Hi, today I am going to blog about my strengths and weakness when communicating with others. I have recognized one of my greatest strengths in communication is my large Open Area, based on the Johari Window. I am approachable, friendly and this allows me to bond with my group mates easily. My group mates, in turn, decided to have an open and honest communication where everyone is aware that the comments and feedback are subjective.
As time passes, I find that we are more productive, cooperative and efficient. While I might be blind to my own strengths and weaknesses. But as a group, we managed to utilize the strengths of each individual to support those weaknesses. Done well, the process of giving and taking, sharing, and open communication builds trust within the group.
Challenges I faced when communicating with others is when I get intimidated by the physical size of people bigger than me. For the physical factors, I find it hard not to be intimidated by the size of the person I am currently talking to due to my childhood trauma of being pick on by my larger sized classmates. Since then, whenever I happened to meet a person that is bigger sized than me I will always be on my guard by making myself unapproachable through not making eye contact when talking and reducing the size of my Open Area by being difficult to talk to and closed off. This way I may be seen as uncommunicative and untrustworthy and hopefully, they will not continue talking to me.
I have also received feedback about that I lacked self-awareness. The example given was due to my slow eating speed, most of my mates have already finished their food and were waiting for me. But I was oblivious to it as I was using my phone. Another good example that was given to me was that I always make bad jokes even during a serious situation. Therefore, for the two objectives that I need to set for myself will be to improve my self-awareness and kick the bad habit of closing myself off to people bigger than me.
