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University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Jessica Kluh
ENCE424: Communication for Project Managers
Professor Shana Webster-Trotman
February 24, 2024
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Introduction
During the first few weeks of Communications for Project Managers, I have had the
opportunity to learn many concepts and techniques to help in my communication and networking
in both professional and casual settings. Along with that, I have been able to learn more about
myself through the personality assessments I completed as part of this assignment. Specifically, I
will discuss techniques I have learned from the readings and class discussions, connections made
from LinkedIn and networking, and insights from the DISC Personality Assessment, the Conflict
Management Styles Assessment, and the Jung Personality Assessment.
Reading and Class Content
One concept that has stuck with me from class and the book Crucial Conversations is that
good communicators should not succumb to “fool’s choice.” As described in the book, “fool’s
choice” is the choice people think they have to make between being honest and saving their
relationships (Patterson et al., 2012). In the text, they describe this with the example of Kevin
standing up to his boss about his opinion on moving offices. In order to communicate this
difficult topic, Kevin had to increase the pool of shared meaning to explain more facts of the
situation to his boss. Increasing this pool of shared meaning makes everyone involved more
well-informed to address the issue at hand. Personally, whether it involves speaking my mind to
my boss, professors, roommates, or family, I often tend to hold my thoughts in and avoid having
the crucial conversations most important to me. So, I decided to bring something up to my
roommate that had been bothering me for a while. Her boyfriend had been living at our
apartment for over a week, so I mustered my dialogue skills to share my feelings with her.
Before, I had been caught in the “fool’s choice” issue because I did not think I could honestly tell
her my opinion and maintain our relationship. Still, this book pushed me to have that
conversation, and it went really well because I remembered that the key to communication is
empathy. In order to get a mutual understanding between us, I explained it and let her ask
questions, and we compromised on her boyfriend coming over less often. A lot of the
information shared in Crucial Conversations can be applied to all areas in life, not just
professional ones, which I have found very helpful in situations like these.
Another concept I have learned is how important nonverbal communication is when
interacting with others. Growing up, my parents have always taught me about nonverbal
communication, telling me to stand up straight, make eye contact, and firmly shake people’s
hands to make myself come across well. So, I have always thought of the physical attributes of
nonverbal communication. In class, we were also able to touch on some of the emotional aspects
of nonverbal communication, like we discussed with the quote of the day. The quote, from Peter
Drucker, stated that “the best communicators are sensitive to the power of emotions and thoughts
communicated nonverbally” (Webster-Trotman, 2024, 5). Professor Trotman gave a
demonstration on how greeting someone could be perceived differently even when the same
words were said; her body language and tonation was the only thing she changed. It is so
important to show the audience, or whoever is being spoken to, the value seen in talking to them.
I am applying all of these nonverbal techniques daily in my conversations. I always try to “fix
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my face” and keep my resting face looking pleasant. I also have continued with the good posture
and eye contact instilled in me from my parents because that shows people that you want to be
talking to them. Recently, I had a job interview to become a tutor, and I applied everything we
learned in class about body language and nonverbal communication. I conveyed confidence and
respect with a firm handshake, eye contact, pleasant facial expressions, and attentive posture. I
got the job, and I could not have gotten it without my strong nonverbal communication skills.
Speech anxiety is another topic we discussed that is prevalent to me in my public
speaking journey. In large groups, I tend to be on the quieter side, so I have never loved public
speaking. If it is a topic that I am passionate about, I have no problem speaking in front of
people. However, if it is a presentation I am required to give, it becomes more challenging. A
Pocket Guide to Public Speaking and our in class activities helped me identify what was making
me nervous about public speaking and how to better handle my nerves. I found that I often suffer
from performance anxiety during my speeches because I do not enjoy being the center of
attention. Preparing well in advance and heavily familiarizing myself with the information helps
me the most to ease this anxiety. The tip I began using because of this class is to move around as
I speak. Even using more of my hands or walking from one side of the presentation space to the
other allows me to become more comfortable and relaxed. I am on the executive board for my
sorority, so I often have to give presentations and address our chapter of over 100 people. I have
been able to diminish my nervousness to almost nothing by thoroughly practicing and preparing
