University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Lena Bakalian

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

July 11, 2020

Introduction
The more we can understand and truly know ourselves, the better communicators we can
be with others. By knowing my dominant conflict management styles, I can better be aware of
how I am handling myself when high emotion or high-stake situations arise. Monitoring my
actions can help quickly inform me if I am feeling a lack of safety in a conversation, which will
allow me to shift my communication approach. By understanding my personality style through
assessments like the Jung assessment, I know what gifts I have to offer and where I am not the
strongest. Having a holistic understanding of my personality will help inform my decision
making and communication. Learning how to communicate is a skill that is transferable to
almost every facet of life. Storytelling in particular is one of the most powerful ways to convey
information. Mastering storytelling form to convey specifically selected information is a skill
that will prove to help me in many ways throughout my life. In addition, having fleshed-out
stories about overcoming adversity and problem solving that I can refer to in interviews or with
people in my network is an investment in my career and in myself.
Conflict Management Styles Assessment
Based on the conflict management styles assessment, I scored evenly for “competing”
and “accommodating.” I find it interesting that I scored the same for both of these styles, as they
are distinctly opposite in their priorities. The competing style, referred to as a shark, values
achievement of goals above all else, whereas the accommodating style, the teddy bear, regards
relationships to be more important than individual goals. The shark’s focus on goal achievement
can hinder communication by not placing as high value on relationships, thereby potentially
losing interpersonal communication in the process. This is the strength of the teddy bear, who
prioritizes relationships, indicating effective communication due to the desire to maintain
relationships. This can be detrimental for the shark, as achieving goals often is only possible
through effective communication and working well with others, so it is important to balance goal
seeking and relationship maintenance. Since a shark personality is the one of the two that risks
forgoing relationships for the sake of a goal, I think using the steps outlined in Crucial
Conversations in chapter four will help me realize when I have the opportunity to reroute the
conversation to save relationships. Learning how to be attentive enough to understand when
either party no longer feels safe is the first step to a successful dialogue (Patterson et al., p. 51).
Content and conditions to look for include the moment a conversation turns crucial by looking
for physical signs, emotions, and behaviors (Patterson et al., p. 53). Signs that people no longer
feel safe present themselves as silence or violence and should be noticed quickly. Lastly, having
a better understanding of my own style under stress will help me realize when a situation no
longer feels safe (Patterson et al., pp. 56-57). By practicing quickly spotting these signs, I am
able to recognize that I may not be focusing on the relationship anymore and can then reroute the
conversation to make sure everyone feels safe and a productive conversation can ensue.
Jung Personality Assessment
My Jung personality type is Introvert-Sensor-Feeler-Judger (ISFJ). I strongly agree with
these four classifications. I identify with having introverted tendencies but would not classify
myself solely as an introvert; I believe that I fall closer to the middle of the introvert-extrovert
spectrum. I do think that I can be reserved and private oftentimes and am a very reflective
person. I highly value my alone time, but also view social time as very important and needed.
 The description of my personality type as careful, mindful, and thoughtful describes me
very well, in my opinion. I consider myself to be the responsible one among my friends and with
my sister and have often been told that I am consistent and dependable, all of which are
described in the results of the assessment. I think it is interesting that the assessment reported my
personality type as often having a dry wit; I have often been complimented on my quick thinking
and wittiness.
In terms of working on a team, I agree with the strengths of my personality type that
indicate I am able to offer tangible and objective input. For this reason, something that surprised
me was the classification of “feeler.” While I do think that I am in-touch with my emotions and
feelings, I would not agree that I let my emotions play a leading role. I tend to be a very logical
and practical person and often have thought of myself as someone who makes decision with my
head rather than heart. I wonder if I may subconsciously be making more decisions with my
heart than I previously thought based on the results of this personality assessment.
Comparing my Jung personality type results to my DISC assessment results, I can see
how they are both very similar. My DISC assessment showed that I exhibit conscientiousness,
which is highly similar to the characteristics of “sensors” and “judgers” from the Jung
personality test. Conscientiousness personality types rely on numbers and data to guide them and
are orderly and practical. This is almost identical to the description of sensors, who are fact-
driven and resonate with concrete and measurable information. The judger personality type
enjoys order and organization, which is related to the conscientiousness personality type. I highly
relate to the sensor and judger aspects of my personality, so this was not surprising at all to me.

