Hello Everyone!

The two communication skills that are important to embody when leading policy change are to be clear and concise.  I chose these two communication skills because I believe that they go hand in hand when delivering my message of policy change.  When communicating, I believe that being clear and concise allows me the ability to capture my audience in with a succinct message that will provide my audience the ability to join me in the movement to invoke change.  I want to attract not only education professionals, but also facilities and organizations that can sponsor professional development and resources to those that will be working with the children we are targeting support for.  I also have a goal to keep my audience engaged.   I believe being clear and concise is the key to this goal.

The results of the Communication Anxiety Assessment revealed that I am comfortable communicating in most situations and feel confident speaking to large and small groups.  I found these results to be accurate in describing my strengths in communication.  My strengths in communication are my inquisitiveness, my ability to relate to the speaker, and my confidence to speak clear and concise in large and small groups.

My areas of weakness in communication are not being an active listener, a tendency to over talk the speaker in small groups, and cutting people off in conversation.  I have come to understand that I over talk speakers because my mind is always going.  When the speaker is speaking, I am thinking of questions and ways that I can add to the conversations.  I realize that this can intimidate and frustrate the speaker.

I gleaned critical points from the Effective Communication article as well as the Communication Anxiety assessment. Both of these resources also allowed me examine my communication skills more closely.