University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Jay Verma
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424
Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman
June 11, 2022
Introduction
Throughout my academic and professional career, the majority of my success was due to
my technical capabilities and engineering knowledge. Much of my undergraduate curriculum and
professional training focused on finetuning my scientific and mathematical approach to solving
problems, but never emphasized the importance of effective communication. Effective
communication was something I always thought of as innate and a trait that improved in direct
correlation with increasing one’s intellect. As a result, my approach to classes, training, and real
work projects was to spend my time researching and learning, but never considering how to
deliver the information to an audience. Communication for Project Managers has already proved
to be an invaluable course as it not only defines what makes up effective communication, but it
provides the necessary steps to become an effective communicator.

This essay will highlight several topics learned throughout in-class sessions, assigned
readings, and various assessments, and provide real-life examples to how I have applied different
techniques in my journey in becoming an effective communicator.

Concepts from Readings

The first particularly interesting concept from the readings are the key benefits of how
crucial conversations can improve your life. The reading, Crucial Conversations, Tools for
Talking When the Stakes are High, draws the reader’s attention to the defining moments that
become inflection points in our lives and how handling them properly, or poorly, could influence
our lives and performance significantly. The book cites a series of studies conducted to
demonstrate the impact employees who are skilled at Crucial Conversations can have on their
respective companies. Of the results, the most noteworthy were that employees skilled in Crucial
Conversation were two-thirds more likely to avoid injury and death due to unsafe conditions and
save over $1,500 and an eight-hour workday by engaging in these high-stake conversations.
Crucial Conversations are defined as “a discussion between two or more people in which they
(1) opposing opinions about a (2) high-stakes issue and where (3) emotions run strong” (Crucial
Conversations, Ch. 1 Pg. 3). Without knowing it, I have engaged, avoided, fumbled and
experienced Crucial Conversations throughout every stage of my life. This reading helped me
understand how to recognize when these life-defining moments occur and how beneficial it can
be to handle them skillfully. Moving forward, I am going to hold myself accountable to be more
cognizant of when these conversations occur and to ensure I choose to engage in these tough
conversations, rather than avoid them. In addition to recognition, I will begin to reflect on
whether I handled them poorly or successfully and how I can learn from each Crucial
Conversation.

A second pertinent topic covered by the readings is how feeling plays an integral role in
delivering effective communication, as described in the early chapters of Five Stars, The
Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. The reading took a massive milestone in
human history, putting a man on the moon, and described how it was a product of rhetoric
formula put forth by President John F. Kennedy that inspired a nation to band together and
accomplish a task previously considered impossible. President Kennedy used a concept
originally thought by Aristotle known as “Pathos and Logos”, which translates to emotion and
logic. President Kennedy drew on this concept to use emotion, feeling, and logic to create a

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stronger connection between NASA workers and their ultimate goal. This vision allowed NASA
personnel to believe the impossible was possible and focus their attentions to ultimately
achieving a successful “moonshot”. After learning how coupling feeling with logic can improve
communication exponentially, I will look to see different ways I can tie in emotional connections
to my presentations and ongoing projects. While explaining the hazards of an inadequately
protected facility to clients, instead of saying the technical reason to why it is inadequate, I will
focus more on describing what the potential impact on their business operations, property value,
and livelihood would be. For an example, “If a fire were to spread uncontrolled and the facility
would be expected to be down for restoration activities for at least 12 months, how would this
impact your community?”. This would relate the hazard at hand to their day-to-day lives creating
an emotional connection, increasing the likelihood of risk improvement efforts.

Another important and interesting topic discussed in the reading Five Stars, The
Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great, is the idea that effective communication is
the single greatest skill that gives individuals a competitive advantage. This is emphasized
through the story example shared in the “The Communications Skill Gap” section of Chapter 2,
Winning the War of Idea. In this section, it shares a real-life example of a top-level talent who is
referred to as the “smartest man in the room” being overlooked for promotions for one main
reason; he was a terrible communicator. In today’s business world, companies will not promote
ineffective communicators to leadership roles due to the potential negative impacts it could have
on the rest of the organization. If the leader cannot effectively communicate the mission to their
direct reports, then the company will likely suffer from employees missing deadlines, conducting
low quality work, and being frustrated in the workplace. Having a better understanding to how
valuable the skill of communication can be and how it can give an employee a competitive
advantage, I am determined to improve my communication skills by putting forth the ideas and
concepts learning throughout this course. Specific examples of how I have already started to do
this include, recording my presentations to truly hear how my tone is influencing my delivery,
marking up the required readings to take note of concepts that relate directly to my field, and
holding myself accountable to continue practice speaking out loud to become comfortable with
the uncomfortable.

