Chase Wagoner

COMM 122
Oct. 21st 2015

Myself As A Communicator
After reviewing the Terrific Twelve list of skills I feel that I have strengths in the
following areas; Non-verbal Communication Skills, Understand Culture and Communication,
Perceptual Abilities, Emotional Communication Skills, and Manage Interpersonal Conflict.
While reviewing the twelve items on the list I feel as if there were many that I knew reasonably
well and could perform acceptably in those areas, although there were some that I felt more
inadequate. Those inadequacies finding themselves in the themes of; being an effective listener,
and understanding gender in communication.
To express myself in only a few of the areas that I found to be my strengths I will give
some brief examples. I have shown to myself to be an adept communicator in the relation to
culture, in my experience with my mission to Brazil. Although finding it hard in the beginning of
my mission to understand the differences of my culture and that of the Brazilian people I was
able to learn how to incorporate it into my life, to the point that I was worried of how I would see
the United States when I returned. As with my mission I was able to adapt to my life in America
again but with a new openness that has allowed me to connect with various people of different
cultures in a way that I would never had been able to do before. The next area that I would like to
express, would be a little of both; perceptual ability, and emotional communication. Growing up
I have always been one sought out by friends and close acquaintances to help with personal
problems or struggles. I believe that they felt comfortable with me because I am able to see past
the stereotypes and biases relevant to their situations. I am able to be empathetic towards them
and their situation, allowing them to be open, and feel that I understand what they are going
through.

Chase Wagoner
COMM 122
Oct. 21st 2015
A few things that I feel I could improve upon in my communication skills are; being an
effective listener, and understanding gender and communication. I am able to speak confidently
in almost any situation, and I would say, on almost any topic. I unfortunately notice in reflection
that sometimes my ambitious desire to speak can cause others to remain silent, therefore
indirectly prohibiting myself to be a good listener (since I have silenced the other speaker and
cannot listen to what they have to say). I lack some strength in listening, but not at all times. I
lack strength in listening when I am otherwise engaged in another activity (such as reading an
interesting article or watching an interesting video), I have difficulty in disconnecting myself
from a current activity to listen to person who begins to communicate with me. Because of this
inability, I know that I can cause some to become offended, or to distance their emotional
relationship with me in order to protect themselves from becoming offended in the future. In
relation to my weakness in understanding gender in communication I see this as a weakness
more towards the political correctness of our era. I tend to be frank, not to censor myself
extremely in fear of offending others. I am not rude, I simply dont see or understand the reason
why I should distort the way I express myself because someone may understand it differently
than I meant it to be. I also try to be very clear in what I say, but I dont spend and extraordinary
amount of time trying to figure out how someone might understand what I am saying.
I interviewed two people for this assignment, one was a former manager of mine, and the
other was my wife. In interviewing my manager it was difficult to receive information that would
be helpful to me, other than to boost my ego. My former manager is very fond of me and
complemented me on my ability to communicate well with others, this shown by the level of
customer service I provided while working under his direction.

Chase Wagoner
COMM 122
Oct. 21st 2015
My wife also complimented me on my communication abilities but came up with two
main points of improvement. The first being that she felt that I speak very fast, faster than others
she has observed. I understand how she see this in me and I agree, I can tend to speak very
quickly in some instances, and can see where this may become a hindrance to good
communication, as it may be understood as a form of disinterest in the other party, or to be
plainly misunderstood due to the speed of talking. Another thing that she brought to my attention
was the fact that I can over explain things, or talk too long about a certain subject. To me, this
runs parallel to my preconceived thought of my weakness in effective listening, and talking so
much that it can shut others out of the moment of communication. She expressed that in some
situations it is not a bad thing that I over explain or that it can be necessary at times to go into
more detail of a certain subject, but that my problem was in determining the appropriate time for
that need.
I have found, that my personal recognition to my weakness in listening, and my weakness
in determining the appropriate times to speak, as expressed by my wife, that these two
weaknesses coincide with each other. I feel that this should be the goal that I set in improving my
communicational skills. Knowing when to speak and when to listen is the theme that I wish to
improve on this semester, and I find it fits in with the Terrific Twelve skill of becoming a better
listener by exploring the barriers to effective listening.
I plan on developing this skill be using the opportunities given me during this course.
Mainly by using the remaining two application papers which will be explicitly devoted to this
goal. And by using the provided resources to help me better understand the barriers that I have in

Chase Wagoner
COMM 122
Oct. 21st 2015
being an effective listener and how to overcome them. I also plan on using the weekly readings
and assignments to gain insight on how to overcome this weakness.