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INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS BSPB104

Week 1 Introduction to business communications as a subject, by itself, could be a challenge. The sense of self-awareness on my behalf, facing what I personally feel, is one of my weakness. Writing at academic levels could be an issue, but a nice challenge to take on if to grow a new personal skill refers to. According to Dwyer (2016, p. 2), ‘successful people are communication-oriented in both professional and personal contexts’; and who wouldn’t like to be successful? What would require?... time management and mindset will be academic skills to acquire, exercising my critical and creative thinking. Be able to listen, learn and apply at this stage of my life feels stimulating.  Seen from another perspective, to prevent surprises along the way and develop as much as possible these skills, new study habits should be in place. And I am aware that if my “communication skills” problem isn’t subsided by the time I have a career in sport, it can have consequences in my professional performance; especially if I am working with people or even worst-case scenario would be if I work for Media. This search for a new pathway in life will threat my comfort zone to the maximum, but the personal reward could still be my best pride.   Dwyer, J 2016, The business communication handbook, 10th edn, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne, VIC. Week 3

Criticism is not only constructive but the backbone for personal improvements. And for us, as students, receiving feedback is the single most influential factor that shapes both their personal and professional growth (Miller, Sawatzky & Chernomas 2018, p. 465). I have done an oral presentation as part of an assessment, which unveils further weakness in my communication skills. But information if not properly analyze, does not prosper. Then, observing back, I can assume that matching my communication ideas with my emotions as a storyteller, enhance the understanding of an audience. According to Dwyer (2016, p. 2), ‘communication is any behavior– verbal or non-verbal that is perceived by another’. I felt that from the moment I was standing in front of the audience by myself (as I was the only person with no group assigned) my presentation started. The situation forced me to show myself as calm as I could possibly be. I believe, my nonverbal gestures and presence settled a silence during the presentation that remained until the end. The general feedback and perception by the audience were mostly positive, but I think predisposed with kindness, by the fact of been doing the presentation without the support of a team or group. Still the consistent ‘group feedback’ leads to assuming, that the balance between the information presented and personal point of view, was seemed as very constructive and engaging. An understanding of my grammatical English limitations deserves attention; but the motivation received by a third person (Lecturer), and the unconditional side of my presentation as a ‘’fan’’, helped to deliver an ‘interesting’ presentation, with much ‘’room’’ for improvements.

Dwyer, J 2016, The business communication handbook, 10th edn,  Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne, VIC. Miller, Sawatzky & Chernomas 2018, ‘Clinical faculty development initiative: Providing student feedback’, Journal of Professional Nursing, vol. 34, no.6, pp. 463–469.

Week 5 Generally, motivation has been at high levels. I enjoy every subject and can’t stop daydreaming in how to apply the knowledge in real life experiences. The support from teachers is essential to feel comfortable to ask for help or support when it needs it. The quality of my work still does not meet my expectations. But the support from the people that surround me, keeps me looking forward to my objective, and only forward. It may sound simple, but one of the valuable lessons I’m learning in the modern era we live in, is that allows me or any person, to access all kind services and information. Not less important, from where to get this information, as finding the right resource have been the highlight of my learnings. Time management continues to be the factor to improve, as still is very difficult to adjust my work hours and divide them with studies. Early mornings hours of study have been changed to night-time, as I find the silence of my environment helping me to concentrate better. Maybe in the long term won’t work, as some of the times, the daily activities leave me too tired to focus as I should (at that time of the night).    

Week 7 The privilege of receiving feedback, precisely from each essay or assessment correction from lectures, through the online documents, give us as students, the knowledge of exactly (‘view inline feedback’) which aspects we can improve. But, ‘’feedback must be processed deeply and be accepted in order to have an effect on performance’’ (Crommelinck & Anseel, 2013 p. 237). I will add to the quote, that the feedback will be more accurate if retrieve from a knowledgeable source or successful story, experience or person. Usually, I reinforce the idea that ‘’I’m right’’ until proof contrary, but looking back in my life, the times I build up ‘’a skill’’ the most, was when consistently received and accommodate constructive feedback or training into my task or job; even that sometimes I struggle to differentiate my opinion with what’s ‘’politically’’ correct. Overall, the results of some of the assessments and assignments have been optimum, especially the assessments in a group for Sport in Australia subject, where some of the times I felt it didn’t represent the effort I was making to get as high marks as possible (within my capabilities). But reflecting in one of the Lecturer comments in class, she said, this experiences in the group, will in the future, represent an example of a future job environment, where working in the group for an objective, will be part of the daily routines. Makes me aware for next time, that the need for a better understanding of how delegating roles/responsibilities, will improve the communications for a common objective and better result.    

