University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Sebastian Batanero

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

February 24, 2024

Introduction

As an architecture student I do a lot of design, calculations, physics, and critical thinking

when it comes to each project. I am doing a minor in construction project management which has
given me the opportunity to learn the basics of project management. Currently, I am enrolled in
Communication for Project Managers (ENCE424) which is the last class for the minor, and my
responsibility as the student for the class is to do the required readings each week, actively
participate in class discussions and share different ideas with others. We do these things because
the main goal for this class is to step away from all the math and calculations we have to do for
this career and start to deeply think/ learn about our communication/ networking skills so that we
can incorporate them into our personal and professional lives. In this essay, I will be talking
about what I have learned so far in class throughout the readings, class discussions, and self
assessments and how I have incorporated those skills outside of class and how I plan to continue
to embrace those skills in my professional life.

Concepts from Readings

Throughout the course of Communication for project managers, I’ve had the pleasure to
start reading some great books that can potentially help me communicate better in the
professional world. The first topic I found interesting during my readings was actually in the first
chapter from the book “Networking for Every College Student and Graduate”. This first chapter
really caught my attention because it essentially hooks you on why having networking skills are
very important. During this chapter it states that around 70-75% of jobs are never posted
anywhere nowadays when it comes about the internet. I asked myself if that is possible and why
do companies do that? The book explains that managers spend a lot of time with their employees
which is why it is important for them to have the right candidate employee for them so the
company can grow and be successful. Managers tend to look at candidates who have ‘soft skills’.
These skills represent how good your communication and interpersonal skills are as well as how
good your ability is to fix problems and what your work ethic is. People who have these ‘soft
skills’ tend to stand out among other candidates. Based on the book, people who develop these
soft skills have a more effective way of networking and getting their names out there to potential
employers. In my own personal experience with internship interviews, I have noticed that they
would ask me about my past customer experience based on my resume. I consider myself a good
communicator with people, and working on customer experience related jobs in the past have
definitely helped me improve on my communication and interpersonal skills. During interviews
they would also ask me how I would handle different problems and I would naturally tell them
how I would use my different customer experience skills to deal with problems and how I would
still maintain a good environment with customers. I still have plenty of room for improvement
because there is always room for improvement for everything in life. I definitely want to grow
my soft skills for future employers and that way I can get my name out there.
The second topic I want to talk about based on the readings is how you need to structure
the body of your speech. In chapter 11 of “A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking” they talk about
the importance of how you need to structure your speeches. You first need to know your
audience in order for you to know how you are going to deliver the speech. The way you use
your words is very important as well. Being too wordy sometimes can actually make your speech
seem poor according to the book. Stating your main points are important so your audience can
know what you are talking about and what your goal is during your speech. According to the
book, most audiences are comfortable between 2-7 main points so making sure you don’t state
too much information is also a key factor while delivering your speech. The way I am using this
technique to remember in the future is essentially saying to myself ‘think before you speak’ but
this time is only going to be for a larger audience. I don’t have the opportunity to speak to a
larger audience regularly but this class has definitely given me the opportunity to do so. I want to
keep improving on how I structure and deliver my speeches.
The last and third topic I want to focus on is actually your body language when speaking
to someone individually or an audience. Dr. Webster-Trotman actually taught about this in class
about how we actually communicate more with our body language than the words that come out
of our mouths. Dr. Webster-Trotman stated that when we communicate with others, words only
communicate 7% when talking to someone or delivering a speech. When delivering a speech it is
important to have good body language and showing confidence with your body is also a key
factor. Dr. Webster-Trotman showed us in class the ‘confidence pose’ which essentially is
standing up straight, spreading your legs a little bit, and having your hands together while
delivering a speech. We have been practicing this pose during class when delivering any message
and I have to say it is nice that we get to practice this during class every time we speak because it
is helping me and the rest of the class to have that pose when delivering a message. By
constantly practicing the ‘confidence pose’ it actually helps us as students to build a habit to do it
when delivering a speech which can help us in the future when we are in front of a large crowd
trying to deliver a message. Confidence is key when delivering a message and I want to keep
working on and improve on it because I know it is going to help me in my professional career.

