University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Emmanuel Forakis

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

September 23rd, 2023

Introduction
From after-school engineering clubs in elementary school to majoring in engineering at a
magnet middle school, to majoring in construction management for all 4-years of high school
I’ve always been involved in STEM. Throughout my life, I’ve been taught a broad variety of
topics in these fields from safety, to materiality, to entire building processes from planning to
completion. Without a doubt the one thing that's been the most overlooked is communication.
communication also happens to be one of the most critical aspects of most if not all jobs.
Communication can enhance efficiency, collaboration, and relationships, and mitigate risk. With
poor communication, jobs lack synergy and tend to have more faults. This essay will highlight
my changes in thinking since enrolling in Communication for Project Managers and how it will
help me progress my future as a licensed architect working not only with project managers but
also with engineers and construction teams.

Class Concepts
An in-class topic that caught my attention the most is the importance of nonverbal
communication.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said. Thus, nonverbal
communication serves as the single most powerful form of Communication. The best
communicators are sensitive to the power of emotions and thoughts communicated nonverbally”
- Peter F. Drucker

This quote stood out to me because as someone with a resting face, people always tend to think
I’m angry. I’m constantly asked if I’m okay, or what's wrong, or why I’m mad, sometimes even
when I’m happy. It is nothing I say or how I act, it's simply the expression my face rests with, so
hearing this quote reminds me of how I carry myself, what tone I use, and how I gesture has a
huge impact on how I’m perceived. In week three, we discussed how only 7% of the impression
you give off comes from what you say and it only takes 7 seconds for someone to form an
impression of you. I’d like to say these statistics come as a surprise to me but they really don't.
There have been dozens of times in my life where I walk into a room or see someone doing
something and immediately form an impression of “I like this person” or “I don't think I’ll like
this person” simply based on how they look or the way they speak, I don't intentionally do it but
it's a subconscious behavior that everyone has. With this knowledge, I plan to carry myself better
in professional situations. I’ll apply this in all aspects, I’ll walk into interviews, meetings, etc.
with a more positive face, and I’ll ensure my resting face doesn’t make me appear to be
uninterested as a listener or intimidating as a speaker. When speaking to others I’ll practice my
thoughts and speak with confidence. Speaking confidently and clearly will provide the listener(s)
with the impression that I know what I’m talking about and a competent person to work with. I’ll
maintain eye contact while listening and speaking and keep a confident stern posture. I plan to be
self-aware about my nonverbal cues in order to become a more effective communicator.
Another topic that stood out to me is building a growth mindset from week one. I
wouldn’t say I have a negative outlook on life itself, but I do feel as though I have a negative
outlook in regard to things that happen to me. Having such a negative outlook when facing
adversity makes you very narrow-minded. Being narrow-minded makes you resistant to feedback
and growth ultimately holding you back. With such a fixed mindset you avoid challenges and
and feel unmotivated because your efforts are for nothing if everything doesn't go your way.
Developing a growth mindset allows me to be more open to feedback. Seeing this feedback as an
opportunity to learn and grow rather than as negative criticism strengthens me and makes me
more adaptable to future challenges. Developing a growth mindset will also make me more
resilient in facing challenges and reduce my fear of failure allowing me to take more risks and
attempt to expand my opportunities. Seeking out these opportunities allows me to learn and self-
improve in many aspects including communication and collaboration. Being more inclined to
approach conflict will also help develop my problem-solving skills which are crucial to
successful careers and relationships. Having a growth mindset will allow me to understand that
hard work can outdo any amount of fixed talent that doesn't put in time to improve. I’ll have the
opportunity to walk into any workplace or classroom and face challenges head-on. No matter the
outcome I’ll have the ability to see the positives, how well I did, what I could do better, and how
I will improve for the next attempt or challenge I decide to take on in hopes to improve myself.
The last thing that stood out to me was the concept of Audience Analysis. It's always very
important to know who you're speaking to and what they want to hear. One very basic personal
example would be me having a 7-year-old brother. I spend the week at college participating in
lectures and then go home to a child asking me questions. The way I respond to him needs to be
tailored to his age and his understanding. My response to him cannot be at the same complexity
that my response to a professor or classmate must be. I need to acknowledge his level of
understanding and what he needs out of the response, it ends up being significantly more simple.
This is a concept I need to apply to all aspects of my professional career. I’ll be graduating
within the next year. This means that I will be on the hunt for jobs very soon. A big part of this
process is interviews. Within the next few months, I will use audience analysis to effectively
communicate my skills and abilities to cater to certain companies' wants and needs. Prior to the
interviews, I will conduct research on the company, what they do, what their goals are etc. so I
can appeal to the company. I will then view my interviewers' LinkedIns and to get a better
understanding of who they are as a person so I can be more relatable. Customizing what I say
based off of who I’m speaking with will make me a more attractive candidate in most situations
and is a beneficial skill to have in the professional field.

