Communication Reflection

In this assignment I will talk about my reflection upon the course since I joined and what I have learned from this. What did I resonate with? What moved me? and What didn’t work. When I first thought of what I wanted to do with my life after college, the first thing I thought of was helping people.The next step in deciding what I wanted to do with my life was to exam how I could accomplish this goal.I set myself volunteer jobs as my entire life career.My undergraduate major is economics and I selected business administration as my graduate program.In my MBA program, I learned a lot about the management functions in the company, and how every function in businesses is very important. Actually most of the functions link to each other such as marketing would need help from finance to let them know how much budget is allowed to be used for marketing.

This shows that just the way people need help within their links or connection from each other, we students also need as a group to work together as a team and help each other out.And this shows how important the communication is to build connections. I have undergo many difficulties in communication problems,in some situations I could not express myself very well and people misread my ideas.As an international student ,sometimes I am hindered by the language barriers,sometimes I got stuck and find nothing to say. In the self Introduction of the first class,I found that , giving a public speech, especially in a second language confirmed to be the biggest fear for most of people. I could improve my oral communication to better help people in my future.

Leadership & Leadership messages & Giving an A
The first three weeks the course went through the topic of leadership,leadership messages and Giving an A-analyze your own strengths and weaknesses. I was reconsidered the meaning of the leadership after class.At first,.I was holding an idea that leadership is a position,involves something happening as a leader perhaps in name only-merely because one holds a title or position.But I was wrong,I realized that leadership is a process,not a position.The class helps me to define leadership and explore its relationship to concepts such as management and followership,but the class still does not work for me to understand the complexities of leadership.After all, definitions of leadership differ in many ways,such as a process by which an manager induces subordinates to behave in a desired manner,a direction of the work of group members,or a complex form of opportunity creating and problem solving.

Although having many leadership definitions may seem confusing,it is easy to understand that there is no single correct definition,so I can conclude that leadership is both a science and an art. I actual learned what good qualities make a good leader and make a person trustworthy.A good leader suggested words like flexible,being able to communicate,courage, tenacity, patience and creativity.Most importantly,being trustworthy makes a successful leader.The formula -Credibility reliability intimacy over self-orientation express the meaning concisely.The characteristics of great leaders. Credibility means having the courage to stand alone, the tenacity to not succumb to pressure, and the patience to keep fighting until you win the day.

Being responsible is another quality makes a person trustworthy.A business owner has to realize that, as the saying goes, “A skunk stinks from the head down,” and a business does too. Reliability means when there is blame to be accepted, the leader will be the first one to accept it. On the other hand,high self-orientation makes people think too much of themselves results in acting aloof, or above your employees, self-orientation does not make a leader. Leaders have to be able to talk and listen to their followers on all levels. At the same time, they must have presence,as well as the respect of their employees, the kind of respect that’s earned by being honest, having integrity, and being tough but fair.

Being defining and exhibiting moral and ethical courage and setting an example for everyone for the followers.Being a leader forces you to analyze your own strengths and weaknesses, and enables you to develop a good sense of reality and a good connection with others. The faculty offered us one golden opportunity to analyze your own strengths and weaknesses, to see ourselves ,as an assignment,we students have to write a letter to ourself.I will receive the letter that talked about the accomplishments one year later the day exactly from now.I would say a person may be just don’t get the recognition he or she deserved.But at that time, when he or she is writing this letter, had better know self well.Before you communicate with others,know yourself first.Connection with self,Connection with Purpose,Connection with our Past.

This class is associated with communication. Instead of talking about the good characteristics.Instead of acting like you have these good characteristics.My faculty and staff told me keep these sentences in mind:don’t take yourself so seriously in this class.It gives me a desirable opportunity to take action which focus on getting results through my real self. Besides so many necessary characteristics a successful leader should have,being an effective communicator and making oneself clear are always beneficial.Effective communication is efficient in transform the ideas,determining the destination and creating a team that focuses on getting it there.We all know, there are lots of people who talk a great game but deliver nothing. Leaders who communicate well are those who not only share their thoughts with employees, but also let their strength and personal character show through in their communication, and empower those who work for them by defining the company’s goal and showing how to get there.

