Running head: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION Interpersonal Communication Student Name Cuyamaca College 1 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 2 Interpersonal Communication Our world today is full of diversity and inclusion from different cultures. Understanding interpersonal communication will enhance and strengthen our communication with people. Interpersonal communication is a significant factor in creating relationships, especially in the workplace. There are many different cultures in the world, and there are many various forms of communication as well. It is necessary to understand the importance of interpersonal communication to avoid offending the message of others. The purpose of this paper is to analyze interpersonal communication in two parts: the first part reflects on eye contact, listening skills, and emotional intelligence, and the second part is how to improve these forms of communication to communicate effectively and successfully with others. Part 1: Reflective Analysis Eye contact is significant to communicate with others, and it is a part of body language. When we pay attention to the person who is speaking, this means that we focused and interacting with his speech. In Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication, the author (Adler, 2011) explains how eye contact refers to trust, attention, credibility, and signals attraction. For example, I remember when I applied for a job; I did not use my eye contact when I did the interview. During the interview, I looked at the papers in my hand when the manager spoke with me. After that, I received an email from the manager and refusing me from the job. I was sad, but I knew it is my mistake. I did the wrong thing when I did not use my body language to speak with the manager. Eye contact is one of the main factors used to communicate with others effectively. On the other hand, another factor of interpersonal communication is listening skills. Listening skills are essential between two people or teams because listening quietly to the other person leads to strengthening the relationship with him or her. Listening is defined as the active INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 3 process of understanding the other person's message (Adler, R. B., & Proctor II, 2011). If we do not focus on people who speak, we will misunderstand them. For instance, I remember when my friend came to talk with me about some problems she was having with her husband. When she was talking with me, I would interrupt her, and I spoke more than she did. She felt sad because I did not listen well to her when she tried to tell me about her husband. I felt frustrated because I was not a good listener, so this is one of my weaknesses. Listening skills are considered highly significant when speaking to other people and I desire to improve mine so I can avoid hurting the people I care about in the future. In addition to listening skills, there is another part of interpersonal communication that is equally important, which is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the main factor in communicating better with people in order to establish good relationships with them. When we use emotional intelligence, we can positively understand the feelings of others to reduce conflict and overcome the challenges and problems that occur. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and respond the emotions of others, while at the same time understanding and managing our own emotions (Adler, R. B., & Proctor II, 2011). Thus, it helps us understand our feelings and the feelings of others and to work toward achieving a common goal. For example, I hurt my sister’s feelings when she asked me if I could help her with her Math assignments and I brushed her off and disregarded her request. I was so sad because I did not respect her. I was inconsiderate and selfish in my response and I should have used my emotional intelligence before acting negatively with her. Therefore, another goal of mine is to have better emotional intelligence when I communicate with other people to demonstrate that I respect them. The three stages of interpersonal communication: eye contact, listening skills, emotional intelligence will make me feel better and enhance my relationships with others. If I follow and INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 4 implement each aspect of interpersonal communication, I will have a better understanding of how to deal with people from a different culture. Dealing with people from different cultures will help me to discover what happens around the world. I consider these three aspects very important when I communicate with others. So, learning how I can improve these aspects of interpersonal communication will support me inside and outside the workplace. Part 2: Plan for Improvement Throughout this course, I learned a lot about interpersonal communication, and the three aspects of interpersonal communication that I want to improve are eye contact, listening, and emotional intelligence. I plan to improve my eye contact by paying attention to other people when they speak. I will use my eye contact before I start talking to someone else. Before I start communicating with others, I won’t let anything in my hand attract me to look. That means putting my phone down and avoiding my tablet during conversation. By avoiding looking at meaningless things, I will be able to make eye contact more effectively with the person speaking. According to Schulz (2012), "Looking down can give the appearance that you lack confidence" (par. 6). So, looking down is likely what made me lose the job that I applied to because of my lack of eye contact with the manager. The manager may of thought that I could not do work effectively due to a lack of confidence. Therefore, when I establish eye contact with the speaker, it will make me feel and appear more confident. Second, I plan to be a better listener by paying more attention, focusing on the speaker, not interrupting the speaker, setting aside distractions, and giving the speaker a chance to speak and wait until they finish speaking. By avoiding the things that keep me busy and not listening to the speaker while making the speaker feel sad since they are not being heard, I will be able to INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 5 improve my listening skills. I have learned that poor listening will lead to misunderstanding while active listening will lead to better outcomes. Lastly, I plan to improve my emotional intelligence to avoid hurting people’s feelings and to learn how to communicate with others effectively. By providing love, encouragement, and support, I will be able to communicate and show my emotional intelligence. I have learned that connecting with emotional intelligence is very important to prevent hurting other people's feelings and understand what they need. Overall, understanding these aspects of interpersonal communication, such as eye contact, listening skills, and emotional intelligence will help me to improve my communication and effectively mix with society. These three aspects of interpersonal communication helped me to understand how to improve using my interactions with others and reach more satisfying results in the process. After I master these three aspects, I will undoubtedly improve my communication. This class helped and supported me to reshape the way I communicate with people and improve my interpersonal communication inside and outside of the workplace. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 6 References Adler, R. B., & Proctor II, R. F. (2011). Looking Out, Looking In (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN: 9780495796213 Schulz, J. (2012, December 31). Eye contact: Don’t make these mistakes. Michigan State University. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/eye_contact_dont_make_these_mistakes
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