University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Lindsay Yee

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

July 3, 2021
Introduction
As I am about halfway through Communication for Project Managers, I have learned
much more than I originally thought I would. As an engineering student, most if not all of my
required course load is all technical classes. I always knew communication was a necessary skill
for all career fields, but I never thought much of it when it came to engineering or project
management. Over the course of about four weeks, we have touched on the importance of
knowing personality types, non-verbal communication, and storytelling. One aspect that I have
really cherished in our meeting times is the guest appearances from previous students. I have
loved hearing their stories and experience within this class and how it has influenced and helped
them in their future career. I personally like how it has been past students, many of relatively the
same age. Sometimes when professors bring in guest speakers, they are grown adults in their
career field for twenty to thirty years. Although their stories are inspiring as well, it’s easier to
relate to the speaker and pay attention when you have things in common with them (which we
learned in this class)! Like I’ve said, I have never really thought of communication much when it
came to my career. I always knew it was important, but I never thought of the details that might
enhance your skills even more. It truly is something to be learned. I am excited for the last
couple weeks of this class and learning more about communication that will help me stand out in
my future career.

Email to Your Team

Good Morning Team,

Today marks three months until the project is supposed to be completed, if all goes to
schedule. Unfortunately, as I am looking at our calendar schedule this morning, at this rate, it
does not look like we will finish on-time or on-budget due to our own team’s underperformance.
As I am the team leader, I have to be the bearer of bad news sadly. Boss gave me this role
because she knew I would be able to deliver a project on schedule and under budget. And now,
this team is doing the opposite. We were put together on this team because we all want the same
thing: a successful project. Over the last month, our project has been delayed an extra two
months due to scheduling errors and incomplete budget sheets. This should not be happening so
late into the project and honestly, should not even be happening at all. Boss personally came to
me concerned for our team’s abilities. This is unexceptable and embarrassing. We will do better.
How do you think it looks to have Boss point out our team’s lackluster performance?
As I am looking forward to the next three months, I ask all of you to join me for weekly
meetings on Mondays and Thursdays at noon in the conference room. This way we can talk as a
team to discuss anything that may come up unexpectedly. We can also work as a check and
balance type to make sure everything is up to date and correct. Ultimately, we all want the same
thing in the end and I know we can do this if we all put our heads in the game. I have seen past
work you all have done and it has truly blown me away. Let’s do that again. I know you all have
it in you. I look forward to this “new” team and I believe we can turn this project around for the
better. See you all on Monday at noon. Be sure to come prepared with updated sheets and any
questions you all may have.

Best,
Lindsay
In-Class Concept/Technique

One group assignment that really resonated with me was the Rule of Three speech
assignment. In this group activity, we were randomly paired up with another student in which we
each wrote a speech using the Rule of Three about something we were passionate about. The
Rule of Three is basically where you give your audience three reasons why they should listen to
whatever you’re speaking about. You tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and
then tell them what you told them! Using the Rule of Three helps the speaker express concepts
more completely, emphasize your main points, and increases the likelihood your message is
heard by the audience.
In my group, I wrote about my love for exercise and my partner wrote about his love for
golf. We each started by thinking of three reasons why we were passionate about exercise and
golf. By thinking of our main ideas, we then found it very simple to elaborate on each main
point. With the help of the template given by the professor, we just had to plug those three ideas
into the template and we then had our completed speech.
I believe the Rule of Three technique is extremely useful for any communication/speech
skills. Later that week our individual introductory speeches were due, where it was crucial for us
to list three reasons why we would be a great hire to a company. In these speeches, we naturally
used the Rule of Three to explain the reasons in our series of elevator speeches. We tell them
what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them, once again! It
is very important to make sure the audience is actually hearing you. In any professional setting, I
think this technique will be very useful when writing speeches to make sure your message is
heard by the audience. In an elevator speech or any speech where you want to make a message
be heard, this is the best technique to master that skill.
I plan to incorporate this technique in any future speeches I may write. I also think this
technique is extremely useful during introductory speeches where you are “selling yourself” to
the company. It clearly lists out three reasons why I would be an asset and assures that the
audience will not forget those three reasons. It definitely is an influential speech writing
technique that many other well-known people have used to get their message across, such as
Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.

