University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Per Johan Harrysson

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

Oktober 4, 2019
Introduction
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” This quote of Oscar Wilde highlights
something we aren’t reflecting over enough, ourselves (Wilde, u.d.). The importance of
understanding your own strengths, weaknesses and limitations is vital for your success. By
improving your weaker qualities and utilize your strengths you will become your best self. In
the course Communication for Project Managers, we get a deeper understanding of our own
personality traits by reflecting on our results from different personality assessments. This
essay highlights my personal thoughts over my results from two of these assessments, the
conflict management style assessment and the Jung personality assessment.
Furthermore, will this essay include two personal stories where I needed to use my wit to
solve the situations. The skills needed to tell a story efficiently and impactfully are taught in
the course Communication for Project Managers, these skills will be used to make the stories
fascinating to read.
My conflict management style
My result from the conflict management style assessment can be seen in the pictures below:

Picture 1. Shows my results from the conflict management style assessment.

Picture 2. Shows my results from the conflict management style assessment.

These results are not surprising to me. I have always had a direct and goal-oriented
communication style. Unfortunately, does this often mean that I tend to value my personal
goals over the relationship I have with the person I am communicating with. I have had a
history of making the Fool’s Choice where I either don’t get my way or, more usually,
weakens the relationship. To prevent this, I will try to use the technique described in Crucial
Conversation Start with Heart. With this technique will I be able to remember the goal of the
conversation without damage the relation by stepping out of the conversation mentally and
remember what the objectives are. (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler, 2012)
Another thing my communication style brings is my lack of understanding when others feel
unsafe. I have a tendency to get it my way by persuading others and sometimes overpowering
others. This makes me unable to read the other person’s emotional state throughout the
discussion. This can be seen in the assessment results, where I scored lower on
Accommodating. To prevent this in the future I will first try to use the technique Learn to
Look, where you constantly analyze the safety when you communicate. This will make me
able to detect when others feel unsafe and start act in silence or violence. I will do this by
watching for the conditions and adjusting my own state during the conversation because that
is truly something I can affect. (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler, 2012) The other
techniques I will use are described in Networking For Collage Students and Graduates in
chapter 5. These techniques are primary for introverts trying to start networking, but methods
such as Use lots of Open-ended Questions and the listening techniques can be useful for me.
These will help me understand others easier since I won’t talk all the time and more
importantly, will help me seem less sharp in my communication. (L.Faulkner & Nierenberg,
2017)
Luckily, I also have a significant Collaborating communication style which complements my
Competing communication style well. This style strengthens my relationships and makes sure
everyone contributes to the Pool of Shared Meaning (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, &
Switzler, 2012). Another positive thing is that my communication style is not final, I still have
time to improve my skills.
Jung personality assessment
My result from the Jung personality assessment can be seen in the picture below:

Picture 3. Shows my results from the Jung personality assessment.

I overall agree with the Jung personality assessment description of my personality. There
were no surprises for me since I have done many similar assessments with similar results. I
wouldn’t consider myself a complete extrovert. For instance, I prefer to be alone to gather
energy instead of blowing off steam with my friends. I still consider myself more extroverted
than introverted but it is not that distinct. I am definitely a Sensor because I believe we should
focus on matters here and now. I like real things and don’t think too much about things I can’t
control. This is also, in my opinion, the more logical way of living, perhaps not the emotional
way. I would also consider myself a Thinker where most of my decisions are taken quickly
without using my emotions too much. Unfortunately, this means I sometimes lack the
emotional aspects which can affect my relationships. Lastly, I agree that I am a Judger. Like
every one of the other attributes, there are both good and bad aspects of those. I am organized
and decisive, but this can also make me inflexible sometimes.
These results are similar to what I received from the DISC assessment where I was mostly
Dominant. The ESTJ personality is often translated to a version of the Dominant personality
(Crystal, 2019). I believe this is quite true about me now. If I would compare the two
assessments, I believe that the Jung personality assessment was most accurate. It caught the
trait Sensor in a way that the DISC didn’t, and this is characteristic I truly agree with.