Networking
Christopher Neal, Mitta Hage, Michael Applegate, Ilanit Sedek, Ioannis Kokotsakis,
Marcos Barrera, Alden Fitts, Anna Torres, Brooke Heiston, Ayushi Patel, and Jacob Frazee have
all connected with me on LinkedIn. Along with LinkedIn, I’ve also reached out to many people I
worked with this summer for my Project Management Internship. I spoke with my employer and
discussed a possible return to the company and I also reached out to other subcontractors such as
CLARK and WMATA my internship worked with as I made good friends with multiple
employees there. I asked for referrals to their companies and for their LinkedIn accounts as well
for all future communication. In order to grow my network I’ve also recently made and Indeed
and Glassdoor account so I can get my name out there to employers in hopes of spreading my
name. The School of Architecture has also hosted multiple guest speakers since the start of the
semester that I’ve stayed after and spoken with, not only to learn more about the topic at hand
but to also introduce myself and ask about future opportunities. In the future, I plan to attend any
career fairs hosted by the school in order to meet many possible future employers. I’ve also
reached out to previous alumni of the architecture school to discuss their positions, how they got
there, and what advice they have.
 DISC Personality Assessment
I agree with the results I received after completing the DISC assessment because I feel
like it accurately describes my personality. The test results showed that my most prevalent trait
out of dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance is dominance. I believe this is true
because I often take a proactive approach when facing problems or even when I am participating
in a group project. My second highest personality trait of the four was said to be steadiness. I
also believe this is true because I think of myself as a very patient person who can effectively
communicate with essentially everyone, even if they are somewhat difficult to work with.
Additionally, since I tend to gravitate towards being the leader of group projects, I also ensure
not only that everyone voices their opinions, but they also agree with and understand the
decisions that are being made. My third highest personality trait was compliance. I also agree
with this because I always try my best to keep my tasks and projects organized, which makes it
easier to progress through the work I need to do and prevents me from having to worry if I am
missing any tasks or requirements. Additionally, this helps in group projects because everyone
can understand my work and my decision-making process fairly easily, which makes the process
more efficient as it prevents unnecessary questions. Finally, my weakest personality trait was
influence. I agree with this as well because I sometimes find myself struggling to persuade other
team members in projects if there is a disagreement. Although I bring supporting facts and
evidence, I sometimes struggle to communicate it effectively, which makes the resolution
process longer and inefficient.
One surprising insight from these results was how low my ranking for influence scored. I
knew that I sometimes had issues with communicating my ideas and beliefs, as previously
mentioned, but seeing a number associated with this trait truly opened my eyes and showed me
that I need to work on improving my communication and persuasion skills. This will allow me to
help get my ideas across more efficiently and effectively in the future, which will help me be a
better teammate and leader. Being more self-aware of my personality type can help me become a
more effective communicator and project manager because it shows me which areas are my
strengths and which areas I can improve in. As previously mentioned, this test has shown me that
I have to improve my communication and persuasion skills. On the other hand, it shows what my
strengths are as well, one of which is that I tend to take a proactive approach which is often
necessary to ensure that I meet deadlines. The assessment also gave a personalized description
of the results, which included, “People are likely to perceive you as being rational and creative
at the same time.” This helps me understand how my teammates in projects view me and
allows me to better understand the role that I am playing within the team.

