Successful communication is an essential part of human life, and it defines one’s overall promotion in all spheres. However, there are conflicts that prevent us from being good at communicating, and I am no exception to the rule. Once I had a friend, who was an aggressive type of person, and he used to suffer from being misunderstood by others. When we first met, we enjoyed each other’s company since I am a nonassertive person who prefers to be led rather than lead (Reece & Reece, 2017). The situation changed when our opinions on one matter happened to be completely opposite, and I could not step back from my principles.
The development of the conflict showed that I lacked assertive skills allowing me to deal with similar cases. As the conflict trigger was a personality difference between us, it was the matter of compromising one’s principles (Reece & Reece, 2017). In that case, my passive behavior led to my friend communicating on his terms, and it consequently ruined our friendship because of my concealed resentment (“Stress management,” n.d.). Eventually, this experience proved the need to focus on the development of assertiveness in order to address arising communication issues in a confident manner.
Considering the conflict between my friend and me, I also realized the challenge of negotiating with aggressive people. It comes from their inability to interact with others without domineering (Sun, 2019). Therefore, in this situation, I should have applied another approach to conflict resolution. The problem-solving style would have best suited the case since it implies an open discussion of the issue in contrast to avoiding it (Reece & Reece, 2017). In this way, it would have been possible to remain friends with the person while remaining assertive.
References
Reece, B., & Reece, M. (2017). Effective human relations: Interpersonal and organizational applications (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Stress management (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. 2020, Web.
Sun, K (2019). Why are some people habitually aggressive? Psychology Today. Web.