Develop Communication Skills Improvement Goals
Develop Communication Skills Improvement Goals
To get the most from this course, we suggest that you write personal goals to improve specific skills in your own interpersonal, group, and public communication repertoire.
Before you can write a goal statement, you must first analyze your current communication skills repertoire. After you read each chapter and practice the skills described, select one or two skills to work on. Then write down your goal statement in four parts.
• 1. State the problem. Start by stating a communication problem that you have. For example: “Problem: Even though some of my group members in a team-based class project have not produced the work they promised, I haven’t spoken up because I’m not very good at describing my feelings.”
• 2. State the specific goal. A goal is specific if it is measurable and you know when you have achieved it. For example, to deal with the problem stated above, you might write: “Goal: To describe my disappointment to other group members about their failure to meet deadlines.”
• 3. Outline a specific procedure for reaching the goal. To develop a plan for reaching your goal, first consult the chapter that covers the skill you wish to hone. Then translate the general steps recommended in the chapter to your specific situation. For example: “Procedure: I will practice the steps of describing feelings. (1) I will identify the specific feeling I am experiencing. (2) I will encode the emotion I am feeling accurately. (3) I will include what has triggered the feeling. (4) I will own the feeling as mine. (5) I will then put that procedure into operation when I am talking with my group members.”
• 4. Devise a method of determining when the goal has been reached. A good goal is measurable, and the fourth part of your goal-setting effort is to determine your minimum requirements for knowing when you have achieved a given goal. For example: “Test for Achieving Goal: I will have achieved this goal when I have
To get the most from this course, we suggest that you write personal goals to improve specific skills in your own interpersonal, group, and public communication repertoire.
Before you can write a goal statement, you must first analyze your current communication skills repertoire. After you read each chapter and practice the skills described, select one or two skills to work on. Then write down your goal statement in four parts.
• 1. State the problem. Start by stating a communication problem that you have. For example: “Problem: Even though some of my group members in a team-based class project have not produced the work they promised, I haven’t spoken up because I’m not very good at describing my feelings.”
• 2. State the specific goal. A goal is specific if it is measurable and you know when you have achieved it. For example, to deal with the problem stated above, you might write: “Goal: To describe my disappointment to other group members about their failure to meet deadlines.”
• 3. Outline a specific procedure for reaching the goal. To develop a plan for reaching your goal, first consult the chapter that covers the skill you wish to hone. Then translate the general steps recommended in the chapter to your specific situation. For example: “Procedure: I will practice the steps of describing feelings. (1) I will identify the specific feeling I am experiencing. (2) I will encode the emotion I am feeling accurately. (3) I will include what has triggered the feeling. (4) I will own the feeling as mine. (5) I will then put that procedure into operation when I am talking with my group members.”
• 4. Devise a method of determining when the goal has been reached. A good goal is measurable, and the fourth part of your goal-setting effort is to determine your minimum requirements for knowing when you have achieved a given goal. For example: “Test for Achieving Goal: I will have achieved this goal when I have