Conflict Management Assessment

After completing the conflict management assessment, I was determined to mostly
resolve conflict through accommodation. There are both positives and negatives that stem from
this conflict management style. This means that I value my relationship with others over my own
goals. This is partly negative because I’m willing to push my goals, and my desires to the side in
order to please other people. This is something that holds me back. Because I care too much
about maintaining our relationship I cannot progress towards what I want to achieve. There are
also many positives that stem from it though. One thing I've always been told is that “it doesn’t
matter what you know, it matters who you know” and I’ve felt this has always been a very true
statement. I’ve been to concerts before where people have been able to completely skip lines that
are hours long because they know people who worked there. It's a simple example but it fits the
quote so well, these people didn’t know any special techniques or have any ideas on how to
sneak past the line, the only thing they knew more than me was one, individual person who had
the power to get them this advantage. I believe that networking is something that can take you all
the way in life. Knowing powerful people can get you anywhere therefore having an
accommodating conflict management style can be very useful. People see you’re willing to put
aside your priorities in order to help better them. This develops strong relationships with people
to expand your network of options willing to help you in the future.
A simple example is that a few weeks ago my friends and I agreed to go out for one of
their birthdays. We were very excited and were all looking forward to it. The day before it was
supposed to happen my girlfriend's parents asked me to come over for dinner at the time I
planned to go out with friends. Her mother wanted to make me a traditional Chinese dish. My
girlfriend begged me to come while my friends simultaneously begged me to come. My
girlfriend stated she’d be upset had I not shown up for her family but she understood I made the
plans ahead of time while my friends understood it was important to my girlfriend and my
relationship with her parents. Although it was my goal to go out that night with my friends, I
conceded. Rather than going out with friends, I decided it was more important to me and my
girlfriend for me to go over to this family dinner. Although I gave in and didn't achieve my goal,
I didn't argue or harm any relationships. Although it isn't professional, this example showed how
accommodating I was. I worked around the issue, rescheduled with friends, and in the end, we
all ended up happy with healthy relationships.
I believe pursuing a growth mindset will help me manage conflict better. Being able to
step back and analyze a situation to establish what benefits me, how I can help benefit the other
party, and what we can do to avoid harm will be very useful in maintaining relationships.
Without a growth mindset, one might give in. Being fixed can result in either extreme of the
spectrum. One can either start full-fledged fights or they can completely give in and hurt
themselves being at the will of the other party.

