University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Emily Zwobot

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

February 20, 2021

Introduction

As an Architecture student minoring in Construction Project Management most of my

education consists of working on projects and presenting them to my professors and class peers.
My presentation skills will be important for my future because I will need to continue to use
those skills when meeting with colleagues and clients. In addition, I will also need good
communication and networking skills. The ability to use those skills in a successful way can
increase my chances of future job or project opportunities. In this course we learn how to build
on those skills to make yourself stand out to future employers or clients through readings, group
and homework assignments, and lectures. The concepts I have learned and the assessments I
have taken have helped me with my networking and how to approach others and my everyday
tasks.

Concepts from the Readings

The first concept I have retained is from the reading A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking.
It is common to feel anxious before giving a speech but the way you approach your speaking
anxiety can make a difference as to how successful your speech will be. Many people including
myself can be prone to having public-speaking anxiety, which is “lacking positive
public-speaking experience, or feeling uneasy about being the center of attention” (O’Hair et al
14). There are many techniques to help minimize public-speaking anxiety. Preparing and
practicing is one because it is important to review your material and rehearse what you want to
say so that you can find the most effective technique to get your point across. Another tip is to
modify your thoughts and attitudes. As described in the book, “negative thoughts about
speechmaking increase speech anxiety. A positive attitude, on the other hand, actually results in
lowered heart rate and reduced anxiety during the delivery of the speech” (O’Hair et al 16). This
is important because sometimes it is easier to have negative expectations about your speech prior
to presenting so if you end up not doing as well you might be as hard on yourself. The last tip is
using movement. Incorporating movements with your hands and body to emphasize a point is a
good way to make the audience pay better attention and your body not as tense. Although there
are a few other ways to help with speech anxiety, the few I mentioned are some I have
incorporated in my presentations to make me not as nervous. In my studio course I present
various projects and it is important that I am able to explain my vision in a way that is easy to
understand. Prior to my presentations I prefer to write down key words I want to emphasize and
then I will practice incorporating them into what I will say until I feel confident with my words.
The day of the presentation I give myself positive affirmations which gives me a better outlook
and makes the presentation more valuable. The final tip I incorporate is my use of movement.
Since presentations are through zoom and I cannot walk around as much, I try to incorporate my
hands. Using my hands to show how I put together the model or my finger to show which words
I am emphasizing on are small gestures but they make me release the tension I am holding in
better than if I am sitting still. I will be able to use these techniques and others to help make
myself less anxious which will benefit my presentation for me and my audience.

Another concept I found beneficial was in the reading Networking for College Students
and Graduates: Nonstop Business Networking That Will Change Your Life. It is good to know
that connections are important when it comes to networking. I always believed that as a student,
if I wanted to connect with someone to get an internship, I would need to find someone that is in
the same field of work I am studying. But based on the book that is not always the case.
“Networking is a way of life, a state of mind. We do it all the time without even realizing it”
(Faulkner and Nierenberg 58). This simply means that anyone you talk to can lead you in the
direction you want to go in. It is important to consider students, instructors, relatives, retail
workers, people you meet in line, the list can go on forever. I was recently able to use the
techniques of using the people I know to network. My dad is a business owner of a laboratory
called “Annapath.” His field is pathology work which is very different from Architecture and
Project Management. In the book, relatives are a good source of network. My dad was able to put
me in contact with “CapEx Advisory Group” which is a firm with Architecture and Project
Management work. While having this connection does not automatically give me an internship it
is important to know that just about anyone can have the answers you might be looking for to
help benefit your career.