and moving around as I speak. Although these smaller scenarios within my sorority are not
directly comparable to giving speeches at the professional level, this little bit of practice is
helping me ease my speaking anxiety more and more each time. So, when I do have to speak in
classes or my future career, I will be even more prepared because I better understand my public
speaking anxiety and how to handle it.
LinkedIn and Networking
In addition to everything else I have learned in this class, networking is a large part of
what has been covered. LinkedIn is a great resource for networking, and I have taken advantage
of it even before this class. Currently, I have 154 connections, but I strive to continue to grow my
network. For this assignment, I requested to connect with Professor Shana Webster-Trotman,
Summer Slocum, Heather Horowitz, Matthew Marriano, Owen Schweitzer, Maya Filipovitz,
Christopher Hooper, Katrina Trintis, Ella Lambert, Antoinette Uzamere, and Jane Gorman. In
addition to growing my network on LinkedIn, I learned a lot of networking techniques through
the assigned readings. Networking for Every College Student and Recent Graduate, by Andrea
Nierenberg and Michael Faulkner, highlights the importance of networking because “70-75
percent of all newly created jobs and replacement positions are never posted anywhere” (12).
Because of the significance of networking in job hunting, something that I’ve done in this course
to increase my networking abilities is maintain my current connections with the “proper
approach, care, and feeding” (Faulkner & Nierenberg, 2013, 17). Last summer, I worked with
Whiting-Turner as a project management intern. They helped me connect with more design
based companies, like Kimley-Horn, which led to me getting hired there this upcoming summer.
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The people I worked with at Whiting-Turner went above and beyond to help me in my career
growth, so this course has inspired me to continue to nurture that relationship, even though I will
not be working there again this summer. I recently reconnected with my project manager over
email and thanked him again for the opportunity of connecting me with Kimley-Horn. Whenever
people ask, I always speak highly of my experience with Whiting-Turner, and I am more than
happy to refer people to work there. Additionally, I challenged myself to talk to at least two
people I do not usually talk to whenever I go to a large event. At one of my sorority events, this
led to me talking to a senior mechanical engineering student that just got a project management
job. Now, we plan on getting coffee and chatting about her job, which is a great opportunity for
me to learn from someone in a similar position to me. Chances like these would not present
themselves if I didn’t break out of my comfort zone and network, even in situations when I think
it’s unnecessary. Besides networking, this assignment has allowed me to learn more about my
personality and communication style.
DISC Personality Assessment
After completing the DISC personality assessment, I found that my personality consists
mostly of steadiness and compliance, with some influence and very little dominance. The
steadiness component describes temperament, specifically “patience, persistence, and
thoughtfulness.” I agree that I am largely composed of steadiness because I am even-keeled in all
areas of my life. It is rare that I lose my temper or stray off track from my goals. I am persistent
in my school work and landing in a good career when I finish college. Having a large amount of
compliance also did not surprise me. Sometimes, I find myself being a follower and just going
along with the group in group settings. As the definition states, I organize my activities and
responsibilities in a way that I follow all of the rules and meet deadlines. I do not enjoy breaking
out of the mold, so being largely compliant makes sense. The next highest personality trait was
influence, which describes the way I interact with people. I agree that I do exert some deal of
influence in my personality, considering I enjoy being a leader. I have a leadership position in my
sorority, and I do enjoy exerting influence for things I care about. Lastly, there is a small
percentage of dominance in my personality. I also agree with that because I do not love
competition and arguments. I often avoid confrontation, and prefer being more of a people
pleaser than asserting my dominance. Something else that resonated with me is that I “respond to
logic rather than emotion,” as shown in the Figure 1 DISC test results. In my relationships, I tend
to keep my emotions to myself, and I often reason more with logic than emotions. It surprised
me that the test inferred that I am good at solving technical problems. Considering none of the
statements I responded to were about problem solving, it must have used other parts of my
personality to glean that information. I do think I am particularly skilled in solving technical
problems, but no personality test has told me that before. Still, that makes sense because I am
studying engineering, which is a technically based field.
After learning about my personality distribution from the DISC personality test, I can
translate what I learned into communicating better and becoming a better project manager.
Knowing that I am not largely dominant, I can be more mindful in asserting my dominance in
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scenarios when it is necessary. When working in groups, I will focus more on speaking my mind
when I believe something should be done a certain way. In addition to working on my
