Soc 110 - How Good Are Your Communication Skills?

How Good are your Communication Skills?

SOC/110

How Good are your Communication Skills?

This was an interesting quiz to test my communication skills. I have never thought about communicating as a five step process including: Source, Encoding, Channel, Decoding, and Receiver. This approach makes communication of all levels seem like I am sending something using a computer. Broken down to a basic level, humans communicate with each other using the same steps, although the means of communication vary.

The skills test indicated that I am fairly good at planning my message. I have always been a person who likes to keep it short and sweet. I use the KISS (Keep It Simple and Straightforward) all the time. I am also good at choosing the right channel and feedback. I prefer to exchange information in person and this helps with the feedback that I receive.

The two weaknesses that this quiz pointed out was encoding and decoding. Is this a coincidence? I do not believe so. I have some difficulty, especially in large group and noisy environments due to some hearing loss. If many people are talking or there is a lot of background noise, I have difficulty making out what people are saying. This leads to misunderstandings on my part. I can ask further questions to help clarify things when I am in these types of situations.

This quiz did not deal with conflict arising from communication misunderstandings. It would have been nice if this was included in this skills section. Also more information on cultural communication differences would have been helpful.

In conclusion, I learned a lot about communicating with others. I discovered what the quiz considered to be my strengths. I tend to think about that I am going to say, make good choices in the delivery of the information, and incorporate feedback effectively. I also learned where I have problems in my communication cycle. Communication skills take dedication and work to perfect, if there is such a thing.