The last concept I found beneficial was in the reading Five Stars: The Communication
Secrets to Get from Good to Great. 2,000 years ago Aristotle introduced ways to make an
argument more agreeable through persuasion. Gallo stated: “The end goal of persuasion is to use
language to encourage both parties to flourish, to find happiness…” (44). It is important to know
how to provide a well thought out argument that can persuade someone while also making them
feel good about their decision. In order to persuade someone you need to follow steps. The first
step is to find the theme which gives an argument its direction. The second step is making sure
your argument is solid and logical. Aristotle gave us the rhetorical proofs of logos, ethos and
pathos, which are important to making an argument solid. Logos is the logical structure found
within the argument. Ethos is based on trusting someone because of their good morals. Pathos is
being able to have an emotional connection. Logic is very important but if an argument is lacking
pathos and ethos your audience may not have a connection to you as the speaker. In order to
prove you have your audience's best interest you must exemplify the characteristics of wisdom,
virtue and goodwill. “If a speaker was prepared with a well-structured argument, they would be
seen as wise. If a speaker was seen as a moral and virtuous person, they would be considered
reliable and credible. Very importantly, a speaker who clearly wanted what was best for the
audience was seen as a person of goodwill.” (Gallo 44). After reading this chapter I have been
trying to integrate these characteristics in my personal and educational life. During studio
critiques I try to incorporate goodwill when discussing another classmate’s project. Many times
the professor will ask for the classmates' feedback and it can be frustrating when they make
changes to your work. When I am asked to give feedback I try to be a person of goodwill by
letting them know I give them feedback only to apply what I think is best for their project to
succeed and not to criticize them and make them do more work. Even though I have only applied
one characteristic, and it was not through an argumentative speech, I think that using the
techniques in small steps can help build them up for when I need them for bigger opportunities in
the future.

Networking

My views on networking since the start of class to where I am today have changed
greatly. When I first started the course my “networking” consisted of sending an email with my
attached resume to a firm that I am interested in asking if they needed any interns. Now that it
has been a few weeks my skills have improved. I know that a better way to get an employers'
attention is to meet face-to-face. I need to get their attention and prove to them that I have the
skills to be a valuable addition to their firm. Although today there are not as many opportunities
to network face-to-face, there are other options. Meeting with a potential employer on Zoom is a
good alternative and socially distancing in person can work as well. Since the beginning of the
course I have reached out to an architecture firm I got in contact with through a colleague and
met with them via Zoom. I was able to apply the networking skills of having a good elevator
pitch to introduce myself and let them get an idea of who I am. I also did my research on the firm
so I was able to provide questions about their work ethic and past projects so they knew how
much I wanted to be a part of their business. In addition to all of the skills I applied in the
meeting I also followed up with them to thank them for letting me meet with them and
considering me for an internship. Being able to use the skills I acquired in a real-life situation
made me feel more confident and made me realize what I can do to improve at my next
networking opportunity.

DISC Personality Assessment

The result of this assessment was very surprising to me. I think that it was harder to take
this test compared to the others because it was more difficult to narrow down between just the
two choices. Sometimes I did not really see a choice to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to and
other times I related or did not relate to more than one and had trouble choosing which to pick. I
think that me having that difficulty with my choices resulted in dominance being my personality
type. Based on the results and what they mean I think I relate half of this type. The DISC
personality assumptions of how people see me based on my dominance trait is someone who
goes into a challenge head on ready to solve it in a realistic way through my research and facts.
That part of my personality type was surprising to me because sometimes when I face a
challenge it is hard for me to jump into fixing it. I sometimes can get overwhelmed then slowly
begin to break it down to find out what will solve it. Another problem I have is that I am not
always providing facts up front. I tend to assume I know the information and if it is not right I
will try to find the solid facts. Although half of my results did not relate to me exactly the other
half did. The words used to describe how other people may perceive me were self-sufficient,
individualistic, and creative. I think these words describe me well with how I rely on myself and
do not typically need outside resources to get things done. I can become more self-aware of my
personality trait to help improve my communicator and project management skills for the future
by incorporating the parts that I do not relate to in my life now. If I begin to go into challenges
with solid information and have an understanding on how to solve a problem realistically it can
help lessen my chances of not knowing how to handle a problem with a job in the future.