Crucial Conversations Scenario

According to the scenario, if my boss had called me an “idiot” in front of the entire team,
I would be extremely embarrassed and angry. But to remain professional, I would not pick a fight
with the boss in front of the entire team, so I would keep calm and quiet. Avoiding the conflict at
hand can be helpful because it allows all parties to cool down and really think about the situation
at hand. Time and space can allow people to reflect on themselves and others, which may solve
the conflict in the end. Later on that day I would go talk privately to the boss in their office about
what had happened earlier in the day. According to Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking
When Stakes Are High, there is a seven step process for managing crucial conversations. The first
step to a crucial conversation is “Start with Heart” (Switzler 189). This means to ask yourself
what do you really want? The second step is “Learn to Look”, which is a test to see when the
conversation becomes crucial, such as are you going to be silent or violent (Switzler 189)? The
third step is to “Make It Safe”, where you should make sure to apologize when appropriate to
establish mutual respect (Switzler 189). The fourth step is to “Master My Stories”, where you
would retrace your path to action by separating fact from story (Switzler 190). The fifth step is to
“STATE My Path” meaning, share your facts, tell your story, ask for other’s paths, talk
tentatively, and encourage testing (Switzler 190). The sixth step is to “Explore Others’ Paths”
where you ask, mirror, paraphrase, and prime to make sure you are actively exploring others’
views (Switzler 190). The seventh and final step is to “Move to Action”, where you will decide
how you’ll decide (Switzler 190). Using these seven steps, I have crafted a response to the above
scenario. First off, I would professionally ask if this was a good time to talk about earlier before
entering the office. My response then follows:
Hello, Boss. Regarding the situation earlier at the team meeting, I found it extremely
disrespectful and unprofessional for you to call me an idiot, let alone in front of the entire team.
As a member of this company, I expect to be respected by others as I respect everyone in this
company (Step 1). And today, I did not feel respected. I found it extremely degrading and hurtful
for you to call an employee such a disrespectful word in a professional work environment (Step
2). I do apologize if my work was not up to your standards and I will do better in the future to
make sure it is (Step 3). I look up to you and your high position in this company and I hope that
this altercation will not affect the future for me. Over the past month, I know I have made a lot of
mistakes in the sheets, but I assure you I am learning from every mistake I make and I will not
do it again. I acknowledge that I messed up the budget by $500,000 and therefore messed with
the contractors and subcontractors scheduling. I am young and still learning my ways around this
company and I admit this is not my first mistake, but the first you have reacted to it. I am doing
my best to learn from the rest of the team and I hope you can see that I am actively trying to
learn and do better for the team, for you, and for this company (Step 4). If you are not happy
with the work I am doing, I ask you to let me know how you would like it to be done in a timely
manner in the future, rather than letting me finish with no insight on my work. I want to do better
and I hope you will give me the chance to prove to you that I will do better (Step 5). I understand
that if this team messes up, it reflects poorly on you, which is never my intention. This was an
honest learning mistake that will not happen again. I do hope you understand why I was hurt by
you calling me an “idiot”, especially in front of the team. I hope we can come to an agreement of
mutual respect and that I will do better in the hopes you will have trust in me that I can do better
as well, with also checking up on my tasks in a timely manner (Step 6). Thank you for taking the
time to talk to me about what had happened earlier today. I will forgive you for calling me a
name, but I do expect to be respected by you like the rest of the team is and hope we can move
forward from this situation (Step 7).
In this scenario, I chose to be calm and quiet when the boss called me an “idiot” in front
of the entire team because I know if this were to happen in real life, I don’t think I would have
said anything besides “Excuse me” or just utter complete silence. I would have been so taken
aback and embarrassed that the shock would not have let me speak. Realistically, in a
professional setting, I believe it would look unprofessional to respond back to the boss because it
would most likely come off in an attitude and therefore look bad on me. However, having a cool
down period allows both parties to blow off some steam and think about what they want to say.
For example, in my shoes, this would have allowed me to prepare for a crucial conversation that
was bound to happen. I personally would not let the situation just disappear without
acknowledging the boss about what he said. Ultimately, respect is the most important in any
situation, and it is not fair for a boss to call you that to your face and in front of a group of
people. It is disrespectful and that is how people walk over you if you do not acknowledge issues
at hand in the form of crucial conversations, also known as confrontation.
Personal Story

