University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Allen Schnaitmann

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

February 25, 2023

Introduction
As an engineering student, the majority of my schooling consists of technical instruction
in subjects like physics, calculus, or dynamics. Communication for Project Managers emphasizes
a very important but highly ignored subject in the engineering field, communication.
Communicating effectively as a project manager is paramount to the success of any engineering
endeavor. Students in Communication for Project Managers must complete required readings,
participate in class activities and, ultimately, employ the skills they learn in class in the real
world. This essay will highlight the changes in my thinking by discussing lessons learned in the
readings, class discussions, how I have increased my networking potential since beginning the
class with LinkedIn and insights gleaned from completing the DISC personality assessment,
Conflict Management Styles assessment and Yung personality assessment.

Concepts from Readings

The first particularly interesting concept from the readings is the different techniques to
improve the delivery of a speech. The reading, A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan
O’Hair, Hannah Rubenstein and Rob Stewart, highlights multiple different techniques that can be
used to train your voice and delivery techniques. The first technique described in the reading is
to adjust my speaking volume to be just somewhat louder than normal conversational volume. A
good way to be able to project my voice loud enough is to breathe through my diaphragm in
order to take deeper breaths and push more air to my vocal cords. I’ve been practicing this when
at team meetings for my various projects as well as a last week during the first general body
meeting for UMD’s AIAA; which I am the president and need to speak in front of the room. I
was practicing taking deep breaths and projecting myself a little louder than what would be
needed for a regular conversation in that room and it seemed to work and get everyone’s
attention. Another technique from the book is to vary my pitch through intonation. This is
another technique that I am applying during my weekly meetings with the AIAA executive board
in order to keep them actively engaged and listening to our agenda and what I have to talk about.
If I were to speak monotone the entire time, they would most likely zone out and forget
everything that I say; alongside the fact that I will also be bored saying it at the same time.
Another tip that I found particularly useful here is to adjust my speaking rate as well as making
sure I properly pronounce and articulate all of my words. Throughout my life I have been told
that I talk very fast and no matter what I do, it has always been a struggle to fix it, so, I have been
practicing speaking slower in all of my meetings as to improve in this regard. One final
technique mentioned in the reading that was of particular interest here is the use of strategic
pauses. This is something that I have seen very good speakers employ, whether that be keynote
speakers, TED talks, etc. and it has always been something that I know I should incorporate but
never really knew when or how. After reading, I am going to practice avoiding using vocal fillers
in my meetings and using strategic pauses instead to see the effect of it.

A second pertinent topic covered by the readings is the fourteen techniques for
networking as described in Networking for College Students and Graduates by Dr. Michael
Faulkner and Andrea Nierenberg. Many of the techniques described here are things that I already
employ such as having an elevator pitch, a firm handshake and trying to talk slower. However,
there are a lot of other insightful techniques that I have not practiced yet and are helpful for all of
my future networking events. The first technique that I have found success using when
networking with someone new is to have an opening line to break the ice prepared. Usually, I
would try to come up with one on the spot as I walked up to them or would hope that they would
have something to say to break the ice but I found that this often leaves some awkward pauses
and can kill some conversations before they even start. Another technique that I found useful
here is to practice my “get to know you” questions so that they are natural as well as having
some small talk ready to go whenever. As I said before with the icebreaker, these are usually
things that I try to come up with on the spot and sometimes struggle in embarrassing fashion
resulting in the other party having to carry the conversation or losing interest and exiting the
conversation as has happened in previous networking events before I started to get my footing.
Committing myself to practice as the book suggests will allow my conversations to flow much
more eloquently and keep the other person at east, especially when trying to get to know them
better and should allow my network connections to be deeper and more fulfilling in the future.
One last technique that I have found particularly interesting and useful is to have a clear exit
strategy to be able to break off from the conversation gracefully. This is also something that I
feel like a lot of people in industry can work on as well as it often comes down to the meaningful
end of a conversation and we always have some awkward moments on both sides where neither
of us knows how to gracefully exit the conversation. This technique should eliminate that and
allow all parties to exit gracefully and more memorably.

