I visited Optimalthinking.com and took the communication assessment. According to their assessment my communication skills are in the average range. I am making moderate use of my talents and abilities but I am functioning well below my potential. I would say I have to disagree with this skills rating as the questions don't really account for many different aspects of communicating with other people. Below I've listed the questions which I responded either "sometimes" or "rarely"
I optimize other suboptimal thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Sometimes
I respond optimally even when I am ready to explode. Rarely
I deal optimally with those who complain, criticize, blame and make excuses. Sometimes
I optimize communications with those who practice one-upmanship. Sometimes
I have issues with people being arrogant and rude, or trying to make themselves feel better by making someone else feel bad. I don't communicate well with those types of people because I don't wish to communicate with those types of individuals. I don't communicate well when I get angry. It's better for me to walk away from a situation rather than to allow myself to become so mad that I end up making a bad decision or saying something that I'll regret. I'm aware that I can't control the actions of others I can only control my actions and reactions. So when I experience issues that make me angry or I'm communicating with individuals who I find insufferable I need to find a way to either remove myself from the situation. In the course of my work I'll deal with individuals like this from time to time and when they start to get hostile or angry generally I'll tell them that I have to look into the situation further but that I or someone else will return to help them shortly. This allows me to leave a bad situation without losing my cool.
I like the "look into the situation further" routing. Think I will use that sometime. One big issue with healthcare is the egos. Doctors in particular can be very demanding and often don't even want to be told when they did something wrong. How do you argue that and tell them they are being childish. Do that one good time and its off to the job ads. It really does irritate me that people can't be more tolerant and work together better. If more people left the ego at the door more would get done at work with a lot less stress.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have to deal with people whose egos are bigger then what they are i tend to just do what is needed and be on my way. I despise working with these people but its my job to do so. I agree with Perry and think these individuals need to leave these egos at the door and understand that we need to work together to reach a common goal and reduce stress.
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