Conflict Management Styles Assessment

Effective communication is important because it lets the person you are communicating
with know that you are open-minded to what they are saying but also confident enough in
yourself to not immediately back down on what you think. I think that my conflict management
style being accommodating can hinder effective communication more than it can help. I think
this is the case because in an accommodating management style you prefer to put your goals
aside in order to accommodate what the other person wants in order to avoid risking a
relationship. If I want to be an effective communicator while also incorporating my
accommodating management style of saving relationships, I will need to express my opinions in
a way that gets my point across without offending whom I am having a discussion with. My
conflict management style has hindered my effective communication through school projects.
Last semester one of my architecture courses required group presentation as our only
assignments. On my first project, one of the members made a suggestion for the presentation that
everyone agreed on but I was unsure about based on what my professor preferred. Since I was in
a new school and wanted to accommodate my peers I did not speak up which caused us to lose
points. Looking back, if I had spoken up in a respectable way to prevent a conflict and made my
opinion known, the goal of a good grade might have been successful.

In the second chapter of Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High,
the book discussed the “Pool of Shared Meaning.” Patterson et al explained, “each of us enters
conversations with our own opinions, feelings, theories, and experiences about the topic at hand.
This unique combination of thoughts and feelings makes up our personal pool of meaning” (18).
When I am in a conflicting conversation I always have my thoughts in order but that does not
mean I express them. I keep to myself because I know that everyone has different ideas and
opinions. If I increase my pool of meaning to more people I might be able to use my information
to help resolve a conflict if I know other people share a similar idea. If I continue to keep myself
bottled up and act standoffish to the conversation I might not be satisfied with the solution. In
future conflicts I can learn to explain my personal pool of meaning and push others to do the
same so we can agree on a solution in a non-hurtful way that benefits everyone.

Jung Personality Assessment

My Jung Personality assessment stood out to me because I think it related to me the most.
My personality type is ESFJ which stands for extravert-sensor-feeler-judger. I am the type of
person who is attracted to the thought of being surrounded by people. I am out-going and enjoy
meeting new people that are just as friendly. As I surround myself with people and continue to
share my feelings with them I become more open with my emotions and tend to focus my
concerns on the people I am closest with. I work hard to listen to other people’s needs and focus
my time on improving their situation. In addition to my out-going and energetic ways I am also
very practical. I enjoy spending time with my friends but I do not enjoy the time unless what I
need to have done is done. I tend to finish my work ahead of time or start it earlier than others so
that I can have a good balance between my work and social life. I am similar to my DISC
personality assessment in the way that I am independent. I enjoy the thought of being around
others but I can be just as successful on my own as I am in a room full of people. My push to get
things done is what makes my work flourish but unlike my DISC and Yung assessment I am
more of a pushover towards others. Both assessments made me seem like someone who will be
assertive if someone does me wrong, but I usually am the opposite. Based on my test results I
need to take my beliefs of what is right and wrong and learn how to express them to others so
they understand my feelings and don’t make a repeating mistake.

Conclusion
 Based on what I have learned so far in the course, it is obvious that I still need to do more
work in order to have my voice be heard in the Project Management and even Architecture
environment. I always knew that a lot of my work would consist of my communication skills but
I never realized how many techniques I was lacking. Through our various readings and
assessments I can take the concepts of how to improve my speech, communicator and
networking skills from the books to make myself more assertive and looked up to in my future
career. By the end of this course I hope I not only know how to communicate well but also how
to face challenges head on and assert my opinion with confidence while also being open-minded
to what my peers think.
 Works Cited

Faulkner, Michael Lawrence, and Andrea R. Nierenberg. Networking for College Students

and Graduates: Nonstop Business Networking That Will Change Your Life. 2017.

Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St.

Martin's Press, 2018.

O’Hair, Dan, et al. A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking 5th Ed. Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2016.

Patterson, Kerry, et al. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.

Second Edition ed., McGraw-Hill, 2011.