill or by
sending information via E mail and other modes of written communication we can communicate
so, it is important to have ability of written or non verbal skill of communication.
Johari Window: It is one of the best techniques which can allow listener in understanding
meaning of speaker and their relationship with them. According to this technique, people can
understand blind spot and by understanding themselves in a better way which is being perceived
by them people can improve interaction and communication skill (Berland, 2017).
In addition, there are main 4 areas of this theory and by focusing on all these areas of human
interaction, people as professional can illustrate as well as improve self awareness and mutual
understanding between some people within a group. All these areas include: open, hidden, blind
and unknown.

Open: Open pane or area of this theory refers actions as well as important information which are
known to individuals. These information are being shared by making use of an effective
communication skill.
Blind: Information in this panel are useful in 360 reviews for personal and professional
development. Individuals are unaware of all these information. This information in this blind
panel may be both positive and negative. It helps people in understanding views of others as how
other people perceive things.
Hidden: Information included in this panel is known to individual but not to anyone else. It
consists of some private data or information like dreams, feelings and others. Aftre trusting on
people only such information may be revealed.
Unknown: It includes behaviours and information that are completely unknown to others and
individuals. It includes subconscious information and it is difficult to become aware of it.
Emotional Intelligence: It is other one of the main ability which makes an individual able to
understand emotions of others. When people can understand emotions and feelings of others then
they are more likely to improve communication. For making communication more effective it is
important to make others able to understand views and feelings of own. Emotional intelligence is
the best technique and theory of improving communication and relation as well.
Attributes and values related to communication
In the context of communication skill which is my main strength I can say that it is not an
individual skill as it is a set of some attributes. For becoming an effective communicators it is
important to have an active listening skill, both verbal and written communication skills, ability
to express views and feelings by gesture and having an effective body language. Communication
is a set of all these skill and if one of the skill and attribute is missing then an individual cannot
be called an effective communicator. As I consider communication skill as my strength so, i can
also say that I have active listening, oral, written and body language skills. On the other hand, I
have only one weakness in this skill which sometime create some problem and which is public
speaking. I have good communication skill but still I face problem while speaking in front of
people or audience. It is because of my lack of confidence. Rather, active listening there are

some attributes and values of communication which supported me in becoming an effective
influencer such as:
Empathy: It is one of the main attribute which increases value of communication. Empathy
makes an individual an effective communicator because it allows them to understand human
behaviours as well as viewpoints. By understanding viewpoints of others, it becomes easier to
make decision and solve problems.
Fairness: It is other main attribute which is required to be in an effective communicator. An
effective communicator is the one who can make feel others valued and influence them and it
can be possible when an individual is fair about all things. This fairness and attitude of
Encouragement: Encouraging other also helped me out to some extent in becoming an effective
communicator (Jahromi and et.al., 2016). I felt that for reducing miscommunication and sharing
feelings and views to others along with active listening encouragement plays an important role.
This encouragement allows others to do whatever they want to do.
Workplace experience along with challenges and uses of communication skill
I evaluated my skills and weaknesses at workplace and I found that I am good in
communication skill but there are some areas in which I am nit good and for becoming an
effective communicator I need to focus on all those areas. Some areas include: public speaking,
confidence and flexibility skills.
I found that due to flexibility and public speaking skill I got failed in explaining my views to
clients as what I wanted to share my feelings and informations to others. This shows clients that I
am lack in confidence skill which sometimes snatched some development opportunities. But
with my active listening and evaluation skill I analysed this area and tried to solve this problem.
This lack of skill made me become frustrated at work which also created problems in taking
appropriate and effective decision which lead poor performance. It also decreased and lower my
morale by which I was facing problem in concentrating on work but with the help of my team
working and active listening skill I focused on taking suggestions and feedbacks from my seniors
(Abella and Cutamora, 2019). They helped me out in making know that by making an effective
planning I can solve this public speaking and all those skills in which I am not good. So, I can
say that this workplace experience allowed me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and by
knowing that I can take effective actions for improving skills.

Contradiction evident
Communication skill is one of my best qualities but I also have experienced some of the
events where I find it difficult to communicate effectively. These experiences are related to
workplace and as well as my experience related to academics. Some of my experience are based
on prejudice where perceptions that I already was having about the person restricted me and
affected the effective communication that I usually am able to make (Arnold, 2018). Prejudice
lead to judgement about the individual that I am supposed to communicate with and interact
with. This is very important that while communicate individual avoid prejudice and perceptions
because these block effective understanding of individual. This is the reason that sometimes
when I am not able to understand the individual and their thoughts and perception. This also
negatively affects my communication skill as I am not able to understand what I should
communicate and in what direction should I drag the communication and interaction with that
individual. This is a behavioural incompetency that I have and has made it difficult for me to
communicate effectively in some situations.
Followed by this another situation where I experience difficulty in
effectively communicate is while I am requiring to speak publicly. Most of the evident and
examples related to this are related to public speaking in front of the class and during my work.
So many events are there in educational institutes that individual require to participate in public
speaking and my experience related to this are not very favourable and create difficulty for me.
Some of the reasons that I cannot effectively communicate in public is because of fear of being
judged and also difficulty in expressing my views in front of so many people. Public speaking is
another difficulty and contradictory evident for my communication skills. These are some of the
events when I think I communicate less effectively but there are some events too when I am able
to communicate more effectively. These are group discussion with less people and during
debates. These are some events that I experience my communication skill got better at the time.
This is my personal experience as well as feedback from others (Carlbring and et.al., 2017). The
reason that I understand for this effectiveness is that I prepare in advance in case the events are
planned events. In case these events are not planned in such case listening skill help me in
understanding what has been said by others and what can be the right response to that. So, two
reasons are important that I understand in effectiveness of communication while debate and
group discussion one is preparation for the event and another is listening skills.

