UGB 260 Personal & Professional Development: Reflective Essay

This essay is a personal reflection on communication skills as a key personal and professional quality. It uses Eysenck’s 3 Dimension Theory of personality to analyze the individual's strengths, particularly extroversion and emotional stability. The essay provides examples of how this quality has been beneficial, such as in team leadership and internship interviews, and discusses the attributes, behavioral preferences, and values that underpin this strength, including flexibility, focus, open-mindedness, and respect for others. The reflection also addresses challenges faced during workshop exercises, such as lack of audience interest and cultural differences, and contradictions experienced, highlighting the importance of adapting communication styles. The essay concludes by emphasizing how this quality can benefit the individual in the future, promoting personal and professional growth.

Personal & Professional
Development Module
Assignment

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Description of the quality with theoretical analysis....................................................................3
In what ways is this quality strength for you? Provide specific examples of where this quality
has been displayed.......................................................................................................................4
What attributes, behavioural preferences and values underpin this strength...............................4
What did you find difficult or particularly challenging in the workshop exercises and the
experiences and why might this be?............................................................................................6
Are there any contradictions evident from experiences and how might these be explained?.....7
How might this quality benefit you in the future?.......................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
It is essential for every individual to develop their personal and professional skills effectively.
Professional skills are those skills which help an individual to develop the opportunities for their
professional growth (Tan and Laswad, 2018). There are various kinds of personal skills such as
communication skill and many others. Management skill, presentation skill, IT skills and many
others are the examples of professional skills. The following report covers personal reflection on
the quality of best skill, how the quality become individual’s strength, examples of displaying the
quality. It also covers behaviour; attribute and values underpin the strength from this quality. By
this quality how an individual gets benefit in future.
Main Body
Description of the quality with theoretical analysis
I am having good communication skill which helps me coordinate well with my team
while performing any activity. Communication is the skill where an individual must have proper
vocabulary, knowledge, patience to listen what others are saying and many others. Eysenck’s 3
Dimension Theory of personality is supposed to use here, which help to analyse the personality
of an individual which is differ from others. There are three dimensions in this theory which will
explain my quality in brief and these dimensions is mentioned below-
Introversion/extraversion- Introvert people speak less and do not like to interact much
with new people (Mikser and et. al., 2020). On the other hand, extroverts are those individuals
which likes to express their feelings openly and prefer to interact with many people as much as
possible. I am extrovert kind of individual because I like to interact with new people and would
like to share essential information openly with others. Hence, my better communication quality
helps to interact effectively with others where I share my thoughts politely and listen carefully to
others.
Neuroticism/ Emotional stability- Neuroticism are those individuals which are having
tendency to become emotional and upset quickly and whereas the individuals of emotional
stability refers to as those people who have constancy in emotions. I am emotionally stable and
did not get upset easily on small things because I prefer to understand the things carefully and
then react on them. Hence, it examines that I have good quality of communication which also
include responding to other individuals after analysing what they want to convey.

Psychoticism- It is the human tendency where high psychoticism people are having
difficulty to deal with reality. I have low degree of psychoticism because I always talk about real
facts and concentrate on my words and make sure that I should not convey and information
which is hypothetical in nature to other individuals. Hence, it is also the quality of having good
communication skill where sharing of true and actual knowledge is essential.
In what ways is this quality strength for you? Provide specific examples of where this quality has
been displayed
My communication skill is my strengths because it helps me to develop my personality. It
also helps me to gain good confidence while sharing any information. This quality is displayed
much time and one of the best examples where my communication skill helps me is when I have
been selected as a captain of my basketball team at sports championship where I supposed to
share essential information and decide which player will be selected to team for winning aim.
Here, I handle whole team by communicating and motivating effectively and I make them feel
comfortable to suggest good suggestions where I heard their ideas and thoughts carefully and in
case of correction I make them correct by modifying their knowledge. I prefer to communicate in
English with them and also focus that each and every player will understand what I mean to say
and what not.
Another example where communication skill becomes by best strength is when I went for
interview for a internship. Here, first round of interview is related to check communication skill
of their invited candidates. I perform well in Group Discussion round where I have shared few
ideas on the topic which is given by interviewer to us. I focus on my vocabulary and try to
convey actual and true facts with proof and examples of real life situations. My confidence level,
fluent English speaking and grammatical perfections help me to get that internship by clearing all
the rounds of interview.
What attributes, behavioural preferences and values underpin this strength
I mainly focus on four attributes of my communication skill which are mentioned below-
Flexible- I always try to be flexible in situations (Asio, Riego de Dio and Lapuz, 2019).
For example I instantly switch to other topic of conversation if it is required. Here, I make sure
that I would like to talk about those topics which is discussed recently and did not include
mixing up the information of both recent topics with previous topic which has been discussed
already.

