Assignment: Communication Role Model

This week, we were asked to think about someone who demonstrates competent communication. One of the people I thought of was a person that I work with. I thought of her because I’ve noticed that she is a good listener. She’s not one of those people who just says things without thinking. She actually listens to you and then responds to what you have said. She has a way of making people feel comfortable enough to ask questions or talk about problems they are having. She also takes the time to find out how someone is feeling about what’s going on instead of brushing it off. She respects people enough to keep things confidential when necessary. That is very important in a work setting. The times that I have used phone calls or E-mail to contact her, she usually responds quickly and in an appropriate manor. Some people have a preferred method of communicating and cannot adapt their communication style very well to other forms. For example, the people who leave five minute voicemails as if they are speaking to you directly (O’Hair & Wiemann, (2009).

I also noticed that she communicates affectively with the children. For example with the infants, she asks them questions, points out things or people who are in the room, gets down on their level and looks at them. At times, she tries to communicate with the babies using gestures or sign language. I feel this is important because even though they are babies, they are real people. The difference is that they are just beginning to make sense of the world around them which includes learning how to communicate with others.

Here's a short article called, "Baby Talk: Communicating With Your Baby."

I admire all of these positive communication skills. I feel that I am a pretty good listener and I do my best to affectively communicate with children at their level. I also feel confidentiality is important so I try not to pass on things that people tell me unless it’s necessary. I’m not sure if I’d call it a skill or ability, but I wouldn’t say that people usually feel comfortable talking to me about problems or concerns. I think this is something that’s important for an early childhood educator or supervisor. Families need to feel comfortable enough to discuss their children and educators need to feel comfortable enough to share concerns with their supervisors. I think I am getting better at reaching out to parents and there are families who I have a good relationship with, but that comfort level isn’t the same as it is with my supervisors and some of my coworkers with the families. Working on these communication skills will take time and will improve with more experience. According to O’Hair and Wiemann (2009) “We begin learning how to communicate during the first days of our life, and the best communicators never stop learning” (p. 5).

O’Hair, & Wiemann. (2009). Real communication: An introduction.
New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.