Networking

I always looked at myself as the “lucky one” in my college friend group during my
Senior year. This was because I was extended a full-time offer before starting my last semester at
the University of Connecticut. This meant I did not have to attend any dreadful networking
career fairs, something I avoided every chance I could. After learning more about the power of
networking and the myths surrounding the concept through reading Networking for College
Students and Graduates, I realized what I truly was missing out on. Since starting the course, I
have expanded my network by connecting with two of my fellow Communication for Project
Managers classmates, Amir and Nicholas. Amir, like myself is a graduate student in the
structural field and Nicholas is finishing up his undergraduate degree at the University of
Maryland. Having both connections in my network will certainly help when completing
assignments, conducting peer-review edits, and discussing opportunities beyond the classroom.
Another networking improvement that I have made since starting this course has been
incorporating techniques listed in Chapter 2 of Networking for College Students and Graduates.
For an example Technique #3 recommended formalizing a 20-30 second branding statement for
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yourself to complete in a short elevator ride. My 20-30 second branding statement for future
instances is as follows: “Hello! My name is Jay Verma and my background is fire protection
engineering. I am currently pursuing my Masters of Engineering at the University of Maryland
while working fulltime for FM Global as a Consultant Engineer. I have worked on several major
greenfield projects in the field and provide risk improvement solutions to a diverse book of
business. I would love to learn more about your experience and field at a later date that fits your
schedule.”
In addition to the improvements listed above, I was able to recognize a recent missed
networking opportunity. This past March, my company hosted an operation-wide event in
Atlanta, GA, to celebrate the new year and re-connect after a long absence of in-person
communication. After recently relocating to the Atlanta Operation, I had never met the majority
of my colleagues in-person and this event would be my first opportunity. During different phases
of the night, including drinks, meals, speeches etc., I recall myself avoiding big groups of people
and keeping to myself. I understand now that this was a huge missed opportunity to network and
connect different employees at my company. For future events, I am going to apply the
techniques learned throughout class and assigned readings to ensure I do not miss an opportunity
to expand my network and give myself a competitive advantage over my peers.

Key Attributes of an Effective Communicator

In our Week 1 lecture, we identified several key attributes of different effective

communicators and presented them to the class as groups. A common pattern among
presentations was that all the selected examples of an effective communicator displayed similar
attributes. Of these attributes, the following five are those that I believe are important to my
personal development as a communicator and a self-score for each are listed below.
1. Confidence (Self-score 6/10) – Speaking with confidence is a common characteristic
among effective communicators. No matter the topic, without confidence, your audience
will struggle to give you the credibility you search for regardless of your experience or
education. Three actions that I believe can improve my confidence while communicating
are positive self-talks before presentations, facing my fears by speaking more during each
class, and visualizing a successful presentation beforehand.
2. Concise (Self-score 5/10) – Being concise while speaking is a critical component to
eliminating lag time and avoiding confusion. I rate myself a 5/10 in this area because I
believe there are times when I am not fully prepared and end up speaking around a
subject rather than being direct and clear. Three actions that I believe assist with speaking
more concisely are to record myself speaking, refrain from using filler words, and plan
what I want to say ahead of time.
3. Clarity (Self-score 6/10) – Delivering a message with clarity can mean simplifying the
complex. This is something crucial in the engineering field when working with non-
technical contacts who may not understand the engineering behind decisions or
recommendations. Action items that I can implement to improve my clarity are to use
self-reflection to see if someone else may find my wording confusing, open up to
questions after speaking, and avoid use of technical terminology.
4. Empathy (Self-score 5/10) – Empathetic speakers can connect with their audience on an
emotional level, which has shown to create feeling and a passionate response. I believe
implementing the following three actions can improve how I incorporate empathy in my

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 communication skills. Actively listening to the audience to understand their perspective,
doing my research on who I am speaking with beforehand, and asking open-ended
questions.
5. Tone & Voice Quality (Self-score 6/10) – Tone and voice quality can significantly alter
the audience’s viewpoint on you. Per Dr. Mehrabian’s Communication Model, 38% of
the audience’s impression on a speaker is based on tone of delivery. Whether it conveys
confidence, warmth, or leadership, a speaker’s tone can change the meaning behind
words. Three actions that I can implement to improve my tone and voice quality are to
take deep breaths before speaking, positive visualizations, and speaking at a slower pace.
The resources that can help me improve in the aforementioned areas include asking for notes or
critiques from my classmates, professor, colleagues and friends, referring to the required
readings for additional guidance, and voice recording tools on my computer and phone for audio
playback. Aside from resources, it will be critical to hold myself accountable to continue
applying my full effort during future class lectures, assignments, and readings.
DISC Personality Assessment – Refer to Appendix A for results.