Another important and interesting topic discussed in the readings is the section on the
scientists from Five Stars by Carmine Gallo. It is important for scientists and engineers to be
able to properly convey their ideas to the general public as well as the business world who
probably do not know what we do nor understand the way we convey our ideas and research
often. The example from this section that really resonated with me was the description of Neil
DeGrasse Tyson as I have always been a fan of his from when I was in high school, and he is
part of the reason that I decided to major in aerospace engineering. His easy-to-understand
approach towards explaining space and other aerospace concepts in a fun and cool way really
helped me decide to become what I am today. Tyson’s style, which he calls the manifestation of
curiosity is excellent for explaining complicated concepts by taking them and embedding them in
familiar ground that his audience can understand. Additionally, there are many topics that he
avoids as to keep the things he talks about cool and interesting which I think can be applied to
many of the presentations we give since the audience will most likely only come out
remembering the cooler and more entertaining parts of a presentation. This is a technique that I
can apply when moving to the workforce and having to explain my ideas to my upper-level
bosses or business people who do not know everything that I am working on at a technical level.
Additionally, this could also work when trying to talk to family and friends about what I work on
and can be good conversation starters (especially since I can’t go into details about the jobs I will
be doing due to their classified nature).

LinkedIn Account and Networking

Communication goes beyond addressing giant lecture halls and giving speeches.
Everyday communication, body language, and behavior in the professional world affect one’s
image. An assignment of great benefit in this course so far has been to create a LinkedIn account
in the case that we didn’t already have one and to add 10 ENCE424 classmates to our LinkedIn
network as well as Dr. Webster-Trotman. I have spoken to Dr. Trotman and she has excused me
from having to list the names of 10 classmates that I have connected with because I already had a
flourishing LinkedIn account with over 700 connections before this class. Creating a LinkedIn
has been a requirement in a number of classes that I have already taken as well as a personal goal
of mine. Part of the reason that I have so many connections is that I consistently ask people for
their contact information or LinkedIn account whenever I network and meet them as well as
adding my peer on LinkedIn so that I can have a large network to draw from in the future when I
inevitably am ready to move on from my current opportunities. On the other hand, just having
such a large network on LinkedIn can help me stay in touch with what is going on in the
professional world as well as keep up to date on any opportunities that may present themselves
by staying in touch with all different kinds of people in different roles and industries. A large
boost to my networking abilities has come from reading all of the assigned chapters from the
book and trying to incorporate them into my life and the way I interact with professionals and
my peers. The main hurdle in that regard is incorporating them in a way that makes sense for me
based on my personality and my strengths such as working on my conversational skills to
implement the fact that I am a great listener and am already adept at using my elevator pitch, or
branding statement as described on page 49 and 50 of Networking for College Students and
Graduates by Dr. Michael Faulkner and Andrea Nierenberg, at events like a career fair or job
interview. Unfortunately, I have not been able to practice any of these techniques yet as I have
not participated in any dedicated networking events or career fairs since the start of this course
but I am mentally staying prepared and trying out some of the tips and tricks that I can in daily
conversation as much as possible. Additionally, I am the leader of the student chapter of the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) on campus, and we have monthly
general body meetings where we bring in industry professionals to come talk to students. As
president, it is often my job to reach out and essentially network with these industry
professionals to either entice them to come to UMD to talk for us or simply to keep the
connection once they are here. This gives me an opportunity to practice my networking abilities
and increase them as I learn from the way they talk and simply grow my network at the same
time through my organization.

