University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Jane Star

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

April 1, 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 will practice proper business civility this week, and how I have

Lackluster Performance Email

Dear Team,

I hope this email finds you all well. However, I must bring to your attention a serious issue that
has been plaguing our team's performance for the year to date: our chronic failure to meet
deadlines. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we have consistently fallen behind schedule
and have failed to deliver our work on time, causing frustration and disappointment among our
clients and stakeholders.

As a team leader, I take full responsibility for our collective failure to meet deadlines, and I am
determined to work with each one of you to address this issue. It is imperative that we tackle this
problem head-on and take steps to improve our performance and rebuild our credibility with our
clients and stakeholders. I want to emphasize that as a team leader, I take pride in our team's
work and value the trust that our clients and stakeholders have placed in us. I believe that
meeting deadlines is a fundamental requirement for any successful team, and I am committed to
working with you all to restore our reputation and ensure that we are delivering our work on
time.

We need to identify the root cause of our chronic failure to meet deadlines. After careful
analysis, I have identified several contributing factors that we need to address urgently. Firstly,
we have been consistently underestimating the time required to complete our work, leading to
delays and missed deadlines. Secondly, our communication has not been as clear and effective as
it needs to be, resulting in misunderstandings and delays. Finally, our team's workload has been
unevenly distributed, causing certain team members to be overburdened and others to be
underutilized.

To address these issues, I propose that we take a systematic and collaborative approach. Firstly,
we need to work together to develop more accurate time estimates for our work and factor in
enough time for unforeseen delays and complications. Secondly, we need to improve our
communication by ensuring that we are clear about our expectations and requirements, and by
regularly checking in with each other to identify and resolve any issues that may arise. Finally,
we need to ensure that our workload is balanced and that each team member is contributing
equitably to our projects. Furthermore, I believe that setting clear goals and targets can help us
focus our efforts and track our progress. I propose that we work together to set achievable
deadlines for our work, break down our projects into smaller, manageable tasks, and establish
regular check-ins to ensure that we are on track to meet our deadlines.

I want to emphasize that meeting deadlines is not just about delivering work on time, it is about
building trust and credibility with our clients and stakeholders. Our failure to meet deadlines has
caused frustration and disappointment among them, and it is our responsibility to rectify this
situation. By working together to improve our performance, we can restore our reputation and
build stronger relationships with our clients and stakeholders.

In conclusion, I urge all of you to take this matter seriously and work towards improving our
team's performance. Let us identify the issues and work together to find a solution. Remember,
we are a team, and we must support each other in achieving our shared goals. I am confident that
with our collective efforts, we can overcome this challenge and emerge stronger than ever
before.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and
suggestions.

Best regards,

Allen

Important Concept

During the seventh week of class, we were joined by guest speaker Alexander Camacho who
shared his powerful personal story and used many storytelling techniques to move the class and
capture all of our emotions. Storytelling is an important technique to master as 65% of our daily
conversations are stories. Being able to communicate more effectively with what constitutes the
majority of daily communications is something that can make communicating within teams
much more impactful and convincing. This concept is particularly important to me because I
have always felt like my storytelling is a weak aspect of my communication skills. Often times I
will meet new people and strike up a conversation but often find myself caught and immersed in
the stories that they will tell about different things and different aspects of their life while I often
feel left out unable to explain my experiences in such an evocative manner. However, the
majority of my conversations still revolve around stories and I still do have plenty of stories to
tell about my life and other things to different people that I meet. If I can better explain myself
through these stories and guide the conversations in a more favorably way then it could go a long
way to dealing with a team that is either struggling on something or just addressing teams as a
whole. The ability to tell an effective story can also allow me to relate better with the people
around me and create deeper and more personal relationships where all parties are comfortable
sharing stories.

Mastering this technique will come in very useful once I move to St. Louis and begin my new
career at Boeing. It will help me to develop deeper relationships with my colleagues as well as
help them to relate better with me and to drive their emotions. Through storytelling, I might be
able to move my way up towards promotions and other career building aspects better as I will be
more convincing and be able to tell stories about the things that I have been doing and went
through for the company. This could also help with networking with higher ups in the company
and to help convince them to give me different opportunities within the company.

