Effective communication works as a glue, which aids in deepening the connections between individuals and others. Such an aspect is further useful since it assists in the improvement of teamwork, solving problems and improving emotional and social health. However, in the effectiveness of communications tend to go reduce on a frequent basis because of a lack of commitment to continue improving the communication (Krauss and Fussell, 1996). This scenarios, therefore, implies that people have to strive to sustain effective communication skills. This issue is of critical concern because communication is a fundamental tool in many aspects of life such as family, work, and other environments. The focus of this paper is to improve on an individual communication skill that will help me in talking to people upon the first meeting with them. As the paper notes, I have to learn approaching strangers if I have to widen my social sphere of interaction.
I tend to be timid especially in getting into a conversation with people for the first time. This problem as been a concern for some time, and I found out that it would be quite disadvantageous during my high school days. I had wanted to be as open as possible to make new friends because there were so many new people in my surrounding. I realized that newer relationships with my class and schoolmates would improve my learning experience. However, my problem has been engaging into a conversation with strangers. While I am quite comfortable engaging with familiar people, I take too long to get along with strangers. Some people, including myself, have been expressing concern about my sociability. My parents have been placing extra pressure on me to work on my social skills, but they never realized the real problem. It also took me longer than normal to get along with my teachers at school. As I grew up, I tried to deal with the problem, but failed in my attempts since I could not realize any immediate change, I remained a shy person.
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The interpersonal communication skill that I seem to lack could be explained using the uncertainty reduction theory. According to Floyd et al. (2017), this theory posits claims, which connect the experiences of people to their communications. For instance, the theory suggests that communication could be both a cause and effect of uncertainty (Floyd et al., 2017). The latter cited work uses the example of an individual who takes time to plan for a date with his girlfriend but the subject does not take time to appreciate such efforts even after the trip. According to the example, such a person might ask himself if there could be any problem with the outing and if any problems exist, what he should do to solve it. This means that the actions of the girlfriend resulted in an uncertainty her relationship with her fiancé. In my situation, however, according to the model of communication, meeting someone for the first time might cause uncertainty in my thought, which might then cause me to raise questions about such a person. Therefore, being shy would be the effect of uncertainty about the nature of such an individual.
This model could also be useful in describing the action plan that people should adopt to improve the effectiveness of interpersonal communication. For instance, according to the model, people must strive to find methods through which they could cope with the uncertainties of their communication and venture to create messages under conditions of such uncertainty (Floyd et al., 2017). In septicity, according to the theorist, this process may entail three strategies for coping with uncertainty in communications. For instance, they should seek information, involve in planning and hedging (Floyd et al., 2017). In addition, the theory gives three methods of seeking information, which include the passive strategies, active strategies, and interactive strategies. Concerning the passive strategies, people are may find information about others through observations or through social media platforms before understanding them. Active strategies involve asking others about the stranger while interactive strategies entail communicating directly with them. My problem means that I cannot use the latter strategy, but may do so with the first two. The theory also suggests that people could plan their communications with strangers. According to this strategy, people are supposed to carry out extensive planning of dealing with all the strategies that might arise out of their communication with strangers since simple plans may fail. The two strategies appear similar in the sense that they do not highlight how I may communicate instantly with strangers, which is why my plan is based on the third strategy, hedging.
As a strategy of communication, involves planning to counter the negative outcomes that might result from a first-time communication with strangers (Floyd et al., 2017). The strategy requires that I always figure out what response I would give to conditions of uncertainty communication with strangers. In line with the theory’s argument, I will adopt a strategy of humor as a way of softening requests that I will make while engaging with the strangers in the event of a negative outcome. On occasions when humor may not appear the most suitable strategy of hedging, I will adopt a disclaimer, which will always attract the attention of the person I would like to communicate with. This strategy may appear the best because it will always communicate the fact that I do not intend to offend the person through seeking to communicate with them. Thereafter, I will complement my strategy with the interactive method of seeking information. I hope that this strategy will help me collect information from the stranger, allowing me to expel my fears. A regular repeat of the same strategy might help me in solving the problem of shyness and improve my interpersonal communication skills.
In conclusion, I am a person who struggles communicating with strangers on my first encounter. I feel that I am always shy. This problem of interpersonal communication has denied my chances of interacting with as many people as possible since my high school years. I have a feeling that I may not master the courage to approach people, and that this may affect my social development as my parents and friends have been concerned in the past. The uncertainty reduction theory of communication appears to be helpful in solving this issue. The model holds that people may fear communicating with others for the uncertainty about the outcome of such communication. In my case, I have always feared that I do not know strangers well enough to engage them in conversations. In this line of thought, my fear arises from the fact that the strangers might respond unfavorably to my attempt to engage them. The model therefore gives me an opportunity to engage strangers and initiate conversations through the hedging and interactive information seeking strategies. These strategies, as outlined in my plan to improve interpersonal communication skills, will help me overcome the shy nature of me and enable me capitalize on opportunities that might come only out of effective communication with strangers such as making new friends at school and later at the workplace.
References
Floyd, K., Schrodt, P., Erbert, L., & Trethewey, A. (2017). Exploring Communication Theory: Making Sense of Us . Routledge.
Krauss, R. M., & Fussell, S. R. (1996). Social Psychological Models of Interpersonal Communication. Retrieved September 10, 2017 from http://www.columbia.edu/~rmk7/PDF/Comm.pdf