Benefits associated with effective communication skill
Communication skill is important for every profession and position regardless of nature
and type of job and profession individual is indulged in. this is why communication skill I
consider to be one of my quality. There are several benefits of effective communication that I
can experience in future and most of these are linked with professional life. These benefits are;
Provide clarity and direction
This is first benefit of effective communication skill that through effective
communication skill individual can express clearly what they are expecting from others.
Effectively communicating objectives to team is another important aspect of this. In providing
clarity and direction effective communication plays important role because effective
communication involves correct selection of words and language and effective communication
also involve correct form of speaking what is required to be communicated and this ensures that
individual is able to correctly deliver clear expectations and objectives (Timothy, 2018). This
also includes feedback and through feedback parties can clarify their doubts and issues. This also
involve effective listening and this allows that expectations and objectives are clearly
understood.
Building trust
This is another benefit of effective communication skill. Effective communication skill is
made of few elements such as listening and empathy. Both these are important in building trust
as attentive listening and empathy towards speaker this contributes in building trust as and also
helps in understanding different point of views of people. This improved decision making of the
individual and such characteristics also contribute in building trust among others.
Creating better relationship
Effective communication skills also contribute in creating better relationship in personal
as well as professional life of individual (Issah and Sulemana, 2019). Communication skill is
important for this as this includes effective decision regarding selection of words and language
and what should be said and why it should be said. This also includes listening skills and these

all attributes in creating better relations with organisational members. This also includes offering
quality feedbacks in constructive form, this improved quality of communication as well.
Valued in the workplace
Presently communication skill is in demand at the workplace and this is why individual
with effective communication skill is valued at the workplace. This is the reason that employers
are also looking for individuals and employees with good communication skill. This is not just
limited to demand by employers but effective communication skill is also important skill and
quality of the leader (Gregersen and MacIntyre, 2019). This ensures and contributes in becoming
efficient while being at leadership role. This way having effective communication skill as a
quality this will help in career progression.
Better rapport with customers
Communication of employees is an important skill through which organisation can
ensure customers satisfaction. This is important while dealing with customers as this allows
understanding what customers want and how their problems can be solved by the business. This
is mainly important when business is required to deal with complaints of customers.
Communication skill allows speaking concisely and giving response to customers in the exact
manner in which they are willing to treated by the business they are dealing with.
Communication skill is one of my quality and above mentioned some of the benefits that
this will allow me in future (Lundeby and et.al., 2017). But this quality also has some scope for
improvement and with help of following plan I will be able to develop this skill further so that I
can be effective in all areas of effective communication.
Skill Objective Method for development Time
Public
Speaking
To improve all the elements of
communication skill including public
speaking. This will allow to
confidently speaking in front of
public or large number of audience.
To present my thoughts and views
clearly and concisely in front of
This skill can be improved
by workshops.
Practicing at individual
level is also important for
this.
3-6 months

public.
Feedback Communication skill involves that
individual is able to give qualitative
and constructive feedback. This will
enable me to offer qualitative
feedbacks to others.
Participating in workshops
and training
4-5 Months
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that communication skill played an important role
and it is the skill which not only helpful in professional life but also helpful in personal life. With
the help of an effective communication skill which include active listening, empathy, attention to
detail, an individual can accomplish their goals in the future in an effective manner. Further, it
has also shown importance of personal development plan as how it helps an individual in
increasing their skills in which they are not good by making use of tools and resources.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abella, R.C. and Cutamora, J.C., 2019. APPROACH TO PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT IN AN EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION: A GROUNDED
THEORY. European Journal of Education Studies.
Arnold, J.K., 2018. Stress to Success: Public Speaking Anxiety and its Relationship to Perceived
Leadership.
Berland, A., 2017. Using the Johari Window to explore patient and provider
perspectives. International Journal of Health Governance.
Carlbring, P and et.al., 2017. In session virtual reality use for public speaking anxiety: A
randomized controlled trial. In ISRII 9th Scientific Meeting: Making e/mHealth
Impactful in People's Lives, Berlin, Germany, October 12-14. 2017.
Gregersen, T. and MacIntyre, P.D., 2019. TEACHING AND RESEARCHING NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION SKILLS. Driven Pedagogy: Implications of L2A Theory and
Research for the Teaching of Language Skills.
Issah, S. and Sulemana, I., 2019. Benefits of Communication Skills to female Muslim students at
Tamale College of Education. Journal of English Language and Literature. 11(1).
pp.1103-1108.
Jahromi, V.K. and et.al., 2016. Active listening: The key of successful communication in
hospital managers. Electronic physician. 8(3). p.2123.
Lundeby, T and et.al., 2017. Emotions in communication skills training− experiences from
general practice to Porsche maintenance. Patient education and counselling. 100(11).
pp.2141-2143.
MacLean, S. and et.al., 2017. Use of simulated patients to develop communication skills in
nursing education: An integrative review. Nurse education today. 48. pp.90-98.
Moore, P.M. and et.al., 2018. Communication skills training for healthcare professionals
working with people who have cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. (7).
Timothy, A.E., 2018. Deploying WhatsApp in ‘Use of English and Communication Skills’ Class
in Nigeria: Benefits and Constraints. Santhom Journal of Edu RACE. 1 (1). pp.77-88.
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Transactional Model of Communication. 2018. Available through:
<https://www.businesstopia.net/communication/transactional-model-communication>