Networking

During my time in Communication for Project Managers I have changed my perspective

of networking. Networking is important because as we have discussed during lectures, it expands
your circle of people that you could potentially build personal or professional relationships with.
By buildinging new connections with people, I can benefit from personal development, access to
resources, improve opportunities for learning, and build long term relationships. Networking
provides personal development through the interactions I have with other people that can
potentially offer me guidance and support on what I am doing in my professional career. If I
want information, or even assistance with a project I can potentially get that through the access
to resources thanks to networking. Improving my opportunities of learning can also be provided
through networking. By gathering myself with professional individuals that are in my field of
study through social events, I can have the opportunity to learn and hear from them through their
experiences.
The second thing I have learned is that networking is not as hard as I thought it was. I
have realized that the word “network” makes us think about these formal gathering events with a
long process to connect with different people/ employers. By having that perspective I have
noticed that people around my age and myself make us look away from networking when in
reality it is nothing like that. I have learned that in reality we can network anywhere we go.
Being more social and coming out of your shell everywhere you go is a form of networking. Of
course attending formal events by the university such as job/ career fairs are also a form of
networking but it is not the only way. For some people it is harder to talk to new people which
can be a boundary for them to network because I think the best way to network is in social
gatherings meeting new people and getting to know one another. I have realized that it is okay if
you don’t really click with someone, there are always plenty of people out there that I will be
able to click with and build some sort of chemistry that can be either personal or professional or
both. I have recently created a LinkedIn account and already started connecting with people
around the class and also people that I know outside of class. I am still very new to this platform
so by the end of this class I hope I can expand and improve my network. I also want to make sure
I learn how to use LinkedIn better and update my profile more so it looks professional and more
appealing when applying to companies. The people that I have connected through LinkedIn so
far are Christopher Hooper, Mehmed Repesa, Devin, Usal, Ayden Harris, Meg Jordan, Ella
Lambert, Crystal Ndungu, Jane Gorman, Antoinette Uzamere, Stephanie Tsitsiwu, and Matthew
Mariano.

DISC Personality Assessment

I went ahead and completed the DISC personality assessment and I can say that I agree
with the results of the assessment. My highest score was for ‘influence’ on the assessment which
indicates that is my number one way one how I interact and deal with people everyday. It also
states that I am ‘socially oriented, persuasive, and optimistic’. I can say that yes, I have always
been socially oriented since I was little and it has always been a big trait of my personality.
Whenever I go to any social gatherings I always try to make small talk with people because I like
to get to know different people. When it comes to the persuasive part I think it’s interesting
because I never really considered myself that way when it comes to my personality. I guess I can
say that I can be persuasive when I really want to achieve something but that is the only scenario
I can think of when considering myself ‘persuasive’ during conversations. The last one is
optimistic and yes I am very optimistic everyday in my life and even when times are tough, I
always try to keep a positive attitude. I do not know why I am so positive when it comes to my
personality, but it is something that I am proud to embrace to other people, especially when I
consider that we live in a very pessimistic society sometimes. I consider these traits have helped
me in my personal life for self growth, and they are great traits that I can continue to implement
in my life as I start my professional life as a project manager. I have learned that having clear
communication in this field is key to having great success in different projects. The lowest
category for me was ‘compliance’ which honestly makes sense. I am usually organized when it
comes to physical stuff like my car and maintaining order in the house, but I do have to admit
that when it comes to my time management and personal responsibilities I can be not so
organized and sometimes I find myself rushing through things when I should have started earlier.
Procrastination is a big factor of this I will admit and it is definitely something I want to improve
for myself. Having a project manager that does things last minute with an unorganized schedule
can lead to poor results for projects and I definitely do not want that for myself which is why I
have to improve in ‘compliance’.
Conflict Management Styles Assessment

I completed the Conflict Management Styles assessment and I agree with the results that I
got. According to the assessment, ‘collaborating’ is my conflict management style which means
that when I encounter a conflict I look for a solution that both ends can agree on while
maintaining a good relationship. Typically when I face problems in my personal life or at my job,
I like to discuss the problem directly with the person in a private space so that I can hear what
their thoughts are about the situation and by listening to their point of view, I also give my point
of view on a respective manner and try to talk to the person on how we can come to a solution
and depending on the conflict how also we can prevent from this happening again.
Over time I have learned how to deal with conflict and that is thanks to my mother. And
it may seem funny or rude when I say it but I mean it in the most respectful manner because
thanks to my mother, I have learned how to deal with conflicts with people and how to solve
them. My mom and I have very similar personalities which is why when we have an argument
we tend to clash a lot unfortunately. Sometimes when we would argue my mom would not let me
finish my point or simply would not listen to me and that would frustrate me. Over time I learned
that sometimes when the problem has just happened it is not best to encounter the person right
away. I learned that it is best for both sides to calm down and once we start to talk again we can
set some ground rules so both of us can get our points across and that way we can both
communicate in a more civilized way. That is what I started to do with my mom and over time I
noticed that we could come to an agreement better because we both would be able to hear each
other's points of view and have a better relationship. I have applied this same technique now at
my job when something happens with an associate and also with friends and family.