Dynamic Communication Skills
In the later course sessions ,we were talking about the effective communication skills.We can found the definition of communication In the book as “a systematic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meaning.”communication involves a group of interrelated parts that affect one another. I used to be a big fan of PowerPoint but now I took it as one of those unnecessary presentation technologies.I was realized both positive and negative aspects to using PowerPoint in the presentations.Though PowerPoint is easy to update, saving us time and energy. It’s neat and clean, and it also provides a platform for incorporating a variety of of multimedias: images, video, audio, and animations.These drawbacks to using PowerPoint as a presentation strategy ,when used incorrectly,moving through the materials too quickly while overwhelming audience with details. This can sometimes discourage my audience and lead them to stop listening to the lecture altogether. Especially in the business passion speech,I would never use PowerPoint again.Instead ,I would engaged my audience into the topic by taking the minimalist approach of a white background and as little text/images as I need to make my point. I would remember never throwing buckets of facts at people. You’ll only overwhelm them.

Storytelling: Communicating through Story
Then we were going for many dyads exercises within the topics of pros/cons,curtains up/curtains down.We switched the roles,repeated the speeches.The objectives for these dyads are: A.Acknowledging the emotions and ideas of others to build trust and improve communication in team situations B.Be positive to listen ,to show interest and concern

C.Coaching,Directing others by giving clear instructions and delegating Besides the skills giving the speech,developing dynamic listening skills to ensure effective communication is the secret ingredient to making connections.I could not happen to remember the last time I wanted to scream: “Is anyone listening?” Well, I am not alone. Although so many times all of us talk and listen to one another, we may not have the best listening skills or be truly communicating. In a working environment defined by diversity, stress and uncertainty, it is not surprising that misunderstandings abound. But help is on the way! This powerful course delivered an easy-to-learn process for us that enhances listening skills and communication and encourages productive interactions. This inspirational course encouraged me by stretching my comfort zone to challenge myself to give it a try.

There was some lacking in energy during the beginning of the term about the presentation and for a few weeks, and so was I, I was super nervous during the first and second speeches. I am not sure every single thing I say is a meaningful story. I was skeptical through a “who done it” and have them solve the mystery. Afterwards,this is how learning has been done since I accepted the storyline about a value I believed in and how it relates to a business situation facing to me.Through these strategies: Create flow. Weave the stories together so that they naturally build on one another. A story with vertical take-off a smooth stream of middle contents and a clear end will give my presentation a fluidity that is easy to follow. Take a pause. “let’s breathe for a sec”, or “a moment of zen”. Express that I have just been through something big that warrants a moment for catching up and introspecting. Give myself feedbacks. I re-done the work and presented the story again.Finally I was making progress.

The Jump-start Meeting
During the term, almost every week we had a jump-start meeting.I found it really inspirational.A jump-start meeting,as an important section in this course,took 15 minutes and established the energetic atmosphere,created opportunities for us to acknowledge and showing our appreciations & apologizes to each other. Firstly,we have a warm-up which exercised and energized our bodies.Secondly, we had a chance to tell “How was our Work Yesterday?”and “What’s our goal for Today?” I have been told about how fun the communication class can be, and how outgoing people are in this class. I am not very outgoing myself but I love to talk to people even if we are first met. Still I feel that I can be able to exhibit concise messages to people, clearly and efficiently.

The River of Life Presentation
By paying attention to my core values throughout the my life I would listen to my values, and note how they can guide my actions,guide my speeches.Also this session the art of giving and receiving feedback and empathy.We then put work together and created our rivers.During the final presentation,I was deeply touched by the great stories.This fantastic course is such a platform allows me to make many new friends. River of Life helps me gaining clarity on my life path, putting that into concrete action in my daily activities. I believed this is the focus of the River of Life session.

A Detailed Action Plan
What I am committing myself to do is find a meaningful job for myself. In terms of becoming a strong, authentic and inspirational leader,I will learn more after I joined and attended ToastMaster.Most importantly,I will pay attention to my rules of life,I will ultimately drove me raise the passion for helping other people achieve their dreams since the volunteer jobs are my entire life careers I would care about what other people feel ,because I was so afraid of me wronged,so afraid of getting criticism and I occasionally still have some little rebellious heart, I could initially appears a little crabby, sarcastic, or distant. I did’t know if it was my outward persona – a smokescreen to scare off the world.But I will have the courage to get rid of the feeling of loosing face and the tendence to over protected myself.I told myself:it does not matter how much you are vulnerable to criticism,it does matter whether you have the positive attitudes:Never lose your smile,think positively ,take action !