Communication influences many aspects of life, both professionally and personally.

Without taking the time to self-reflect on your personality, you will ignore certain behavioral
characteristics that could be limiting your communication skills. The DISC Personality
Assessment yielded the following results for my most predominant personality factors, 1.
Dominance, 2. Compliance, 3. Steadiness, 4. Influence. After reviewing the results, I
begrudgingly agreed with the findings. A personality trait that I have been aware of since my
adolescence is that I always had to be right and would be aggressively closed-minded to other
people’s opinions or perspectives. This not only altered my communication skills, but hindered
my learning ability at a young age. It was not until after college in reading Principles: Life and
Work, by Ray Dalio, that I chose to actively try my best to be radically open-minded to new
thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and decisions. This meant not asserting dominance in conversation,
but listening to others, asking myself “where are they coming from?”, “what is their supporting
evidence?”, before trying to prove my side as 100% correct. Although I was not surprised the
results of the DISC Personality Assessment, I am well-aware that a dominant personality can
play a large role in whether a conversation is effective, or non-effective. A dominant approach to
situations can lead to positive results at times, but more often than not can shut down
conversations and create a negative environment for other participants. Balancing dominance
with compliance, steadiness, and influence, can cultivate a safe space for sharing opinions and
engaging in conversation.

Having the self-awareness of your own behavior can identify areas of your personality
that are influencing your communication with others. If you are predominantly displaying
characteristics of dominance, people may not lean on you for feedback, ideas, or opportunities if
they already know you will not hear them out. A dominant behavior can also damage personal
relationships with friends, family, or significant others. To become an effective communicator, I
must improve on areas of Steadiness and Compliance, to ensure communication is going two-
ways creating a pathway for positive collaboration.

Conflict Management Styles Assessment – Refer to Appendix B for results.

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 Conflicts are an unavoidable component of communication. As detailed in the reading
Crucial Conversations, when we face Crucial Conversations we normally respond in three broad
categories. These include avoiding them, facing them and handling them poorly, or facing them
and handling them well. Mishandling, or avoiding conflicts, can result in negative
communication and significant impacts to ongoing projects, which can include lengthy delays,
low-quality work, and dissatisfied stakeholders. After completing the Conflict Management
Styles Assessment, my scores indicate my most commonly used conflict handling strategy was
“Competing”. A competing styled approach to communication offers both pros and cons and
when balanced properly, can result in an effective communication strategy.
An advantage of a competing conflict style is a passionate approach to confronting
situations. This passion, which in turn creates a competitive nature, not only breeds strong ideas
and direct conversations, but also attaches emotional value to the discussion. This leads to
meaningful discussions that are more than just a disagreement and can lead to positive end
results. An example of how a competitive approach to conflicts has helped my own
communication can be shown during a project conflict that developed during the design phase of
a new 1.4 million square foot warehouse in South Carolina. After multiple reviews of a new
automatic sprinkler system, the South Carolina Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) rejected the
proposed automatic sprinkler system design causing significant delays in the project schedule.
The reason behind the rejection was that the State of SC did not recognize FM Global Property
Loss Prevention Data Sheets as an acceptable equivalency to NFPA. My competitive nature
immediately disagreed with this notion and immediately began scheduling meetings to discuss
their findings and argue to why our design not only meets that of NFPA, but exceeds it. After
making our case in three separate meetings, we were able to get the system accepted for our
client. Without a competitive approach to conflict, this rejection would have been accepted and
the system would have been redesigned as requested by the AHJ. This real-world example shows
how having a competing conflict style can improve communication and lead to positive results.
This skill can be improved further as described through the reading Five Stars, The
Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great, by involving the emotions and passions of
the other participants to fuel conversation. I specifically chose this technique as I was able to see
how much of an impact tapping into the feeling of others lead to exponentially superior results.
Although a competing style can help create effective communication, it can also hinder it
significantly. If passion and competition is taken too far, the ideas brought up by other
employees, colleagues, friends, family members, can be overlooked and steamrolled by an overly
competitive argument. This closed-minded approach to conflict can decrease the “Shared Pool of
Meaning” (Crucial Conversations, Ch. 2), and limit the overall intellect of the group. This can
lead to missing out on potential solutions that can save hours, days, even weeks on a certain
project. An example of this negative impact can be shown through a group project completed
during my Senior year in college. Our engineering design group was tasked to optimize a
simulated logistical issue through implementation of a coded program using VBA macros in
Microsoft Excel. Being proficient in the language, I took it upon myself to avoid a conflict with
my classmates and finalize our program without input from my group members. Although my