Yung Personality Assessment

After taking the JUNG personality test I received the personality type of ISTJ, which is
Introvert-Sensor-Thinker-Judger. After reading just the result, I immediately disagreed with it.
However, after thoroughly reading through the descriptions and feedback provided, I found
myself agreeing with the result because I believe it was a fairly accurate representation of my
Personality.
At first, I disagreed with the label of “introvert” because I tend to be an outgoing person,
however, I realized this is not what was meant by the description. The term introvert is used in
this case to describe a person who essentially tends to be more reflective and values their time
alone and not someone who dislikes being in public places or the company of others. I found
this to be accurate because although I do enjoy spending time with others and being outgoing, I
strongly value the times when I am alone. After all, it allows me to reflect upon myself so I can
track how my daily tasks have been going and also review my performance in completing those
tasks to assess how I can improve myself going into the future.
When I first read the label “sensor”, I was a little confused by what it meant. However, I
quickly realized it was an accurate description of me as it describes a person who generally
prefers to have concrete evidence and facts, and also handles practical matters well. I found
this to also be an accurate description because I always justify my beliefs and opinions by
looking at the associated data about the topic. This is because concrete data is almost always
consistent while other methods of justification, such as using authority or emotions, aren’t
always reliable or accurate.
For the third component of the personality result, I received “thinker” which I
immediately agreed with. This is because I strongly believe in the principle of thinking with
logic and facts, as previously mentioned, as opposed to thinking with emotion. This is because it
is relatively easier to manipulate someone’s emotions to change their beliefs or make them think
a certain way. However, the same can’t be said about looking at data because it is fairly hard to
skew concrete evidence. There is also a level of uncertainty associated with testimonials as they
may not be completely accurate or truthful, but the same cannot be said about numbers.
Finally, for the fourth component of the personality result, I received “judger.” Similar to the
label of “introvert,” I initially disagreed with this label because I thought it meant that I have a
judgmental personality and scrutinize others for the beliefs that they have. However, once
again, I changed my mind and quickly agreed with this after reading the description which
stated that it is used to describe someone who is organized and prefers a lifestyle that is in
order. I believe this is true as well because I like to keep my belongings and home neat and
clean, which allows me to give my focus on what I am working on and not on all the clutter
around me. I also tend to keep a daily schedule and write down all the tasks I need to complete
when I am assigned them because it allows me to put my energy and effort into the tasks
themselves instead of having to worry about logistics and if I am forgetting about a certain
deadline that I may have overlooked.
Overall, I also agreed with the descriptions that are associated with this personality type.
For the contributions to an organization, the description stated that I am often one who works
hard, is thorough, and pays attention to procedure. I found this to be accurate because, during
my previous internship experience, I always ensured that I was completing the tasks I was
assigned accurately and following the instructions and directions I was given. Additionally, I
also
agreed with the description that was provided for me for the team section, which stated I work
best on a team with established rules, efficient meetings, and focus on facts. This is accurate
because I personally believe in establishing logistics and expectations within a team. After all, it
helps create a flow for meetings and everyone understands what their role and tasks are,
allowing everyone to focus on their work.
I did not necessarily find any surprising insights from the results of this personality
assessment, but this report was useful for me in terms of describing how I want the teams I am a
part of to function. I have been a part of many teams through my courses for projects,
assignments, etc., but I was never able to truly describe the characteristics of the teams that were
the most efficient. However, after reading this report, I realized that all of the successful teams I
was a part of were similar in the way described in this report, which is that they were organized
so everyone could focus on their tasks instead of having to worry about organization and other
insignificant details.
My JUNG personality is similar to my DISC personality in the sense that I strongly
prefer statistical, concrete data. My DISC personality assessment stated, “You are a fact-
orientated person capable of providing help based on solid information.” This goes hand-in-hand
with the “sensor” component of my JUNG personality, as it states that I prefer to rely on facts. I
also believe there is a correlation between “dominance” being my most prevalent trait in the
DISC assessment and “judger” being one of my traits in the JUNG personality test. This is
because I prefer to work in a team that is planned and organized, and the best way to ensure that
there is order within a team is for me to essentially step up and take the lead to organize the
logistics and ensure that the team meets all the necessary requirements and deadlines. However,
the “dominance” component of the DISC assessment does somewhat disagrees with the
“introvert” component of the JUNG test. This is because although I do value my time working
alone and thinking through solutions myself, as an introvert would, I would prefer to work in a
team in an open discussion to receive insights and ideas from my fellow teammates to arrive at a
more thorough and well-thought-out conclusion. This is because I strongly believe that working
in teams is more effective as it encompasses a variety of belief systems and ensures that all
factors of a problem or situation are considered, which may necessarily not be the case when
working alone.

Conclusion

As a senior graduating with a major in Architecture and a minor in Project Management.

I will be on the job hunt within the next few months. Communication is a largely overlooked
aspect in most careers that I hope to use to my advantage. No matter which occupation I choose,
quality communication will play a key role in not only getting a job but maintaining and
excelling at it. I plan to come out of ENCE 424 with insight on how to become a better more
effective communicator to help me build relationships, collaborate well with others, and work
efficiently.

References

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.

Grenny, J., Patterson, K., McMillan, R., Switzler, A., & Gregory, E. (2022).
Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. McGraw Hill.

team, 123test. (n.d.). Disc personality test (2023): Take this free disc assessment
at 123test.com. (2023) | take this free DISC assessment at 123test.com.
https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/

Conflict management styles assessment - blake group. (n.d.). http://www.blake-

group.com/sites/default/files/assessments/Conflict_Management_Styles_Assessment.pdf

team, 123test. (n.d.-b). Jung personality type test (2023) - #1 free myers & briggs
16 personalities types style test. (2023) - #1 Free Myers & Briggs 16 personalities types
style test. https://www.123test.com/jung-personality-test/