Crommelinck, M. & Anseel, F., 2013, ‘Understanding and encouraging feedback-seeking behaviour: a literature review’, Medical education, vol. 47, no.3, pp.232–41.  Holmesglen, 2019, Brightspace, viewed 25 May 2019, https://holmesglen.brightspace.com/d2l/le/userprogress/510135/231035/Summary?searchString=&sortField=LastName&sortDirection=0 Week 9 Applying protocols and conventions of academic writing to support my assessments continues to be a skill in progress. Writing introductions and conclusions imitating an academic document will for sure be appreciated by an employer in the future. Referencing and citing may look simple at first, but the potential to know how to use it properly could lead me in the future to publish legally and with academic integrity for a club or company.  Developing editing and proofreading skills are a must to keep training my English limitations. I recently applied for a Football course and my application was sent late for the due day of the registration. In my opinion, the professionalism of how I contacted the person in charge, was key to an optimum result in the end. The communication skills developed as writing, language, and vocabulary influenced an appropriate level of the interaction. But in general, the feeling that what I’m writing is more credible and professional feels remarkable. Be clearer in my communication skills, gives me a feeling of satisfaction and accurate improvement.    

Dwyer, J 2016, The business communication handbook, 10th edn,  Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne, VIC. Week 11 Auto-reflection skills, referring to improve studies habits are showing good progress, although, not as much as I would desire. The essays results are acceptable, but not the standard I expected. Missing on easy points as referencing correctly makes me upset. Or not refer to the task instructed by the guidelines of an essay to make sure I’m on the right track, more than once by now, cost me valuable time to re-write, leaving not enough time to edit or proofread. A learning curve that takes perseverance, patience and time management. However, I do have to mention the feeling of relief once a task is completed and submitted. In an instant, with the click of a button, hours of work are on the way to be evaluated. The highlight and reward to so many dedicated hours must be that the Lecturer from Business Communications, who awarded me of the visible improvements in the way I wrote assessments at the beginning of the year, compared to the last one submitted. Managing assessments, essays, and reports require a discipline that I'm still learning to structure. Week 13 With completing the first semester of the Bachelor of Sport Business, I was able to benefit from a variety of new knowledge from the classmates and lecturers and books, as well as refresh my memory on things that I already knew, but now feel that I wasn’t applying them as it should. The biggest hurdle in the course for me was balancing time between my personal work life and studies, so completing assignments on time was and still is a challenge for me. I have not come to a full solution to this problem yet, but I did make changes in my life as to how I can manage time differently for next semester, including re-assigning work hours only to weekends. I found that it was easier for me to focus at night-time, but with a strictly responsible attitude to accurate manage time before I get too exhausted. With hurdles came hidden strengths I discovered about myself. I’ve never thought of myself as a charismatic person, but in more than one occasion, I found that I could do a better use of my personality, combined with the knowledge, sounds like a recipe I want to emulate. If I have the opportunity in the future, I feel I will communicate my ideas to the group/audience in a cleaner method, or in group work, try to balance the ideas of others so the group can come to an agreement upon the decision and divert task and responsibilities to avoid miscommunication. The sense of purpose motivated me to force my best every time, even if it wasn’t up to the levels required. The learning strategies, online services (StudioCity as an example), the library (Holmesglen) staff advocating time to asses my needs and questions have been another motivator to aim for the best of my capabilities. The cooperation with other students added always a different perspective to my view. All of these behaviors made massive progress in this first semester. Endorsing many of these actions will help to structure my academic behavior, for the second part of the year. Image reference: Lamb, S, Maire, Q & Doecke, E 2017, Key skills for the 21st Century: an evidence-based review, viewed 15 May 2019, http://education.nsw.gov.au/our-priorities/innovate-for-the-future/education-for-changing-world/research-findings