University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Yvonne Fernandez
Communication for Project Engineers: ENCE424
Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman
October 24, 2020
Introduction
The DISC Personality Assessment I completed a few weeks ago gave me a lot of insight I
didn’t know I needed. I have always questioned parts of my personality and the results of this
assessment gave me a better understanding not only of myself but of others. Fortunately, I was
able to use this information alongside the storytelling techniques taught in class during this
challenging recruiting season. In this essay I will discuss the results of my personality
assessments and detail two personal stories using the techniques covered in chapters 10 and 11 of
Five Stars​.

Conflict Management Styles Assessment

I completed the Conflict Management Assessment and discovered that my conflict style
is accommodating. This did not come as a surprise to me because I am aware of my tendency to
put others before myself. The description of the conflict style, however, was very insightful. I did
not realize that the reason I handle conflicts this way is due to my desire to preserve
relationships. Relating this assessment to the DISC Personality Assessment brings it all together.
My result from that assessment was influence which is the personality type that fears rejection.
Due to this fear I tend to accommodate others in hopes that I will continue to be accepted.
Although it is important to care for others I believe constantly putting others above yourself
leads to exhaustion and resentment. This is why I believe the accommodating conflict style can
hinder effective communication. In ​Crucial Conversations​, dialogue killers are discussed and the
one I related to the most was keeping the peace. Knowing my conflict style it makes sense why I
tend to keep the peace in conversations. I often find myself regretting staying quiet and,
therefore, I will begin to apply techniques I’ve learned both in class and the readings. Making a
conversation safe is a technique discussed in ​Crucial Conversations​ that I did not consider before
taking this assessment. After reflecting on my results I realized that the majority of the time I
solve a conflict by accommodating it is because I do not feel safe and want to end the conflict.
Going forward I will ensure that me and all parties involved are level-headed and we all have a
mutual understanding of the situation before we begin a serious conversation. Additionally, I will
begin going into conversations with a set goal and acknowledging that I deserve to get what I
need out of that conversation. This technique was covered in ​Crucial Conversations​ and was
described as mutual purpose which​ is when "others perceive that you're working toward a
common outcome in the conversation, that you care about their goals, interests, and values
(Patterson, Grenny McMillan, Switzler, 2012)."​ ​There are many other techniques I will begin to
apply to conflicts in order to effectively communicate but these two are the ones I am most
hopeful will transform my conflict resolution.
Jung Personality Assessment
I completed the Jung Personality Assessment and discovered that my personality type is
“Introvert-Intuitive-Feeler-Perceiver.” This also did not come as a surprise to me but provided
insightful details through the descriptions. After completing the DISC Personality Assessment
and discovering I was influence, I did some self reflection and learned a lot about myself,
therefore, these results made sense. I have always considered myself an introvert despite being
more outgoing now than I have been in the past, therefore, it is not surprising I received this as
my first result. I am also very future focused so I am not surprised I received intuitive results as a
result. After learning about influencing personality types I understand why I received feeler.. As
a strong “I” I have a strong concern for others and fear rejection which explains why I lead with
emotion. At first glance I did not understand what perceiver meant but after reading the
descriptions it sounds exactly like me; I am very spontaneous and adaptable. I mildly follow
astrology and my sign, gemini, has the same descriptors listed for perceivers which I found very
interesting. Overall, I would say that the results to this personality assessment go hand-in-hand
with the results to the DISC Personality Assessment.

First Story
My sophomore year of college my advisor recommended that I take a summer course in
order to stay on track to graduate in four years. One of the professors I had at the time was the
one who would teach the course so I decided to ask for his advice. He told me he never
recommends his summer course to his students because it is difficult to pass. Despite this I
decided to take the course because I thought graduating late would be disappointing. That
summer was one of the hardest times in my life , therefore, I could not manage to stay on track
with my classwork. Towards the end of the summer I scrambled to get my grade up by doing all
the extra credit available and studying intensely for the final. This unfortunately wasn’t enough
for me to pass the class and I was devastated. My gpa had been dropping each semester before
and this failing grade brought it lower than I ever anticipated. Going into that fall semester I was
very insecure of my academic ability. I felt as though I was not good enough for the engineering
school and should reevaluate my goals. I did just that but instead of focusing on my failures I
thought about my accomplishments and realized that I overcame so many obstacles and this was
just another I had to get past. I started thinking about myself positively and putting in the effort
not only into my school work but my mental health as well. Since failing this class my gpa has
gone up and I have started an internship. During the interview for this internship the recruiter
commended both my gpa and accomplishments and it was the reassurance I needed. Although I
am able to graduate on time by taking extra courses each semester and during the winter, I
decided to take an extra semester. I realized everyone has their own path and it is not worth
compromising my mental health to satisfy the status quo. Many young adults tend to forget the
importance of mental health. I personally have put it on the backburner for years and learned the
hard way that it is detrimental to everything you do. I am so grateful to have gone through this
experience because it taught me that every failure has a purpose.

Second Story
During my sophomore year of college I was hired as a cashier at Playa Bowls. A few
months into my employment the manager was fired and he was never replaced. After he was
fired I was promoted to shift leader which I was very eager about. However, that excitement
quickly wore off when I realized a lot of the responsibility the manager once had was being
delegated to me. As a full-time college student that is a lot of responsibility to have and both
myself and the other shift leaders began to get overwhelmed. I got to the point where I wanted to
quit but realized I should voice my concerns directly to the owners before I made that decision.
The owners are very closed-minded, therefore, it was difficult for me to make this decision
knowing they might not take my criticism well. Despite my concerns, I decided to stand up for
myself and my coworkers. I requested to speak to them and laid out all of our concerns and
possible solutions. Unfortunately, the first time I voiced my concerns it did not go well. They
shifted the blame on us and instead of helping us out they made it more difficult on us. Once
again I felt like I had no choice but to leave. I was already interviewing for other jobs so I was
already set on leaving. I felt horrible that others were not able to get a new job and wanted to
ensure my peers didn’t continue to struggle. I decided to voice my concerns again, this time with
other employees, and once again laid out our concerns and demands. Our persistence and unity
finally got their attention and numerous changes were made. Things changed for the better and
although I was not able to reap the benefits for long it was rewarding to know I found a solution
to the persistent issues faced not only by me but my coworkers. I am a non-confrontational
person so this taught me that voicing my opinion is a powerful tool that I should use more often.

Conclusion
After learning about the DISC personality types, I was eager to complete more
personality assessments. Reading the prompt to this assignment and finding out I would be
completing more made me ecstatic. After completing both assessments, I took some time to
reflect and develop a plan to improve myself both as a communicator and as a person. I was not
expecting to grow this much from this course but I am so thankful that I am. I look forward to
seeing my progress at the end of this course.
References
Faulkner, Michaell, and Andrea Nierenberg. ​Networking for College Students and Graduates​.
Pearson Learning Solutions, 2017. Print.
Patterson, Kerry Grenny, Joseph; McMillan, Ron; and Switzler, Al​. ​Crucial Conversations:
Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High​. McGraw-Hill Education, 2012. Print.
Gallo, Carmine. ​Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great.​
St. Martin’s Press, 2018. Print.
O’Hair, Dan, and Hannah Rubenstein and Rob Stewart. ​A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking.
Bedford/St. Martin’s,​ 2019. Print.
Pachter Barbara, and Denise Cowie. ​The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Great, Eat,
And Tweet Your Way to Success​. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. Print.