Boss Scenario

Being called an "idiot" in front of the entire team by your boss can be humiliating, hurtful, and
damaging to your reputation. However, it is important to handle this situation in a professional
and constructive manner. Firstly, I will take a moment to collect my thoughts and emotions. It is
important not to react impulsively or aggressively in response to such an insult. Instead, I will
take a few deep breaths and try to calm down. I will also remind myself of my purpose in
addressing this situation, which is to maintain my professional integrity and to prevent such
behavior from occurring again in the future.

Next, I will initiate a crucial conversation with my boss in a private setting. I will request a
meeting with my boss, and I will explain to them that I would like to discuss the incident that
occurred in front of the team. I will approach this conversation with a respectful and curious
attitude, rather than an accusatory or defensive one. This will help to create a safe and productive
environment for the conversation. Firstly, I will "start with heart" to clarify my motives for
having this conversation. I will explain to my boss that my goal is to maintain a positive and
respectful working relationship and to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
This will help to establish a common ground and a shared purpose for the conversation. Next, I
will "state my path" to express my concerns and feelings about the incident. I will explain to my
boss that I felt hurt and humiliated when they called me an "idiot" in front of the team, and that
this behavior is not acceptable in a professional setting. I will also express my concern that such
behavior can damage the team's morale and productivity. At this point, it is important to be
mindful of the tone and language used during the conversation. I will use "make it safe" to create
a safe and respectful environment for the conversation. I will avoid attacking or blaming my
boss, and instead, focus on the behavior that I found unacceptable. I will also listen to my boss's
perspective and try to understand their point of view. This will help to maintain a constructive
dialogue and to avoid escalating the situation.

After expressing my concerns, I will "explore others' paths" to encourage my boss to share their
perspective on the incident. I will ask open-ended questions and actively listen to their responses.
This will help to create a mutual understanding of the situation and to identify any underlying
issues that may have contributed to the incident. Once we have discussed our perspectives and
concerns, I will "move to action" to propose a solution or plan of action for moving forward. I
will ask my boss to acknowledge the impact of their behavior on me and the team, and to commit
to treating me and the team with respect in the future. I will also suggest that we work together to
establish clear guidelines for professional behavior in the workplace. Throughout the
conversation, I will appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos to strengthen my message and to create a
persuasive and compelling case for my concerns. Ethos will be demonstrated by my professional
and respectful approach to the conversation. Logos will be demonstrated by the clear and concise
expression of my concerns and the proposal of a constructive solution. Pathos will be
demonstrated by the expression of my hurt and the potential negative impact of such behavior on
the team's morale and productivity.

In conclusion, handling a scenario where your boss called you an "idiot" in front of the entire
team requires a level of emotional intelligence, professionalism, and a set of tools and techniques
to guide the conversation. By using the techniques outlined in the book Crucial Conversations, I
can handle the scenario effectively while maintaining my professional integrity and preventing
such behavior from occurring in the future. The approach taken is based on creating a safe and
productive environment for the conversation, using clear and concise language, active listening,
and proposing a constructive solution. By appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos, I can make a
persuasive and compelling case for my concerns and reach a mutual understanding with my boss.

Personal Story

During my junior year of college, I experienced a setback that forced me to reevaluate my

approach to academics and personal development. It all started at the beginning of the spring
semester, when I received a couple of bad grades on my first assignments in my aerospace
controls class. This class has a notorious reputation within aerospace engineering as the hardest
class that people in our major take but I was genuinely pretty confident going into it as I have not
struggled too mightily in any aerospace class up until this point. At first, I was taken aback by
these grades. I had always been a strong student, and I prided myself on my academic
achievements. However, as I continued to receive poor grades in this class and others as most of
my time began to be focused on controls, I began to feel more and more discouraged. I found
myself questioning my abilities and wondering if I was cut out for the rigors of college life or the
difficulties of working within the aerospace industry as a whole as I have not had an internship
up until that point of my life yet.. As the semester progressed, I knew that I needed to take action
if I wanted to turn things around. I started by meeting with my professors to discuss my grades
and find out where I was going wrong. Some of my professors were extremely helpful and have
helped students in my position before while others were not as helpful and simply told me to
study harder and spend more time on their class. I asked for feedback on my assignments and
worked hard to implement their suggestions. I also began to put in more time and effort into
studying and completing assignments more on my own instead of relying on my study group for
support. Despite my efforts, things did not immediately improve. I continued to struggle in my
classes, and the pressure of the situation began to take a toll on me. I felt increasingly anxious
and stressed, and I struggled to balance my academic responsibilities with my personal life. I
found myself pulling all-nighters to complete assignments and sacrificing time with my friends
and family in the process. Often times the time spent on these assignments would take up my
enrtire weekends as well and left me completely burnt out from school and working on my
assignments.

