Directive Communication Style Assessment

When given the assignment to complete the Communication Style Assessment to identify my preferred communication style, I was not sure what to expect. It revealed that my style was reflective, but not by a large margin over the supportive style. Following close behind this was the emotive style, and the least preferred style was directive. It made sense from the standpoint that I use different styles based on the situation or circumstances, but my preferred style is reflective. The assessment caused me to reflect on what could I learn from it, and how could I use this new information to improve my self-esteem.
Assessment Discovery

The first question that came to mind was what exactly is the reflective style? The assessment describes this style as someone who enjoys finding answers to problems. It also states a person with a reflective style does things in an orderly, managed manner in order to reach their goals, and concentrates on challenges (Reece, 2014). Hanke (2009) refers to this style as an analyzer: “detail-oriented, logical thinkers and analyze others and situations” (par. 9). I was very surprised when I read these descriptions because they do convey the type of person I am. I have always been the type of person …show more content…
For more effective communications with a directive style, I need to focus more on the business aspect of the communications, and less so on the personal relationships. When communicating with an emotive style, I need to increase the pace and focus on being a little less formal and being a good listener. With a supportive style, it is most important to build a social relationship and to try to avoid any conflict (Reece, 2014). The best way to accomplish all of these would be to improve my self-esteem. This will go a long way in allowing me to have the confidence to go out of my comfort zone and be able to interact in a much more effective