Focused- I also try to be focused on what others want to convey their messages to me.
Here, I make sure that I will provide appropriate time to opponent to speak whatever he/she want
to convey the message. I wait for others to convey their messages fully and then I respond them
after hearing and understanding actual meaning of their message.
Calm- Being calm is one of the most important requirements while communicating with
others. Sometimes it might be happen that other person speak or convey their message in wrong
way which might be harm my feelings. In such situations I supposed to be calm and respond
them with politeness and make them understand that they are wrong in some situations.
Responsive- Taking proper responsibility of my own message is also essential for me.
Due to this attribute I make sure that I will convey actual and true facts to my team so that taking
the responsibility of such messages which is based on true facts will become easier for me.
Behaviour preferences also take an important place for having appropriate communication skill
and these are explained below-
Being opened minded- It is essential for me to have open minded behaviour while
conveying any message to other. I can share my thoughts and feeling openly without any
hesitation or nervousness in front of crowd. The only thing which matters is the quality of my
message and facts. If they are good then I can share my thoughts easily.
Being extrovert- This is the behaviour type which includes interacting with others
openly and liking to have new friends. I would like to interact with everyone surrounds me
because it help me to understand their behaviour and different point of views on different topics.
There are some good values which I have learnt from my communication skill and it also help
me to enhance my strengths to develop my personal and professional life an these values are
given below-
Respect for others- It is essential for me to show respect for others while communicating
with anyone (Revin and et. al., 2020). It means that I supposed to give time to opponent
individual to understand what I want to say and wait for their respond before moving to other
topic while having a healthy conversation. It shows that I respect their thoughts and emotions. In
case I required correcting their knowledge then I must communicate politely and convey my
message with respectful prefix like “I am sorry to disturb you in between but I would like to
correct your knowledge that...” This is the best way to show respect for others.

Authenticity and honesty- I also learnt that being honest to others is essential in
communication skill. It is not good that I would communicate with anyone with the main aim of
manipulating them or having the practice of show off.
What did you find difficult or particularly challenging in the workshop exercises and the
experiences and why might this be?
There are few challenges and issues which is faced by me while attending the workshop
and these challenges also help me tom understand the barriers of communication because these
challenges are related to communication barrier which held in workshop of employability and
these challenges are explained below-
Lack of interest of audience as well as performer- This is the biggest challenge which
is faced by many individuals. Here, when audience have no interest on the topic which is shared
then they will not pay attention to the topic which is shared. Due to this they are not able to
understand the actual meaning of message which is shared in workshop. On the other hand,
sometimes speaker is also having lack of interest their thoughts and messages on a particular
topic which might be interesting for others. Hence, this is the issue faced by me where I am
interested to listen about how to enhance communication and time management skill but the
speaker focuses more on enhancing team working skill and innovative skill rather than those
skills which are my strengths.
Cultural and language difference- In case the speaker is having different culture which
involves different language, different way of understanding the topic and many others will be
impacted upon audience. I have faced issue related to speaker’s language in the workshop. He
uses some synonym, difficult words and many others to convey their message which is tough for
me to understand the concept clearly about the topic. Speaker is supposed to the communication
style of their own culture which is not matched with my culture of communication style. Speaker
supposed to use aggressive and loud way of speaking whereas I prefer to have polite and calm
way of speaking. Hence, this is also the reason of issues in workshop.
Improper training and practices- I also examined that lack of training and practice can
be the issue of conveying any speech in front of crowd. This happens when I got the chance to
perform a speech on stage. I get nervous in front of crowd and nobody trained that how could I
face the crowd effectively. Due to this nervousness I am unable to represent my speech perfectly.
I have done various kinds of mistakes like forgetting to thanks the audience to attend the session,