Story 1 – An Untraditional Crash Course in Spanish

As the six of us finally split up for our respective homes, I realized for the first time in a
tumultuous two days of travel that I was finally on my own. I was in a small village in
Nicaragua, where five other students and I arrived for an Engineers without Borders trip to install
water piping. The lodging arrangement was individual homestays, where each member of the
group would stay with a community member and his or her family in their home. The caked, dirt
road branched off to small shacks that families were living in. I had never felt so alone and so far
from home. I barely understood any Spanish and spoke even less.
A woman approached me, asking me something in Spanish with little patience. Flustered, I tried
to understand what she was saying, but was having trouble translating. After a few times of
repeating herself, she gave up and walked away. No longer with the help of the Spanish speakers
in my group, I was forced to face the fact that I was going to have to figure something out, and
fast. A few minutes later, she plopped some food down on the only table in the small house and
pulled up a plastic chair, motioned for me to sit, then walked away. I heard the large extended
family outside the open door, speaking rapidly in Spanish and laughing for what seemed like
hours. I felt overwhelming feelings of loneliness while surrounded by more people than I could
count.
Later that night, one of the little kids came up to me and started talking to me in Spanish.
Again, I did not understand. Frustrated, I started to mime what I wanted to convey, and to my
surprise, the kids started to do the same back. Very quickly, I was communicating with about
five children who had gathered around me. While perhaps a crude conversation, I was
understanding the general gist of what they were saying to me, and I was able to convey what I
wanted to respond back.
The remainder of the two weeks only improved, as I was able to slowly put words
together with motions and objects. Thinking outside the box allowed me to take an undesirable
situation where I felt uncomfortable and out of place and gave me the chance to change my
reality.
Story 2
Every day for the four years of high school, I carried a reusable water bottle into the
school door each morning. For as long as I have remembered, I have been passionate about
environmental protection and sustainability issues. I can still feel the frustration of sitting outside
of the school building waiting for my ride, feeling the heat emanating from the line of Suburbans
idling, AC blasting inside to keep the moms cool while they waited for their kids. Each day, I
would see the hallways and classroom littered with plastic, disposable water bottles that students
left behind. It enraged me that the simplest act of bringing a bottle that could be reused was so
often dismissed in favor of grabbing a disposable one. As a math-focused person, the numbers
started to add up in my head. I couldn’t exactly blame the students for not wanting to drink the
school’s lukewarm water that tasted like metal and was only accessible from two of the six non-
broken water fountains. One afternoon, I walked up two flights of stairs to the nearest working
fountain, to find that a case of plastic water bottles had been plopped on top of the fountain. The
irony was laughable.
I went to work that night, drafting a letter to the administration to install a water-bottle
refill station on each floor of the school to encourage students to use their reusable water bottles
instead of using so many plastic bottles each day. The administration of the school was very
reluctant. They told me it was a great idea in theory, but the logistics were too great.
Instead of giving up, I set up a petition for students to sign in an attempt to apply more
pressure on the school board. On my last day of senior year, the head of the school sent me an
email saying that they had approved the plans and that the fountains would be installed that
summer. Needless to say, I went back the next year to visit, and saw students waiting in line to
fill their reusable water bottles. Some changes might not be groundbreaking, but it is truly the
small things that create the most profound changes.
Conclusion

Through fleshed-out stories that convey deep meaning or through a heightened awareness
of my personality type, I can reach even higher levels of communication with others. My
personality type according to the Jung personality assessment categorized me as introverted,
which has characteristics of thoughtfulness and reflection. I can use these gifts to think about
events in my life that I can translate into meaningful and evocative stories to communicate more
thoroughly with others. I am excited to use this newly learned strategy of effective storytelling to
connect with others and share my truth.
 Works Cited

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for

talking when stakes are high. McGraw-Hill.