One day, after a particularly difficult class, I found myself feeling completely overwhelmed and
defeated. As I sat in the library, surrounded by stacks of books and papers, I began to question
everything and truly felt depressed. It was the first time that I had allowed myself to truly feel the
weight of the situation, and it was a humbling and cathartic experience. In that moment, I
realized that I had been approaching the situation all wrong. I had been so focused on trying to
prove myself to others that I had lost sight of my own personal growth and development. I had
been so afraid of failure that I had forgotten the importance of perseverance and resilience. With
this newfound perspective, I began to shift my approach. I started to focus less on my grades and
to stop considering grades to be the only important aspect of school and to focus more on the
process of learning. I began to set small, achievable goals for myself and celebrate each small
success along the way. I also began to prioritize self-care and personal well-being, carving out
time for exercise, hobbies, and socializing. Slowly but surely, things began to improve. I started
to feel more confident in my abilities and more in control of my academic journey. I received
positive feedback from my professors and classmates, and I even managed to improve my
grades.

Looking back on that experience, I realize that it was a pivotal moment in my personal growth
and development. It taught me the importance of resilience, perseverance, and self-care. It also
showed me that failure is not a permanent state, but rather an opportunity for growth and
learning. Today, I am grateful for that experience and for the lessons that it taught me. It has
shaped me into the person I am today and prepared me for the challenges that lie ahead. It has
taught me that true success is not about achieving perfect grades or meeting external
expectations, but rather about embracing the process of growth and learning. And it has given me
the confidence to tackle whatever challenges may come my way in the future.

Big Five Personality Assessment

After taking the Big Five Personality Assessment, my scores were overall not too strong in any
directions except for extraversion. I scored a 65% in the openness category, a 48% in the
consciencessness category, a 77% in the extraversion category, a 48% in the agreeableness
category and a 60% in the neuroticism category. Overall I agree with these scores as there were
no surprises and nothing that seemed out of the ordinary for me. I scored high in the opennesness
category because I believe that I am both adventurous and intellectual but can sometimes lack in
the creativity department. I have a deep curiosity to learn about as much as I can about every
topic that I can get my hands on to be a well rounded individual. I constantly ask questions about
everything and I am adventurous in trying new things all of the time and trying to learn new
things in the process to be a lifelong learner. The 77% in the extraversion category is not to much
surprise for me as I have become a very outgoing person in recent years and I have found that I
am at my best when around people as opposed to being alone. I do my best to be outgoing and
adventurous with different things. This also agrees with my scores on the previous tests that I
have taken as they described me as intellectual and pragmatic as well as extroverted and
outgoing in those personality tests. The two 48% results do not sway me either way as I have no
real tendency towards either extremes and I often find myself on either side depending on the
situations that I am in. However, I am also not surprised at my higher than average neuroticism
score as I am very prone to negative emotions sometimes and things can get in my head. I often
have thoughts that get into my head and refuse to leave causing me anxiety among other
problems which make concentrating difficult. So, overall I agree with these scores and they
match my previous scores as well.

Conclusion
As an aspiring engineer with managerial aspirations, being an effective communicator is
key. Writing a difficult email is a must sometimes and I have to be prepared to do it and to use
pathos, ethos and logos in the process. Additionally, I can more effectively communicate with
teams through the effective use of story telling in order to be more convincing and build deeper
relationships. At the same time, I might not always be in command and will have a boss to
answer to and it is important to be ready to have crucial conversations with them as well. My
extraverted personality and openness allows me to work with people and remain open minded as
well.
 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