This paper explores communication strategies by looking at personal experiences of unsuccessful interaction. The aim of the study is to define the Personal Leadership Profile as well as its impact on the communication cycle. Additionally, it is necessary to analyze the situations and determine their correct application for the future. The paper includes examining Personality and Leadership Profiles to identify characteristic communication strategies and examining their application through situations from personal experience.
Personal Leadership Profile
Completing personality testing and preferred leadership style allows one to understand the behavior and apply this information to improve communication. According to the results of the Personality Profile Inventory, my personality type is ENFP, which stands for Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving (ENFP, n.d). This type combines characteristics that are aimed both at completing the task and at communicating effectively with people. In particular, ENFP people strive to realize global ideas through articulating them to others and inspiring them to act. However, this type is also characterized by a strong influence of emotions, as well as a rather weak ability to concentrate.
These findings are consistent with the results of the Leadership Style questionnaire. According to this test, I have 6.6 points on the People scale and 6 points on the Tasks scale (The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid, n.d). These points correspond to the type of Team Leader, which has a predisposition to both communication and organization of work. This leadership style is characterized by a focus on revealing the best qualities of team members and strengthening the bonds between them (The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid, n.d). In this case, the inconsistency lies in the inability of the ENFP to focus on one task for a long time, which would not allow such a leader to work hard on team development. Claes, Storms, and Brabanders (2020), in the study of Belgian and US physicians, note that they prefer thinking to feeling as well as judging to perceiving. However, these characteristics are not essential for the ENFP type, which relies more on empathy.
However, within the framework of leadership, this person can be most effective. The researchers note that “an effective leader is a product of the ‘heart’ and includes such descriptors as being passionate, inspiring, courageous, and imaginative” (Bertsch et al., 2020, p. 33). Simic and Ristic (2017) also emphasize that extraversion is more associated with transformational leadership, which is also typical for people who “are more conscientious and open to new experience” (p. 199). In this case, ENFP acts as leaders more than managers, which can hinder their productivity in the direct execution of tasks.
The communication cycle consists of several stages, at each of which you can choose different strategies. Van Ruler (2018) underlines that communication is a two-way process “with an emphasis on the internal and external arenas of meaning presentation, negotiation, construction, and reconstruction” (p. 379). At each stage of the communication cycle, such a leader chooses effective strategies. On the step of developing the message, ENFP and team leaders inherently prefer articulate, inspiring ideas (The essential steps of the communication process, 2021). At the encoding stage, the dominant preference is the choice of the most appropriate speech form of information, which is achieved through the empathy of such leaders. When choosing a channel, these leaders prefer to assess the needs of their audience and analyze the context. Through charisma and extraversion, the transmission of the message occurs through inspiring communication. The most important step for such a leader is feedback, within which he or she can determine the attitude of the followers to the message and adjust the strategy. Potentially, communication conflict can arise from the leader’s inattention to the needs of his followers. Such leaders often set too ambitious goals and can unrealistically evaluate the situation.
Reflective Practice
Negotiation
The situation happened a few months ago when I needed to fix a broken printer. The negotiation occurred between the repairman and me in their office. Thus, the setting was formal, and observers participated in the discussion. The subject of negotiation was the price of the repairman’s services since after the completion of the repair; I was a bill with a much higher sum than I expected. The exchange went well in the beginning when I was able to articulate my displeasure clearly. Based on the study of styles, I can assume that my interlocutor was an impoverished leader since he could not explain to me where the price came from and how we can solve the misunderstanding.
I could choose a strategy for accurately articulating my discontent so that the interlocutor can understand me and the reasons for our negotiation. The potential impact of the styles was that I asked questions that I did not receive an answer to since the repairman did not have the information and shifted the blame onto others. Communication went wrong at the response step because instead of arguing my point of view, I succumbed to emotions. I could use the characteristics of more analytical thinking styles and personalities to utilize another tact. In terms of practical application, this situation will allow me in the future to pay more attention to argumentation than emotional speech. Thus, the recipient will be able to understand the reasons for the misunderstanding and analyze ways to resolve it. I will be able to understand that my message is received correctly if the interlocutor expresses a desire to discuss alternatives. I will be able to use my self-awareness to provide complete information about the reasons for the negotiation that has arisen and expect more productive communication.
Conflict
A conflict situation that allows me to understand my profile better happened a few weeks ago between me and my boss. This was happening in the office, and he asked me to stay literally half an hour late to help him finish the task. However, I refused, which annoyed him, and we started an argument. Communication from the beginning went in the wrong direction since both participants overly emotionally perceived the subject of the conflict. My boss is most likely an authoritarian leader who responds with aggression to disagreement from other people (Sibley et al., 2019). In this case, I could also use a strategy in which I would explain why I cannot fulfill the requirement in this situation.
The potential negative effect of our styles was also the unwillingness to explain the reasons to the opponent due to aggression or emotionality. Communication went wrong already at the stage of sending the message, as my boss chose an instruction instead of a request, which was ineffective. Additionally, at the stage of information processing, I did not try to understand the reasons for his demand and quickly reacted negatively to it. Thus, as in the negotiation situation, I should not have succumbed to emotions and rely more on argumentation. Also, I should have shown more empathy and figured out the reasons for the request. A practical application of the described conflict may lie in the fact that in the future, I will ask more questions in order to understand the situation and take appropriate action. I will understand that the message was received correctly if the person responds positively to it. I can use my self-awareness to form more informative and reasoned communication and expect better results.
Leading a Team
The situation happened a few months ago in the context of interaction with classmates. It was necessary to make a joint presentation for one of the courses, and I was unable to organize an effective work. In this situation, I presented the idea but did not provide the team with a description of how it would be implemented. In this case, they acted as my followers, and I failed to inspire and guide them. The potential impact of our styles on the situation was the unrealism of the task I had set and the unwillingness to participate in its achievement. The communication cycle went wrong at the stages of sending, receiving, and processing information. In this case, as a leader, I chose an insufficiently accurate form of articulation, which did not allow followers to interpret it. Thus, I had to think over the plan and, through participation in the project, make sure that my message was received correctly. In the future, this situation will allow me to evaluate the structure of my messages and respond to the needs of the recipients.
Summary
The paper analyzed Personal Leadership Profile by considering communicative situations from personal experience. The major points of self-discovery are the need to control emotions in favor of argumentation, as well as articulating messages in accordance with the needs of the recipients. My Personal Leadership Profile will allow me to shape my leadership role with the awareness of the need to focus not only on my perception but also on the opinion of my followers.
References
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Claes, N., Storms, H., & Brabanders, V. (2018). Personality of Belgian physicians in a clinical leadership program.BMC Health Services Research, 18(834), 1-9.
ENFP. (n.d). Human Metrics.
Sibley, C. G., Bergh, R., Satherley, N., Osborne, D., Milojev, P., Greaves, L. M., Huang, Y., Townrow, C. S., Faapoi, A., Yogeeswaran, K., Hawi, D., & Duckitt, J. (2019). TPM-Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 26(3), 401–417. Web.
Simic, J., & Ristic, M. R. (2017). The relationship between personality traits and managers’ leadership styles. European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research, 11(2), 195-200.
The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid: Leadership self assessment questionnaire. (n.d). Boston University Medical Campus.
The essential steps of the communication process. (n.d). Point Park University.
Van Ruler, B. (2018). Communication theory: An underrated pillar on which strategic communication rests. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 12(4), 267-381.