DISC Personality Assessment

Communication influences many aspects of life, both professionally and personally. The
DISC Personality Assessment is an insight and indication of my unique personality as it shows
me my most dominant personality factor as well as how the others rank. My results tell me that I
am 46% focused on dominance, 16% on influence, 21% on steadiness, and 18% on compliance. I
am described as responsive to challenges in a practical, realistic and enthusiastic manner and it is
said that I am likely perceived to be rational and creative at the same time. The personality test
describes me as fact oriented and based on solid information. I am also described as assertive,
self-sufficient and individualistic. Overall, I agree with the results of this test. While I do not
know what the other personality types are to compare this two in order to see if there is a better
fit, there is no aspect of the description that I have mentioned above that I disagree with. Overall,
after reading the description of the personality type that I got a few times, it just sounds like the
description of an engineer. Engineers are trained to be logical thinkers who respond to challenges
in practical and realistic ways. Engineers also should be perceived as both rational and creative at
the same time by the general public as we are all problem solvers. However, I might be different
than some of my colleagues because I try to always approach all things in an enthusiastic manner
as that is how my personality is; and I feel like this has helped guide me towards leadership
positions throughout my career as I am always outspoken and people enjoy working with me on
projects since I always maintain the group’s enthusiasm throughout. I have taken a leadership
role in almost every single group project or organization that I have been a part of during my
time here at UMD and I think that my rational thinking as well as my enthusiasm are big reasons
why. On the other hand, I am also described as individualistic and self-sufficient as well which
one might think does not bode well towards leadership and team building. However, I disagree
with that sentiment and also agree with the description of me because I am no the type of person
to hang on a group to get everything done. My first priority is always the team’s success;
however, I believe that often the team’s success ultimately comes down to each individual’s
ability to complete their tasks and contribute meaningfully to the team’s success which is where
being self-sufficient becomes useful. A team member who consistently has to lean on the team
for support in all aspects is often more of a detriment than an asset in my opinion. While there is
nothing wrong with using the team for support and asking for help from the team, being unable
to stand on your own two legs and support yourself without the team propping you up is not
good. The most surprising insight for me was that my dominant factor for my personality was
dominance and by a good margin as it was over double the next highest factor (steadiness). I’ve
never saw myself as the most assertive person and always thought that I would be more patient
than assertive which would translate towards a higher steadiness score. Additionally, I would
think that my influence score would be higher as well considering my leadership roles and
experience as I would consider that to be the main way I deal with people as opposed to trying to
dominate the situation. However, I am unable to see myself from the third person so this test
might very well be accurate in this regard as I have been often considered a go-getter. In the end
awareness of my personality type can help me be a more effective project manager as it helps tell
me how people will most likely perceive me as well as the approaches I will most likely take
towards communication and solving problems. Knowing this information allows me to better
adjust myself and my styles of management to be more tailored towards each situation as well as
what works best for different types of people and groups as not everyone is the same and each
have different needs and different styles that work. For instance, if I’m managing a group or
project that is not turning out to be very successful, I might try to work harder on my
organization and talk more with the people in my team as my compliance and influence
percentages were on the lower end which means that I probably do not utilize techniques related
to them as often as dominance.

Conflict Management Styles Assessment

The conflict management style assessment left me responding to statements where I more
often than not found myself agreeing to whatever was stated. After tallying all of my responses,
it came out to a tie in first place with both collaborating and competing scoring an 11. Next both
accommodating and compromising scored a 10. The outlier of the group was avoiding which
scored a 5. Considering how close all of my scores were except for avoiding, it seems that I
employ a variety of conflict management styles alongside not avoiding the problems. I think that
all of these conflict management styles promote effective communication while avoiding hinders
effective communication. The ability to hear all sides is extremely important in resolving a
conflict and reaching a conclusion that all sides are comfortable with. This is where collaboration
and compromising are very effective conflict management styles as they are great at reaching a
resolution when all sides are willing to listen and work with each other. However, from personal
experience, they are not 100% effective because there are times where there will be people who
are not willing to everyone else’s point of view as I have run into when dealing with children or
some of my friends when in groups. Sometimes a friend or so in a group of us will be so set in
their ways and just want to do what they want to do and ignore whatever we want to. They do
not want to be reasoned with and will not work with us or compromise, so, this is where
competing is an effective style of conflict management as it is necessary to just overpower them
with a group consensus in order to come to a decision as they would not budge any other way.
On the other hand, accommodating can also be effective in this situation as that person would get
their way and no longer hinder the group, allowing us to move on. While I am glad I scored high
in all of these categories, I am also glad I did not score high in avoiding as I do not believe that it
promotes effective communication. All conflicts within a group should be solved as fast as
possible or else they will only grow when left to simmer. Conflicts between people will only
deepen and could even become personal when left to fester and grow. Additionally, leaving a
problem also keeps a hinderance from being solved and slows down the group. A lot of listening
techniques from A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan O’Hair, Hannah Rubenstein and
Rob Stewart are very useful for dealing with conflicts within groups. According to chapter 5 of
that book, it is good to realize that people will not perceive information in the same way due to
selective perception as everyone has their own biases and expectations. When dealing with
conflict, there is often a back and forth, which means that even if you expect to disagree or if you
disagree with what someone is saying while listening, which is called defensive listening, it is
important to remember to listen completely first before trying to say a rebuttal. Due to the back-
and-forth nature of disagreements and how there are multiple sides to every issue, it is important
to be an active listener and set listening goals in order to help with resolving and managing the
conflict as you will need to be well informed on all sides in order to come to a resolution that
truly solves the issue.

