University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Lena Bakalian

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

June 27, 2020

Introduction
As a civil and environmental engineering major, the majority of my degree has focused
on technical concepts based in math and science. The importance of effective communication
was rarely stressed; it was only until I began to intern and snag a glimpse of life after college did
I recognize the deep value that being a strong communicator holds. As I am about to graduate
this December, my goal is to craft the most marketable and dynamic version of myself in terms
of communication and networking skills. I truly believe that spending time and energy into
strengthening my communication skills will be one of the best investments in myself that I can
make. This essay will discuss my takeaways from the readings that have supplemented the
course, notably the process of reframing the way I approach crucial conversations and learning
tangible strategies to build my network. Additionally, I will discuss the insights I have gleaned
from the preliminary weeks of this course, including the importance of refining and strategically
using my body language, the benefits to understanding personality types and ways to use them to
my advantage, and the advantage of strong networking skills. Lastly, I will discuss the DISC
personality assessment and share my results.

Concepts from Readings

Having initially glanced at the reading list at the beginning of this course, I wrongfully
assumed that Crucial Conversations would be the book of least benefit to me. I previously held
the belief that I handled many types of conversation with ease. However, upon reading this book,
I have learned that there is much for me to improve upon, especially in conversations of high
emotion or tension. A part of the book that truly resonated with me was chapter three’s concept
of “Start with Heart.” I learned how important it is to reframe my thoughts to ask how I can work
on myself before blaming others for a given situation or asking others to change their behavior
without changing my own (Grenny et al., 2012, p. 36). This is something that takes self-
awareness and commitment to stepping away from one’s ego. I can envision asking myself what
I truly want out of a conversation to guide my decision making and the way I approach the
situation instead of allowing my ego to take hold and ultimately deter me from my true goals
(Grenny et al., 2012, pp. 40-42). The section on thinking about what my true goals are and acting
accordingly was very insightful to me and is something I will be working on.
A key concept that has truly stood out to me from the readings has been the importance
of effective networking skills. In Networking for College Students and Graduates, I was shocked
to learn that 70-75 percent of job openings are simply not posted or advertised anywhere, and
instead are filled by the use of peoples’ networks (Faulkner et al., 2017, p. 12). Having the initial
understanding that networking was important, seeing these numbers drove this concept home for
me, and made me realize that not only is networking very beneficial, it is a necessary skill to
sharpen if I want to be successful in my career. The five-step process outlined in the book was a
tangible takeaway that I plan to use to further develop my networking skills. The strategy
includes meeting people, listening and learning, making connections, following up, and staying
in touch (Faulkner et al., 2017, p. 18). I plan on using this time at home to focus on expanding
my network through virtually meeting new people and actively listening to how not only they
can help me, but ways that I could help them as well. Additionally, I intend to stay in touch with
previous contacts by sending emails and re-establishing connection with them.
In-Class Insights
A significant takeaway from the in-class sessions has been the importance of body
language, and in particular, eye contact. While sometimes difficult to effectively do this on
Zoom, I believe this technique to be a good way of establishing connection with someone and
showing one’s confidence and assuredness in oneself. I learned that 55% of an audience’s
impression is based on visual cues, and only 7% is based on verbal ones. While I had previously
understood body language to be important, I was definitely surprised by the degree to which it
was. Additionally, learning that it generally takes only seven seconds for a person to form an
impression of me was a wake-up call to make sure that I am using my body language to my own
benefit. I will apply this knowledge by working on changing my resting face, which sometimes
looks unfriendly or cold. I also will make a much larger effort to make eye contact and present
myself in the highest way possible when wanting to establish a positive first impression.
Another key insight I have learned in class has been the advantage of being able to
identify the personality types of others in order to achieve a higher level of communication.
Knowing the greatest fears of each of the four DISC personality profiles is important to help
guide communication and avoid unnecessary difficulties. After this class on DISC personality
profiles, I thought about my own boss at my internship and tried to categorize her so that I can be
an even better communicator. Using the key traits of each type as a guide, I categorized her as
having mostly an influence personality due to her enthusiastic, emotional, and animated
personality. Knowing that the influence personality is people oriented, I have used this new
knowledge when sending emails by beginning the email with a softer opening inquiring about
her and including more emotion in my email than I normally would have. In addition, having an
understanding that her greatest fear is rejection and loss of approval, I know that reassuring her
will cater to her personality type and will help me communicate better with her.