Yung personality assessment

Out of the three self assessments that I did, the Yung personality assessment was by far
my favorite one to do. It actually took me the longest to complete but that is because it took me
the most critical thinking when selecting my answers. My results for my ‘yung personality type’
were extravert, sensor, thinker, and judger which made me confused for a second but after clearly
reading over the description of each one I can saw it makes sense and I agree with results for the
most part.
 When the extravert trait comes up it makes complete sense to me because like I’ve said
before, I am a very social person who often seeks to talk and share different ideas with others. I
am also a person who often likes to express my thoughts and feelings especially with the people
that I am close with and that also includes me expressing thoughts that may not be the most
popular one. What I mean by this is that I am not afraid to express myself or share a different
opinion with people. I will admit, depending on the situation and people that have caused
arguments and disagreements. I am okay with that because at the end of the day I believe we all
have the right to express ourselves and that is a trait I would like to have as a project manager,
but of course we always have to know when and where to do it and always say it in a respectful
manner.
When working on a project with people I think that when you can apply my sensor trait. I
like to worry about what we are currently working on and how we can achieve our goal by doing
so. I also like to make sure that whenever working on a project by myself or with people that
everything goes neat and smoothly. Over time I have learned that sometimes being that is
actually in a way negative because things most of the time never go as they should, especially in
the construction industry as a project manager. Being a ‘perfectionist’ has its good things as well
because I want to make sure everything is as it's supposed to be, but I also have to be flexible and
open minded when things don’t go as planned.
The ‘thinker’ trait on this assessment actually surprised me. It surprised me because on
the assessment it says “they think with their heads rather than their hearts” which honestly for
my case it’s not true all the time. Depending on the topic or situation I do have to say that
sometimes I have let myself when it comes to expressing myself. I remember when I was a
teenager I would just say whatever came to my mind first and that sometimes would hurt people
and then I would feel regret and think that I shouldn’t have said that. As I continue to grow, I
have realized that it is important to think before you speak, in whatever the case may be. You
want to make sure you say something that will not hurt the other person. Thinking I speak not
only will help me in my personal life, but will also help me get far in my professional career as a
project manager.
Judgers was the last trait I got from this assessment and it surprised me as well. It says
that “Judgers prefer a lifestyle that is decisive, planned and orderly” and I don't relate with that to
be honest. I do have a schedule for most part of my week but it’s not like a ‘set schedule’
because when it comes to doing my task I generally just organize myself and I do them as they
come. When it comes to my times I will admit I am definitely not the most organized and that is
something I need to work on in order to have a more organized schedule/ lifestyle.
When I compare my DISC personality assessment and my Yung personality assessment I
can say that they have a lot of similarities because they both describe really well that I am overall
a social person that likes to communicate its ideas and thoughts to other people. The one part
where they differ is when it comes to me being organized. In the DISC assessment it said that is
my weakest personality trait and in the Yung assessment it said that I am a person with an
organized lifestyle which I stated before that I don’t agree with that and if anything I need to
work more on that because at the end, having a more organized lifestyle is going to help me go
further in my professional life as a project manager.
Conclusion

In conclusion, as I start my career as a project manager in architecture, I have learned so

far that your communication skills and how you sell yourself to others is way more valuable than
I thought. During this essay I explored the different things I have learned inside the classroom
through discussions and sharing my ideas and thoughts with others, as well as learning outside of
discussion and learning more about myself and how to improve through the readings. I am glad
that networking for me has started to look easier and that I have started to practice that at social
events now that I attend. Getting to know new people is fun and exciting because you don’t
know what to expect. Even with people that are not in my field of study, it is interesting to hear
their stories about their career and how sometimes we can both relate to certain struggles despite
the fact being in different fields. Having good communication skills goes a long way and based
on class and the readings, it makes perfect sense why managers really value someone like that.
Having someone with good communication skills that also has problem solving skills and good
work ethic makes the job of a manager easier and makes a company grow. I want to work on that
because I want companies to look at me and say that I am the right person for their company. I
enjoyed doing the three different self assessments. I personally feel like they did help me
understand more about myself especially on the side of what my weaknesses are and how I can
improve on them. Doing the self assessments and writing about them made me realize things
about myself that I haven’t thought about before. Overall this was a very fun and engaging
learning experience through this essay. I really enjoyed that I was able to be clear with myself
and now I have come to understand myself better and I definitely want to keep on improving my
communication skills, as well as my networking skills.
 Works Cited

Faulkner, Michael, and Andrea Nierenberg. Networking for College Students and Graduates.

Pearson Learning Solutions, 2017. Print.

O’Hair, Dan, and Hannah Rubenstein and Rob Steward. A pocket Guide to Public Speaking.

Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2019. Print.