That time when I fixed a problem

Last fall I had a project-course at the University of Lund. We were put in groups of five
engineering students where I only knew two of the others, Wille and Noak. Wille is a close
friend to me and has some really weird but funny interests such as coding, orientation, sport-
cars and Apple-products. The combination is truly rare! He is known as a unique, kind, funny
and polite student. Noak is also a close friend! Many would consider him silent and cautious,
but with the biggest heart. We as a group should make a Java software in a program called
RoboCode. RoboCode is a system where programmers practice their skills by building
algorithms for their robots, then they fight within this system against other robots. Our course-
goal was to build the best robot and then compete against the other student groups during the
final lecture.
The project started with us assigning every team member to a specific role in the project. I
was chosen as the Project manager, all the others got the position they wished, except Wille
and Noak. Both of them wanted to be the Software Architect who is responsible for the code
and the programming. We sat there and discussed, it felt like we spoke for 3 hours, in this
tight old room a cloudy spring day. After these discussions, I felt tired and the situation felt
hopeless, so we decided to vote. Wille with his background with programming got the most
votes, and you could see in Noak’s eyes that he was disappointed in becoming the Quality
Manager.
Our first deliverable was approaching! It was an easy task but required some effort from the
Quality Manager and the Software Architect. Everyone knew what was required from us and
all of us worked hard to be done before the deadline, everyone except Noak. He didn’t even
show up for the group meetings.
I found Noak during another class. I brought him and Wille into a classroom with dark
curtains, white interior and with minimalistic furniture. We sat in the middle of the room
around a round table. I asked, “What is wrong”. This question led to a discussion between
Wille and Noak about who the most skilled programmer was. Two of my best friends acted so
childishly, but I finally realized what was wrong, Noak hadn’t still moved on from the first
meeting. I engaged in the discussion and started with my view on the situation. They listened.
After my rather objective view, they realized the silliness in their discussion. After a
constructive dialogue, we altered the roles so both could be responsible for parts of the code.
It felt fantastic to help them become friends again! After this, we as a group worked very well
throughout the project.
The final lecture of the course came! We were excited and nervous about how our software
would perform. After all, we hadn’t seen the other groups’ robots in action. The qualifier
round was tight, but we moved on to the semifinals. The rest was a piece of cake, we won!
Over twenty other groups of skillful engineering students were beaten by our robot which was
called Mean Machine. This showed us the power of teamwork and the importance of open
communication. This experience will I remember forever!

When my car stopped in the middle of the highway

Two years ago, I owned a black Audi A4 car with black interior and grey exterior, it was a
cool car! One day I drove home from the University of Lund, I entered the road called E4.
This is a highway with so much traffic that the queues usually are larger than the worst
queues at The Capital Beltway. Luckily, I drove there during the least stressful hours of the
day, so the traffic was terrible but manageable. Suddenly, I heard a sound from the front-left
part of the car, it was loud and screaming. Panic! The car moved strange and I felt how
everything was wobbling. After much effort and a little screaming from my part, I got the car
to the side of the road, far from safety. The cars that were passing me closely drove in 75
miles per hour. I looked at my phone, the battery was of course dead! A sense of hopelessness
appeared, but I fought it, so I remained calm. I walked out and saw what I suspected, a flat
tire. In complete sweat and in a crazy manner I changed the tire. It took me around 30
minutes, felt like a year! Completely hysterical I got in the car and drove towards my home.
From this moment I don’t remember anything until an hour later, probably because of the
chock. This experience taught me a lot about myself and how I act under stress. It also made
me sell the car!

Conclusion
To be able to learn from your experiences and professional assessment, like DISC, is crucial
for self-development. To reflect is a habit that will give long-term improvement, which will
make you successful. In the course Communication for Project Managers, we challenge
ourselves to explore more about ourselves through personality assessments. One of those, the
Jung personality assessment, showed that I am an extroverted, direct and decisive person. It
also highlighted other characteristics, for example, that I analyze situations instead of letting
my emotions decide and that I mind the present instead of the past or future.
The conflict management style showed that I have an objective and sharp communication
style. Unfortunately, this can cause others to consider me as insensitive or rude. On the other
hand, this also makes me clear in my communication which prevents misunderstandings. To
prevent being considered insensitive or rude I will work with the technique Start with Heart. I
have sometimes difficulty of understanding other’s emotions when I am communication. To
become better at this I will use several techniques, such as Learn to Look and some of the
techniques given to introverts who try to become skillful networkers.
The ability to tell a story efficiently is a vital skill to be able to affect people and get them to
listen. This skill is improved in the course Communication for Project Managers and is shown
in the two stories. Those stories are taken from my personal experiences.
References
Crystal. (2019). ESTJ Personality Type. crystalknows.com:
https://www.crystalknows.com/myers-briggs/estj
L.Faulkner, M., & Nierenberg, A. (2017). Networkning For Collage Students and Graduates.
Pearson Learning Solutions.
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial Conversations.
McGraw-Hill.
Wilde, O. (u.d.). Oscar Wilde Quotes. goodreads.com:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3565.Oscar_Wilde