Yung Personality Assessment

Communication influences many aspects of life, both professionally and personally. The
Yung Personality Assessment asses my behaviors in order to find a personality type that most
accurately describes me. My result after taking the assessment was that the personality type that
most accurately describes me is the ENFP (extravert, intuitive, feeler, and perceiver) personality
type. At first glance, I didn’t agree too much with my results of this assessment. I have never
truly considered myself extraverted nor a feeler at all. For the majority of my life, I have been a
very shy individual and mainly kept to myself. However, more recently I’ve been pushing my
boundaries to try and get better at speaking to people and putting myself out there and I think my
test result is a reflection of this multi-year effort to improve myself in this regard. Furthermore, I
asked some of my friends and my girlfriend if they thought that I was an extravert and they all
said that I was much more extraverted than I was introverted which gives me no choice but to
agree with the result. On the other hand, I do not entirely agree with the feeler result. First of all,
I do have a deep concern for other people and I always try to take them into account when
making decisions, however, I do not wear my feelings on my sleeve nor do I base most of my
decisions on them. Logical reasoning and facts usually come first for me and I tend to make my
judgements and solve problems based on rational thinking which conflicts with being a feeler.
Additionally, this also conflicts with what I got in the DISC personality test as I was described as
practical, fact oriented and perceived as being rational. Based on the discrepancy here, and my
own personal intuition about myself, I am more inclined to believe the DISC assessment in this
regard when compared to the Jung test. Besides those two parts of my score, I agree with the
other aspects of my personality type. I look towards the future and what could be and love
original ideas almost to a fault. I one hundred percent agree that I am intuitive, my friends
always say that I have the loftiest goals for the future and am described as someone who tries to
act greater than their age. The last aspect of my score is that I am describes as a perceiver which
I also agree with. I tend to make plans spontaneously as well as keeping my schedule relatively
open and adaptable. I have always been the type of person to make plans day of as opposed to
planning things out far in advance. I am also the type of person who can change gears on a
moments notice and jump from one things to another in an unstructured format. I could be
getting ready to go to bed one night and then out of the blue decide to go on a long hike the very
morning. So, I completely agree with this aspect of the assessment. However, while I agree with
this aspect of the test, I am also trying to change myself in this regard as I have found that most
other people are not the same way and it hard on them to just jump gears the way that I do. So, in
order to accommodate others as well as add some regiment to my schedule in order to create a
greater sense of order and calm, I’ve been trying to reduce my spontaneity and make my
schedule more rigid.

Conclusion
As an aspiring industry leader and a current leader in multiple organizations and
positions, the ability to effectively communicate is extremely important for my current
responsibilities as well as for my career potential. The readings in this class have been helpful is
understanding what makes great communicators, how to increase my networking potential as
well as how scientists and engineers can effectively communicate to different audiences.
Furthermore, knowing my personality type is useful in understanding how I currently
communicate with people and where I can work on to better talk with different types of people.
 Works Cited

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

Pearson Learning Solutions, 2017. 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 Greet, Eat,

and Tweet Your Way to Success. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. Print