Communication Improvement Plan

Communication Improvement Plan

Communication Improvement Plans (CIP): Progress Report Paper

Skill: Nonverbal Communication

Progress description

I have improved my verbal communication skills, especially when talking to my other half. I communicate my non-verbal messages appropriately without sending mixed messages. I have also understood how maintaining meaningful eye contact when having helped to portray the intended message effectively. When it comes to other verbal forms of communication, such as the tone of my voice, I can now balance between the tone and the most appropriate facial expression. The same helps to portray the right message that is conveyed. The use of gestures and body signs also helps to improve communication skills. It also helps to make the conversation more lively and engaging.

Goal Evaluation

So far, I have achieved some of my desired or initial goals and objective regarding my verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. I have learned how to balance by verbal and nonverbal communication to ensure that I pass a straight forward and easily understandable message that is not misleading. The same has improved by relationship due to less misunderstanding arising between us due to the inappropriate use of nonverbal forms of communication. When talking to her, I comfortably recall my nonverbal behavior to ensure that the words I speak correlate with the actions that I’m doing during the discussion. Although I have not achieved all my desired goals and objectives on verbal and nonverbal communication, I have achieved the main goals that have improved my communication.

Further improvement

I still need to improve certain areas of my verbal and nonverbal communication, especially with my wife. One of the important aspects is my sitting position when talking to her. I need to learn to sit in an angled position alongside her rather than just sitting directly opposite them. The same will help the conversation to feel more non-confrontational and friendly by creating a friendly environment (Stavros, Torres & Cooperrider, 2018). I learned that sitting directly opposite her makes the conversation feel like an interview, yet nobody wants to feel as if they are being engaged in an interview. I also need to avoid tension and feeling nervous when having personal conversations with my wife (Sun & Slepian, 2020). I should always ensure that I’m sitting even if she is standing to maintain the same level and help make the conversation feel less threatening.

Skill: Listening

Progress description

I have improved my listening skills by learning to be an active listener during a conversation. I can now get more involved in a conversation by avoiding all destructions that may interfere with my listening skills. I now focus on what is actually being said rather than how to respond. That is to say; I have a very active listener rather than a passive one. My conscious engagement in a discussion as improved since I no longer interfere with the causes of conflict between the person I’m having a conversation with. Since I can pay full attention in a conversation, I can now evaluate critically the message being portrayed and respond appropriately to the message conveyed. Therefore, the main goals for improving my listening skills have improved even there are still some areas I need to improve.

Goal evaluation

I have improved my capacity to be an active and involved listener when talking to my wife, Justina.  Similarly, I have also improved my listening skills when talking to my friends. They can now all recognize that I am more attentive and committed to what someone is saying to me. I can now listen to a person attentively without interrupting them or interfering when they are passing a message. I have become less of a passive listener and more of an active listener. I can grasp every message conveyed by my friends or my wife since I can concentrate and focus on what they are really saying rather than focusing on what to respond to. I no longer focus on cutting out what I have caught my eye or attention when a person is passing a certain message.

Further improvement

Despite learning how to be more attentive, I still need to learn how to be relaxed while being actively attentive at the same time (Jain, Farzan & Lee, 2019). I need to learn how not be fixed on the person while they are talking but to be normal and sometimes try to look away. I should also improve on maintaining an open mind by not judging or criticizing whatever someone says to me. Lastly, I should learn how to ask open questions and the right time to do so.

Conversation summary

The conversations I have had with my friends as a form of improving my listening, verbal, and nonverbal communication skills have equipped me with the necessary skills I needed. For instance, my friend has held me accountable for improving all the relevant aspects of my conversation, such as listening and communicating. At first, I had listening problems where I was not able to obtain any meaningful information from a conversation. My verbal and nonverbal communication was also poor since I found myself in conflict with my wife when trying to have a conversation with her. My friend has taught me how to improve my communication skills by sharing various ideas such as being an active listener, not interrupting someone during a conversation, and maintain the right posture and meaningful eye contact.

References

Sun, K. Q., & Slepian, M. L. (2020). The conversations we seek to avoid. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 160, 87-105.

Stavros, J. M., Torres, C., & Cooperrider, D. L. (2018). Conversations worth having: Using appreciative inquiry to fuel productive and meaningful engagement. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Jain, P., Farzan, R., & Lee, A. J. (2019, June). Adaptive Modelling of Attentiveness to Messaging: A Hybrid Approach. In Proceedings of the 27th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (pp. 261-270).