As everyone says, your junior year of high school is the hardest and the most important
year of high school there is. For me, it was nothing less than that. For my entire life, the one
thing that stayed constant in my life was soccer. I started playing soccer when I was five years
old and up until my senior year of high school, it was a huge part of my life. It started off as my
mom putting me in numerous sports and activities to try and let me decide which I enjoyed and
wanted to pursue long term. Ultimately, it was soccer! From as early as I can remember, I recall
weekends filled with games and tournaments and weekdays at practice. It may sound like a lot,
but I loved it. Throughout high school, I was on the school team as well as my own club team
outside of school. Fall seasons were always the hardest because I had to juggle both teams and
schedules, which was a lot on top of the course load for a junior-level student. All it takes is one
fall and it could end it all. That is what happened to me.
I can still smell the dew on the grass and see the dirt all over my white uniform. One
Saturday morning, just like any other Saturday, it was game day! For my club team, it was not
unusual to have early morning games in random areas of the state. This day was just like any
other Saturday. My position was forward. This means in elementary terms, that I was the one
who scored the goals. I loved soccer so much and till this day it amazes me that I could run
around a field for over ninety minutes and now I am lucky if I can run a full two miles without
stopping! Let me paint a picture for you. If you couldn’t tell, I am really short. I like to say that I
am 5 foot 3 inches, but in reality I am a little less than that. Imagine me almost five or six years
ago, a short girl weighing like thirty less pounds than now, I was small! But boy, could I run fast.
If I could go back to that body and agility again, I would do it in one second.
The last thing I remember is hearing “Let’s go Linds!” and then everything blacked out. I
had just received the ball from one of my teammates with an open field in front of me, just me
and the goalie. You think I would have scored right? Unfortunately not. A defender from the
opposing team came behind me and literally “tackled” me to the ground. Not literally because
this is not football, but that’s basically what she did. Meanwhile, this girl was three times my
size, height, and weight. Apparently we both fell, but I didn’t get back up. Not for a while at
least.
I don’t know how long I was out and till this day I still don’t know. I just know I felt so
out of it. The grass and dirt stains were all smudged on my white uniform and my head was
pounding like no other. A couple weeks later, I got diagnosed with a concussion and I broke my
hip bone, specifically I had a crack on my iliac crest of my pelvis bone. And this marks the end
of my junior season. For the next two months, I was in and out of school constantly because
trying to read a textbook was quite literally the most painful thing in my life (literally, not just
figuratively)! I tried to go back for half days of school, and my body was just not having it.
During my junior year, I was so behind, I was frightened my grades were going to plummet.
Luckily my teachers were understanding. One distinct memory I have walking in my AP Biology
class right after my dad had dropped me off for my half day, and we were outlining the textbook.
As soon as I looked at it, I got a headache. God Bless Mrs. Baldwin because she walked me right
to the nurse’s office and told me to go straight back home. My poor dad had just gotten home to
then get a call to have to come straight back to pick me up. After a concussion, if you try to
strain the brain again while it’s already strained, you can cause long term damage. But knowing
myself, I tried to push through the pain because I was missing out on so much. Surprisingly a
concussion hurt more on a day to day basis than a cracked hip bone. Walking was about all the
exercise I could do for months forward because there was no treatment for the crack besides rest
and rehabilitation. The physical and occupational therapists and I were basically best friends in
the end, I had seen them so often for weeks on end to hopefully rehabilitate myself so I could
play my senior year.
To make it short, I didn’t play my senior year. Not the way I wanted to nor knew I could
fully partake in. I played, but it was never the same again. Till this day I get pain in my hips from
running after a certain time or speed. My grades on the other hand, with the help of my amazing
teachers for allowing me to do things at my own pace, did not even affect my overall GPA. I
ended high school with an unweighted 3.88 GPA and a weighted 4.64 GPA, which to me is pretty
dang good. For those two-ish months of recovery, I was not myself. All I could do was lay
around. I had a neck brace to stabilize my head and I honestly felt like a loser. I was so out of the
day to day high school drama that I felt like a loner. Of course my friends were always there, but
I didn’t feel like engaging with them because it hurt me, physically, and emotionally. I was
actually jealous that they got to go to school and see their friends everyday. Crazy. In the end, I
don’t regret anything that happened. I got hurt, but I bounced back. I might have never played as
well again, but I played to have fun with my friends. My grades on the other hand were better
than ever before, especially during junior year. They really say life is expected, and turns things
for the better, and it really is. If I didn’t listen to my body and heal properly, I could have had to
have hip surgery to repair the bone. I also could have had permanent brain damage if my
concussion took over me. What if I couldn’t have gotten into UMD? There’s so many what if’s,
but I do know that I do not regret anything that happened in my soccer career. I made the most of
it and I turned around for the better. So what if I didn’t make it to the collegiate level? I’m alive
aren’t I and I’m doing well, and that’s ultimately what matters in the end.

