As of yesterday I’m currently working in a second team and working on a new project. Though it’s good to be working with new people, learning new skills and working with another programmer rather than doing all the programming myself it does feel like I need to improve on my team working in skills, especially my communication skills and time management as well as managing my stress as the past few weeks have been quite stressful.
Firstly with communication, though there has been some progress using Hope’s techniques when dealing with my social anxiety as it has improved my confidence when speaking, however there hasn’t been much progress pass that. I’ve decided to not just incorporate Hope’s techniques for dealing with social anxiety but also looking into actual communication skills used in business. Specifically I have been looking at Rai’s book on business communication where I have learned that communication in teams is two way communication, meaning that everyone in the team is sending and receiving information. Because of this I need to remain silent and listen well when others are talking as it makes the other members in the team feel comfortable when talking and strengthen prowess when I’m talking to them. In addition, by being a good listener it can allow for potential questions to be answered while introducing new ideas to the project (Rai and Rai 2008).
When testing these skills for the brain storming session on the game it did go well letting everyone speak and get their ideas across and it even answered some of my questions without having to ask. However, due to remaining silent as long as possible to ensure everyone had said their bit, it did prevent me from stating my ideas unless asked, which did get annoying at time due to it feeling like I was being cut off before getting a chance to speak.
I feel that time management has not been one of my greatest strengths as trying to keep a plan for near future events while remaining flexible has always been a challenge for me. Looking at Brian Tracy’s book on time management it is stated that one must take into account what events are important to you and which ones are not so that you can be happy, as you are working on things that you genuinely enjoy working on. In addition, I should have a daily to do list with clear priorities so that I know what I aim to get done by the end of the day as a way to keep morals high while getting work done (Tracy 2014).
I believe that would be an effective tool to use on a daily basis as in the past when I used to do lists for work I have been more focused on my work. Using lists has also help me reduce my stress which allows me to move onto the next thing I’ll be writing about.
Dealing with stress has been problematic at times and as mentioned earlier, stress has been quite prevalent these past few weeks. While using techniques to manage my social anxiety have helped in ways stress had been a constant mainly due to how much work needs to get done with so little time, which is why I’m trying to incorporate better time management skills. That being said I wanted to try and research if there are any techniques to help manage my stress and see if I can decrease how often it comes up.
Spending some time looking over Stress management by Harry kane using techniques like meditation and stress balls could help with dealing with stress mainly due to it know effects to increase patience and calm down practitioner (Kane 2007). After attempting meditation for 4 days I have felt calmer especially after meditating despite it being hard to focus on one thing.
I have yet to try stress balls but it is stated that stress ball are used as methods for physical therapy and mainly should be used after a stressful bit of work has happened. It is also a common place item to have at work as it can help with present stressful events.
I will continue to use meditation as a way to calm down as it seems to be quite effective. However if things do change then I would give the stress ball a try to see if has any different results.
Conclusion
Reflecting on using these techniques to further my communication and stress management skills, I believe they are improving as I have seen some improvements in how I talk to others and managing to remain calm after to them. In addition, despite all the stress I have been experiencing I think I am developing better ways to deal with my stress.
In order to take these skills further I should begin by spending 30 mins writing a to do list for the next day so that I know what I need to achieve. When writing these tasks I need to priorities which task I value the most or are important to achieving the overall goal.
When using the business techniques to improve my communication I should spend a minute or 2 to remind myself to be mindful of others so that I can remain silent and listen. When listening I should aim to focus on what people are saying and not lose focus.
Finally for managing my stress. I will continue to mediate 5 -10 minutes during my morning routine. While meditating I should focus on one through and try to go back to that though if I lose focus. This in turn should help me manage my stress and patience.
Bibliography
KANE, Harry. 2007. Stress Management. (1st edn). Chandni Chowk, Delhi: Global Media.
TRACY, Brian. 2014. Time Management. (1st edn). New York: American Management Association.
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