Networking
This course has truly provided me with the push that I needed to fully invest in
networking opportunities. Previously, I have held the limiting belief that I am not “good enough”
of a networker or do not really need to be networking at my age and stage in life. While I knew
that these were fallacies, this course helped me truly understand the value and importance of
investing time and effort into networking. Since the beginning of this course, I have created a
spreadsheet with the names, companies, jobs, contact information, and dates of when I spoke to
people in my network. Having a physical log of my network will help me be better organized and
will also help me when I need to call upon my network in the future. I plan to continue to add to
this list as my network grows. This spreadsheet will also serve as a reminder to reach out to
people in my network in order to stay in touch and maintain connections.
I also have decided to set myself personal goals for expanding my network. I am
currently interning at the World Resources Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. that has a
listing of all of its staff and experts with biographical and individual career information. I had
told myself earlier this semester that I would use this opportunity to grow my network, but due to
the limiting beliefs that I previously mentioned, this did not happen to the extent that I wish it
had. After the start of this course, however, I have made it my goal to reach out to one new
contact per week whose background and experiences are interesting to me for a virtual coffee
chat. To date, I have met with three individuals and have been so pleasantly surprised by the ease
by which many of the conversations happen and the willingness of people to chat with me and
help me in my own career—even from an initial meeting.

DISC Personality Assessment

After taking the online DISC personality assessment, I was initially somewhat surprised
by my results which indicated that I mostly display conscientiousness (37%), then dominance
(33%), followed by influence (19%) and steadiness (10%). My personality type is therefore
compliance but is relatively equal with dominance. I fully agree that I have a conscientiousness
personality. I consider myself to be an analytical, reserved and systematic person who very much
appreciates plans and defined goals. I love order and am a very numbers-oriented person, as may
be apparent by my major of engineering.
I did not expect dominance to be as large of a percentage of my personality profile as it
was. However, when I thought about the distinct traits that comprise the dominance personality, I
can understand where I fit this description. I am strong-willed and a multitasker. I love to see
results that I have worked and planned for. I was not surprised that influence and steadiness were
the least contributing personality types to my personality profile. I would not consider myself a
highly outgoing, lively person, as is typical for the influence personality, nor would I say that I
am extremely patient or overly inclusive person, as is typical for the steadiness personality.
Knowing that I am predominantly conscientious, I know that my fears include making
mistakes and doing things incorrectly. I identify with this fear and know that it often manifests
itself in perfectionistic tendencies. Having this awareness, however, allows me to be a more
effective communicator and project manager. I often catch myself focused too much on the
details of a project or find myself spending too much time on one part of a project instead of
managing my time better on the whole of the project. I am much more conscious of this now and
have started to hold myself accountable by setting external time management tactics.
Additionally, I am constantly reminding myself to embrace the growth mindset instead of the
fixed mindset. As someone with a conscientious personality, I fear failure, which is incompatible
with a growth mindset. I truly believe that adopting a growth mindset will help me in many areas
of my life by releasing stress and anxiety and allowing me to excel in my education and career,
unrestrained by fear.

Conclusion

The initial weeks of this course have taught me more than I could have imagined about
communication, my career, and who I am as a person. I am more focused than ever to hone my
communication and networking skills in order to set myself up for a lifetime of success. From
learning tangible networking strategies and ways to improve my body language to learning about
and dissecting the different personality types, I have only just begun to embark on this task. As a
conscientious personality type, I have already begun forming goals and making plans to achieve
all that I desire to. I am very much looking forward to continuing to invest in myself through
time and effort spent reading, discussing, and networking, this summer and beyond.
 Works Cited

Faulkner, M. L., & Nierenberg, A. R. (2017). Networking for college students and graduates:

Nonstop business networking that will change your life.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for

talking when stakes are high. McGraw-Hill.