Communication, Who Am I?

This week, my husband and my son evaluated how they perceive me as a communicator. The one thing that surprised me the most is that my husband thought that I rarely like to speak out in small groups. The opposite is true, I frequently and almost always enjoy speaking in small groups. I do not like to speak in public, but when he took the assessment, he placed my anxiety about small groups and large groups as one.

I have gained many insights about communication this week. One insight is the concept of self-disclosure. This self-disclosure must be something that you reveal about yourself that is of great importance. This is important to remember in both my professionand work and personal life. When someone is self disclosing information to you this may be a way for that person to reveal something about themselves in exchange for reassurance or comfort. The person is attempting to trust you by revealing private details to you. This is the first step in building a relationship.

The other insight that I gained this week was the concept of sensitivity levels. This describes how well someone takes feedback. The person may become defensive, ignore, or become receptive to the feedback. This is important to remember in my professional life, because there are times when people in the early childhood field try to change certain aspects of a child's behavior. The child may ignore the adult and the adult may think the child is being rude, but the reality is that the child may have a low sensitivity level to feedback.