personality areas I am less comfortable with, I will continue to capitalize on my more prominent
personality characteristics in my communication. Knowing that I am steady, I will focus on being
thoughtful and patient in communication while maintaining my network. With my high
compliance, I can take action as a future project manager to organize activities with to do lists
and calendars. Overall, I can sell myself as being a responsible and thoughtful colleague and
manager.
Conflict Management Styles Assessment
The next personality assessment I took is the Conflict Management Styles Assessment,
which showed me my dominant conflict management style is compromising. As shown in Figure
2, the results from this personality test indicate that I am mostly compromising, but least
competing and avoiding. As said in the test, someone that has a compromising management style
acts like a fox, who is “moderately concerned with their goals and their relationships with
others.” I agree with this because in most situations of conflict, I have a firm opinion, but I also
want to see everyone get what they want and reach the middle ground while maintaining my
relationships. Figure 2 also highlights how I would like to work on my lack of competition in my
conflict management. Sometimes, I find myself giving up my goals just to preserve relationships,
but I need to improve on speaking my mind. I can do this by approaching smaller conflicts that
will not ruin my relationships with a more competitive nature. For example, I can practice
competing for where my friends and I should eat dinner rather than just sitting back and
accommodating where everyone else wants to go. Between all parts of my conflict management
styles, being compromising has both helped and hindered my communication.
Compromising to resolve conflict has allowed me to maintain relationships, but it has
also forced me to avoid communicating my true feelings about issues. Previously, I discussed my
conflict resolution experience with my roommate, and that example highlights the good and bad
of compromising. As a reminder, my roommate and I had a conflict because her boyfriend stayed
in our apartment too often. When I approached her with my viewpoint, I told her my goal of the
situation, which was that I would like him to spend less time at our apartment during the week.
She was originally very unhappy with me for bringing this up because her goal was to spend as
much time with her boyfriend as possible. So, I began to compromise to save our relationship,
and agreed that he could spend half of the week at our apartment. The benefit of the
compromising style shined through because we were able to maintain our relationship
throughout this effective communication. However, I was not fully open in my communication
because I did not share my full thoughts on the situation in order to shield my relationship.
Another example of a conflict I handled was with my roommates again, but it involved where we
are living next year. Since I am majoring in engineering, my classes are all closer to North
Campus while my roommates have class at the business school on South Campus. We were able
to effectively communicate what we wanted in an apartment, and the resolution we came to was
a compromise. I compromised the distance I will have to walk to class, but I get first pick at the
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rooms in my apartment. Bargaining like this with my roommates solved the conflict, and
everyone got something they wanted in the end. So, for the most part, the compromising conflict
management style has given me the opportunity to maintain my relationships and meet some of
my goals while resolving my conflicts.
Still, this course has enabled me to improve my conflict management skills, and there are
aspects from this course that I want to use to further enhance my conflict resolution ability. One
technique I will be implementing is to “start with heart” in my crucial conversations. Crucial
Conversations introduces the phrase “start with heart” as a technique meant to begin
conversations about conflict with good intentions while staying focused on the goal of the
resolution (Patterson et al., 2012). I am choosing this technique because maintaining
relationships is a large part of my conflict management style as a compromiser. So, focusing on
my good intentions for my relationships will enhance my communication style further. Another
strategy I will employ is asking myself questions about my goals of the resolution while the
crucial conversation is happening. Whenever open conversation becomes difficult or I need to
remind myself to step up in the conversation, I can ask myself things like “what do I really want
for myself,” “what do I really want for others,” and “what do I really want for the relationship?”
(Patterson et al., 2012). Asking these questions will help me center myself in my goals while I
continue the dialogue, and it can remind me what I am competing for. In contrast to my
compromising conflict management, I want to improve upon my ability to compete in competing
conflicting management. Sometimes, I do not always compete enough for what I want in conflict
resolutions, and this technique will allow me to better remember what I am competing for. I
chose this technique to add to my conflict management skills because it is easy to get lost in
compromises, but this technique can help me push more for what I really want out of the
conversation. These are only a few techniques I want to implement from the readings, but I know