grammatical errors and many others. Hence, it is essential for me to properly trained myself and
get appropriate practice of presenting speech in front of crowd. This will help me to gain good
level of confidence and also help to reduce errors as much as possible.
Are there any contradictions evident from experiences and how might these be explained?
I have good communication skill which sometimes helps me to gain benefits but it also help me
enhance new ways of communication by interacting more with other people (Expósito López and
et. al., 2019). For example, when I supposed to give interview for my internship then I respond to
my interviewer in a good ways which is explained below-
 First I supposed to listen that what kind of questions is asked with me.
 Then I understand the way in which I should respond to my interviewer by analysing his
mood and behaviour. In case he is extrovert and having joy behaviour then I will respond
him while having happy facial expressions and in case the interviewer is straight forward
and just need the answers then I will respond in the same way.
 After analysing interviewer’s behaviour and attitude I respond and make sure that my
answer must matched the question which is asked by interviewer.
 I also focus on English speaking and I also focus on my grammar while responding.
 It is essential for me to convey clear message to interviewer with full confidence which
help interviewer to understand my response.
This is the situation where I speak properly and represent my communication skill effectively.
Due to this quality I got selected for the internship within that high reputed company.
I also have faced some situations where my communication skill is more effective than
others. This is the condition of Group Discussion in schools and interviews where 8-9
participants are selected and sit together to discuss on a topic which is given on the spot by
teacher or interviewer. Here, I prefer to start first because there is a benefit of taking initiative
first in GD and that is it helps to provide the direction to other group members a direction of
knowledge in which you want. For example, in GD, our group is given the topic of Corporate
Social Responsibility then if I initiate first to speak then I would like to define what is CSR and
types of CSR activities because I have good knowledge on this topic and when I stop speaking
then other person is supposed to start from same topic. Secondly, I prefer to share current
situation with examples in GD which reflect that I have proper knowledge on the topic. On the
other hand, keeping my body language positive and having appropriate confidence level will

help to gain the attraction of instructor and other group members. I also supposed to change my
tone of speaking in that GD session which means where I want audience attention there I raise
the volume of my voice and where I do not need proper attention I supposed to lower the pitch of
my voice. This will also help me to develop my communication skill and make myself effective
than other in the group while having GD. I also focus to provide effective to other group
members to represent their point of view. All this quality of my communication skill always
helps me to win Group Discussion competitions.
On the other hand, few situations also arise where my communication skill become
ineffective than others. A session was help where I supposed to communicate with expert who
has proper knowledge about personal and professional skills and I have limited knowledge on
this topic. Due to the lack of knowledge, I am unable to communicate well with that expert but I
have learnt many things with him especially related to communication skill. I have learnt that
there is a concept of 4 Cs of communication which is explained below-
Clarity- It is essential for me to make my thoughts and concepts clear before conveying
any message because in case I have no clear idea that what should be conveyed to my audience
then it will impact bad upon the quality of my message. Hence, it is essential that I must gain
alternative ideas of conveying a single message appropriately. The message should be clear and
cover only that content which is required to read and listen by audience.
Completeness- It is also essential for me to complete my message first because
conveying incomplete message will confuse the audience. They will not make a clear idea that
what I want to convey them.
Conciseness- It includes having those words which is easily for audience to understand.
Avoiding synonyms and other incorrect words is essential while communicating with others
because it will be difficult for all to understand tough words or synonyms.
Correctness- It is also essential for a message to be correct. It can be gained by
enhancing knowledge and providing he evidence to audience about all those information which
is shared to them. In case I supposed to convey any message then it is good for me to use true
and actual facts by providing real life example will help to enhance communication skill.
How might this quality benefit you in the future?
My communication skill is going to provide benefit in my professional life where I
supposed to interact with many other employees and work within a team. I am going to start my

professional life hence, I require attending many interviews where my communication skill will
help me to clear first round of interviews and all GDs which are taken to test candidate’s
communication skill. Secondly, in case I have been selected for the job then I must develop my
professionalism way of communicating formally with my colleagues. One of the most important
aspect and use of my communication skill will be shown in my dream job post. I want to lead a
team of customer service where employees are required to communicate directly with customers.
Hence, here, my communication skills will help me to manage my team as well as those
customers which are unable to manage by my team. I have various kinds of ways to develop my
communication skill more effectively and these methods and mentioned below-
 Coaching- I can opt for coaching to enhance my communication skill well where my
coach will assist me different ways of communication style and they will also assist me to
correct my grammatical errors.
 Updating knowledge- It is helpful for me if I update my knowledge. This can be done by
reading newspaper on daily basis to analyse what is happening currently in the world and
another way is to watch business news channel which help me to enhance my knowledge
about various rules and regulations and practices of a business.
 Have more connections- It is also helpful if I interact with more people and try to
analyse how they respond in different situations. This will help me to learn how I can
also communicate differently in different situations.
Conclusion
From the above information it is concluded that personal and professional skills is one of
the most important skills for an individual to grow higher in life. Communication skill is the skill
which consists to ability and capability of a individual to share their ideas and thoughts
effectively to others. It is essential for an individual to improve their knowledge well and have
good confidence while interacting with others. Good communication skill help in various
situations like it help to clear interviews. It is essential that the message which is conveyed to
audience should be clear and correct so that they will generate interact to respond well.

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