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solution ended up working, it turned out it was not the fastest way to the problem solution. This
is an example of where the Shared Pool of Meaning was decreased and potential solutions may
have been ignored due to an overly competitive style. This negative impact can be avoided by
implementing the collaboration techniques detailed in the reading Crucial Conversations, by
including others and increasing the knowledge in a group, you can generate new ideas, thoughts,
and solutions that result from effective communication.
Jung Personality Assessment – See Appendix C for results.
After completing the Jung Personality Assessment, my results indicate that my Jung
personality classification is “Introvert-Intuitive-Feeler-Judger”. This classification relates to a
person that is more reserved and private, someone who pays more attention to information that is
imaginative, lets their feelings and emotions play a leading role, and prefers a lifestyle that is
planned and orderly. After reviewing the results, I immediately agreed with the consensus. After
many iterations of social situations, team meetings, work events, and life milestones, I am well
aware that I exhibit all the traits mentioned above. I do not see any as overly negative or positive,
but I know now that even though I may prefer to be reserved, private, and emotional, it is critical
to find a balance with being outgoing, social and rational. If asked if I would like to go out on a
Friday night for food and drinks, 10 out of 10 times I know I would say no knowing that I would
like to wake up feeling well rested for an 8:00 am trip to the gym. However, I know that a give
and take is essential to crafting and maintaining strong relationships and a wide network. Having
the ability to self-reflect on your personality is critical to understand which areas you must
improve upon to create an avenue for effective communication. If I were to say no to every
opportunity to preserve a reserved approach to life, I would continue to close opportunities to
potentially advance my career and experience life.
The results of the Jung Personality Assessment relate closely to that of the DISC
Personality Assessment as both point towards my personality being that of a person that prefers
their own method of doing something and rarely hears others out or makes an effort to change
their routine. Displaying characteristics of dominance and being an introvert, as described by the
Jung Report as someone who draws their energy from their own thoughts, can lead to a closed-
minded approach to communication. This can decrease the “Shared Pool of Meaning” (Crucial
Conversations, Ch. 2), and potentially decrease the IQ of a conversation. Now being aware of
these classifications, I will make it a goal to ensure I break away from what is my normal routine
and become open-minded to new experiences and ideas. By understanding what my personality
type really is, I can pinpoint areas of improvement and become an effective communicator.

Conclusion
Effective communication is the single-most competitive advantage an employee can have
over their peers. Being able to deliver topics effectively can save time, inspire others, and
increase the output or efficiency of a company. This skill, which I previously thought of as an
innate skill that people were born with, is something that can actually be learned and trained over
time. As detailed throughout the preceding sections, communication takes many forms and is
strongly influenced by a person’s personality and attributes. Self-reflection and assessment allow
us to see what characteristics are positively, or negatively, affecting our communication skills.
By applying the techniques learned throughout in-class lectures and the assigned readings we can
improve our areas of weaknesses and strengthen our communication abilities.

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 The early weeks of Communication for Project Managers has identified how crucial
effective communication is for both our work and personal lives and has outlined specific steps
that we all can take to become effective communicators. This Pearl Diving Assignment No. 1
should be used as a benchmark for my development during my journey in becoming an effective
communicator.

Works Cited

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Grenny, Joseph, and Patterson, Kerry and McMillan, Ron and Switzler, Al and Gregory, Emily.

Crucial Conversations, Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. McGraw-Hill

Education, 2021. Print

Faulkner, Michael, and Andrea Nierenberg. Networking for College Students and Graduates.

Pearson Learning Solutions, 2017. Print.

Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars the Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St. Martin’s

Press, 2018. Print.

Dalio, Ray. Principles: Work and Life. Simon & Schuster. 2017. Print.

Appendix

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A.

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B.

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C.

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