Big Five Personality Assessment

I have never heard of this personality assessment before. My results were as follows:
35% openness, 83% conscientiousness, 27% extraversion, 67% agreeableness, and 48%
neuroticism. My first surprising thought is how high neuroticism is among the others. When I
first think of this word, neuroticism, I think of mental illnesses, which I personally have never
struggled with. As I read more of their report and what it means to feel fear and react with
negative emotions, I kind of understand why it’s one of my higher traits. I feel like when I am
initially faced in a negative situation, I immediately react with fear or anger before really
thinking things through properly. I also tend to be a “worry-wart” when it comes to some
situations because I don’t like to get in trouble. I have always been a “goodie two shoes” when it
comes to school and extracurriculars. My two highest traits were conscientiousness and
agreeableness. I would definitely consider myself a conscientious person when it comes to
anything in my life: money, work, school, having fun. I am always conscious and like to be in
control of my own life. I am also not surprised that agreeableness is high because I personally
think that I am a generous and empathetic person. I like to check in with my friends and I often
get called the “mom” of my friend group. Some may think that is lame, but to me I like having
control of situations and making sure everyone is okay. I am not surprised that openness and
extraversion are my lowest traits. As I have talked about in my last essay, I am a very organized
and practical person, which means I think very scientifically. I also have talked previously about
how I am a huge introvert and I am not actively outgoing unless I have to be. At work where I
am a server, I have to be actively outgoing and in a good mood because my money is on the line.
Besides that, I live the grandma lifestyle, at home and in bed by 10 PM. I enjoy my alone time
and am very content with a quiet, simple life.
When looking back at my Jung and DISC Personality Assessments, the results are pretty
similar. Specifically looking at DISC Personality Assessment, my two highest traits were
compliance (45%), followed by steadiness (29%). These results are pretty accurate to what the
Big Five test came back as. I am very conscious, diligent, and pay attention to detail
(conscientiousness). I have certain standards in what I accomplish and I want to meet those
standards. It is important to me for things to be precise and orderly when it comes to my personal
or professional life. Thoughtfulness is also high, meaning I often care for others and make it a
point to make sure others are okay (agreeableness). Dominance and influence were the two
lowest traits similar to openness and extraversion, meaning I am a total introvert and do not like
to assert myself into situations or control situations similarly.
When looking back at my Jung Personality Assessment, I am an ISTJ, which stands for
introvert-sensor-thinker-judger. As I have said many times before, I am a huge introvert. A
sensor is one who lives in the present. They rely on facts, handle practical matters well and like
things to be concrete and measurable, also very similar to conscientiousness, agreeableness,
compliance, and steadiness. Thinkers make logical decisions using their heads rather than
listening to their hearts. Judgers like an orderly, planned life that is organized and controlled,
which is also very similar to conscientiousness and agreeableness. In short, I am a no nonsense
type of person who is very shy, responsible, yet dependable. I care for others like I am
everyone’s mom and I make sure everyone is going to be okay and will get home at night. In the
end, all of these personality tests are pretty similar. It is still beneficial to take different types of
personality assessments because each test, although similar, tests for different traits and analyzes
different aspects of personality traits. As well as every test you take may not be 100% accurate
results. By taking numerous tests, you can get a better idea of your overall personality types by
using common results among most tests. You will be able to see if there’s an outlier or a disparity
among the tests. As always, it is beneficial to take personality tests because you are able to better
understand a person when you know their true personality. It allows you to know how to handle,
respond and care for a person with an opposite personality type. It doesn’t hurt to take multiple
tests, in the end, you will be able to clearly know your personality trait from a variety of tests.

Conclusion

As the last couple weeks of this class are coming to an end, there is still much to look
forward to. Besides the group activities each week in class, I actually enjoy the readings we have
to read. I can’t remember the last time I leisurely read on my own time for fun, but these books
often make me feel like I am reading for fun and not for school. These books are personable, tell
stories, and are unique to anything else I have read before. For once I am reading a book that is
not formula and math based. I look forward to finishing these books by the end of the class and
utilizing the many of the techniques and concepts I have learned towards finishing college and
into my future career. Who would have thought communication skills play such a factor in a
highly technical field like engineering, where most people joke that STEM people have no social
skills. I hope to grow in confidence in my public-speaking skills and enhance my communication
skills over the years to one day become a force to be reckoned with like many notable people
who have come before me.
Appendix
**This was as much as I could view from the free version.**
 Works Cited

Switzler., Kerry Patterson. Joseph Grenny. Ron McMillan. Al. Crucial Conversations: Tools for

Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.