practice will continue to help me address and resolve conflicts in my personal and professional
life.
Jung Personality Assessment
Based on the Jung personality test, my personality type is INFJ, which stands for
introvert-intuitive-feeler-judger. I agree and disagree with parts of my results because I consider
myself an ambivert, or someone that has both introverted and extroverted tendencies. Like the
test results show, introverts are usually reserved and private and enjoy alone time. For at least a
little time everyday, I do find that I need to be alone to rejuvenate, so I do agree with that aspect
of being an introvert. However, I would not agree that I am always reserved and private. In social
settings, I find myself talking to lots of people and sharing a lot about myself, so I can sometimes
act more extroverted. I especially act more extroverted when with my close friends because then
I become even more outgoing and sociable. The next part of the personality is intuitive, and I do
agree with that aspect. Figure 3 describes the intuitive personality as focusing on the future, and
find myself doing that often. I sometimes struggle to live in the current moment and can only
think about what is going to happen next. Big upcoming events always occupy my mind, but it is
surprising that that comes from my intuitive personality. Being a feeler means that I am
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concerned with the feelings of other people. I agree with this as well because I never want to
cause conflict and hurt the people around me. As with my compromising conflict management
style, being a feeler shows I care about my relationships with others. The last aspect of my
personality result is judger. I agree that I like my life to be orderly, organized, and controlled. I
always have a to-do list and a fully planned out calendar. I appreciate people adhering to
schedules and promptness in meetings. When I continued reading my Jung results, there were a
few things that stuck out and surprised me. INFJs often foster harmony among their teams. The
word harmony stood out to me because I have gotten that as a leadership strength on a past
Clifton Strengths personality test. I would not have thought that harmony could come from
someone that prefers staying to themselves, but now I know it can. Harmony can come from
anyone that wishes to keep the team in good relations. Another thing that stuck out to me was
that INFJs are “quietly forceful.” That surprised me because I often do not picture force coming
across with someone quiet. Still, thinking about my own personality, I can see how I have been
“quietly forceful” in the past. When I want something to go my way, I will suggest it and try to
push my opinion without being too harsh. So, I am quiet in the way I persuade people.
My Jung results are both similar and different from my DISC personality test results. The
main similarity between the two test results is that I am on the quieter side. The DISC test
showed me I was mostly compliant and steady, which are the quieter options compared to
influence and dominance. The Jung test showed me I was the INFJ personality type, which is
more reserved. Another similarity between the results is my analytical, organized nature. Both
tests had components that show me focusing on my future by following a plan to reach my goals.
In the DISC personality test that was steadiness, and in the Jung personality test it was the
aspects of “intuitive” and “judger.” However, that is where the similarities end between the two
test results. In the DISC personality test, my results show me preferring logic over emotion while
in the Jung personality test, my results show me strongly feeling emotions of myself and others.
In regards to emotion, I think in reality my personality is somewhere in between the two tests. I
do not wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I do try to appeal to other’s emotions and keep
everyone in harmony when working with a team. I also think I do well at reading other people’s
emotions, but I do not always do well talking about emotion. Another difference is that in the
DISC personality test, I am shown to assert very little dominance, but in the Jung personality
test, I am supposed to be forceful, even though it is in a quiet way. I think that sometimes I do
assert dominance in my leadership positions, but that is not always natural for me. So, I would
agree more with the DISC personality test regarding my dominance. Still, both tests provided me
insight on my personality and why I act the way that I do.
Conclusion
All in all, information compiled from readings, class sessions, and the personality tests
came together to help me learn about myself as a person and a communicator. I set multiple goals
for new techniques and concepts I want to remember and implement. Most of all, I have been
able to already improve my communication by beginning to implement some of these techniques
in my daily life.
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Appendix
Figure 1: DISC Personality Report
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Figure 2: Conflict Management Styles Assessment

Figure 3: Jung Personality Report

References

Faulkner, M. L., & Nierenberg, A. R. (2013). Networking for Every College Student and

Graduate: Starting Your Career Off Right. Pearson Education.

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

Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition. McGraw Hill LLC.

Webster-Trotman, S. (2024). Week 3 Powerpoint Presentation [ENCE 424/614: Communication

for Project Managers].