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A Plan to Improve Interpersonal Communication

Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Professor’s Name
Course Name
Date
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A Plan to Improve Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is importance in the sense that it gives the team less times

to waste in the process of resolving conflicts within the workplace. There are different forms of

interpersonal communication skills that are integral in the process of improving communication

and wellbeing of the work place. These include active listening, conflict resolution, presentation

skills, non-verbal communication, persuasion, giving and receiving feedback, and expressing

gratitude. It is also important to understand that having strong interpersonal communication

skills is an essential part in making sure that there are good relationships in the workplace. It is

equally important to note that the process of improving interpersonal skills and communication

competence is essential to any organization as well as the individuals. This, therefore, calls for

the need to make sure that all aspects of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, are highly

observed since they speak volumes about me as a speaker. For example, I may present a fact or

an argument about something and another person presenting the same and the results of such a

presentation turn out completely different. This implies that different people portray different

interpersonal skills. This calls for the development of a plan to help in the improvement of these

skills. Hence, this paper intends to explore the path through which a plan to improve

interpersonal communication can follow to ensure improved business and workplace

relationships. In the process of improving interpersonal communication skills, this paper will

document a plan that will include different steps applicable in this process.

Plan to Improve the Effectiveness and Appropriateness of My Interpersonal

Communication

The first step is being open to ask and give feedback. This portrays the power of

communication in any workforce. Furthermore, it is important to note that this process is a

complex one and it will need me to practice more and more. By cultivating this skill, I will be

able to evaluate my listening skills while I am communicating with other employees in the

workplace. Additionally, giving feedback is an essential step that will help in motivating other

employees (Ismail et al., 2020). On the other hand, receiving feedback from other people, I will

be able to evaluate my development and focus on improving my general performance. It is also

important to note that with feedback, I will continue collecting and adjusting accordingly.

Secondly, I will also work on improving my verbal communication skills. Verbal

communication is an important part of the work place. This is because, as an employee I will

have to communicate with the clients and other employees (Jiang et al., 2021). Furthermore, to

understand the need of my fellow employees, I will need to have good verbal skills. On the other

hand, I will also need to develop non-verbal communication. It is important to note that in some

of our communication, I will be required to give affirmations, not necessarily giving verbal

responses. Therefore, I will need to cultivate my facial expression, as well as body language. For

example, I will need to learn on how to accept by nodding my head. However, I will need to be

careful because there are different cultures that mean different in terms of body language (The

Chartered Management Institute 2022). For example, the Turkish body language implies that

raising my hand from the front to back would mean no while in the western countries, I would

shake my head to mean no (Bakiner n.d).

Additionally, to fully improve on the effectiveness and appropriateness of my

interpersonal communication, I will need to understand elements interpersonal communication

such as sender and receiver. These are the starters of the communication and they provide the

rationale for the communication (Scharp, 2022). Secondly, coding carries the rules and

agreements that determine run the communication. Encoding will help me in the understanding
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the underlying rules of the communication. Finally, I will be required to understand the channels

of communication which is the way the message is passed from the sender to the receiver.

Improving on understanding the elements of communication will be essential in the sense that it

will help me in communication in the work place. For example, it will prepare me in the to

recieve and share information with my colleagues in the workplace.

In addition, I will need to understand the need to form and maintain personal

relationships. This will include understanding both the positive and negative biases and their

effects on perception. Among the positive biases will include understanding how I address

people I am emotionally attached to such as people I love. On the other hand, I will need to

address the negative biases which will include how to address people I have less interactions

with, for example an interview for a certain job. Understanding positive and negative biases will

be influential to my interpersonal skills in the sense that I will be assured of the best outcomes

from the communication process. Specifically, understanding the positive biases will be

impactful in the sense that it will help in understanding and maintaining long term relationships

with friends, colleagues and even spouses. On the other hand, understanding negative biases be

helpful to my interpersonal skills in the sense that it will help in understanding and coping with

conflicts in work places and other conflicting issues (Floyd et al., 2019).

While it is relevant to understand the dynamics of interpersonal communication, I will

also focus of understanding the concept of interpersonal conflict and its impacts. This is any

conflict between two or more people which exist as a result of differences in ideologies, goals,

and shortage of resources. I will also need to understand the process through which they are

passed, because as (Communication in the real world, 2016) states, interpersonal conflicts can
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either be verbal or non-verbal by giving a cold-shoulder, violence and even blowouts. Thus,

having this knowledge will help me in avoiding and evading these conflicts.

Finally, in the process of improving the effectiveness and the appropriateness of my

interpersonal communication, I will need to understand the concept of deceptive communication

as well as its implications. It is therefore important to note that deceptive communication is the

intentional management or manipulation of verbal and non-verbal messages to tilt the

understanding and the reception of the message in a way that the sender knows is wrong (Floyd,

2020). Thus, having this knowledge, I will be able to understand and come up with ways to

mitigate the effects of the deceptive communication.

Conclusion

While it is utterly important to understand the concept of interpersonal communication,

there are different dimensions to this. These include understanding interpersonal perception,

language, non-verbal and verbal communication, developing active listening skills,

understanding the role of emotions in communication, developing and maintaining personal

relationships, understanding the concept of interpersonal conflict, and deceptive communication.

Altogether, this knowledge is important in the sense that it the basis at which the plan to improve

the appropriateness and effectiveness of my interpersonal communication or my communication

competence.
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Reference

6.2 conflict and interpersonal communication – Communication in the real world. (2016,

September 29). https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/6-2-conflict-and-

interpersonal-communication

Bakiner, A. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION. CURRENT, 1.

Floyd, K. (2020). Interpersonal communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Floyd, K., Matheny, R., Dinsmore, D. R., Custer, B. E., & Woo, N. T. (2019). “If you disagree,

unfriend me now”: Exploring the phenomenon of invited unfriending. American Journal

of Applied Psychology, 7(1), 20-29.

Ismail, Z., Halias, N., Saad, R. M., & Mohamed, M. F. (2020). Motivation as the Mediator in

Relationship between Non-verbal Communication of Arabic Language Teachers and

Student Learning Outcomes. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(2), 700-708.

Jiang, J., Zheng, L., & Lu, C. (2021). A hierarchical model for interpersonal verbal

communication. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 16(1-2), 246-255.

Scharp, K. M. (2022). Exploring communication theory: making sense of us/Kory Floyd.

The Chartered Management Institute (CMI). (2022, April 5). How to read body language cues

from other cultures. CMI.

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