In my present position as the Eastern Region Financial Aid Counselor I have many opportunities to integrate supportive communication in order to become a more effective communicator. I do not currently have anyone under my direct authority; however I do have the ability to participate in many of the behaviors. We are a close knit team in the Financial Aid Department and try to have each other’s back. Some of the ways I could partake as a more supportive communicator would be to first identify some of the behavioral characteristics I already posses and then recognize the ones that I need to work on.
I consider myself a very great friend and coworker. I will lend a helping hand when it is needed and give my undivided attention to listen when someone needs to talk. I feel I am pretty good at determining when I should be coaching a coworker or when I should be providing advice. When I am upset I am also good at speaking my true feelings without acting them out. I have good control over my emotions and remain calm even in stressful situations. For example I was on the phone with a student who was becoming very irate with me because he did not understand why he was not approved for a portion of a Grant due to his documentation he had provided. He began to cuss and talk down to me in a very belittling tone. Instead of losing my cool I asked for another coworker to come and assist me with the call, and we handle it in a professional manner. Although the student blamed me for his loss of financial aid the situation was resolved.
When dealing with coworkers or students I feel as though I am also able to give recognition where it is due. I believe in positive reinforcement and I practice this whenever I have the opportunity. If someone has the ability to improve a process or comes to a better conclusion I give credit where credit is due. Even if I am just admiring a person’s ability to be witty I will call them out and let them know how I feel. This will be a necessity when I am a leader one day because it not only strengthens the trust between coworkers, but it also strengthens the morale. Another quality I posses would be the ability to own my mistakes, statements and encourage others to do the same. In order to be a great leader one must be able to take responsibility for their actions. Blaming others will not solve the situation, but instead make it worse. People will not respect and believe in someone who is always making excuses.
Some of the things I need to improve or start to incorporate is to be able to use descriptive statements rather than global. Learning to focus on things that can be changed rather then things that cannot. Since I am not currently able to manage anyone I do not have the authority to correct someone’s behavior. When I have a situation I am not happy with I have to go to my Director in order to have the issue resolved. I need to learn to use problem-oriented statements. A problem-oriented statement is a statement that refers to a chain of events. I will also need to learn how to be better at describing my reactions and suggesting alternatives. I am pretty good at analyzing things and thinking through my options so I feel this behavioral improvement should be simple.
Finally I will need to be better at ensuring equal speaking opportunities. I am not always great at this because I tend to talk a lot and sometimes I will talk over people. Learning to listen more and talk less will be my first way to discipline myself in order to integrate this behavior. I will also need to learn how to take more initiative in taking on projects in order to better prepare myself for situations such as implementing a personal management program. I lack confidence but I feel as I continue to work on discovering my core self I will improve my confidence.
In conclusion after reading over some of the behavior guidelines in how to develop good supportive communication I feel that I posses many characteristics but still have a lot to learn. With practice these are things that I can improve on now before I take on a management position.
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