The Fear of Communication by Taylor

The Fear of Communication by Taylor - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

My freshman year of college, I took a class called Introduction to Business. It was my first time in a class where we were focused on the inner workings of the business world. During this class, we were split up into groups of five to six people for a large project. Our specific group chose the topic of globalization and were to write a 10 page paper along with preparing a presentation for our entire class to see.

When we all met after class to discuss the delegation of pieces for the project, there was one main person who headed up writing the paper. We were to give her all of the sources and research we had so she could start writing the paper. We all had input whenever we met to write the paper, but for the most part she took over. As the days went by, suddenly this girl was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t showing up to class, she wasn’t answering emails and phone calls. Eventually, I contacted some of her friends and was able to get into contact with her. She said she had been overwhelmed with other classes and projects and wouldn’t have time to complete the paper.

At this point, I was in a panic and fear set in. Our paper was due soon and she had hardly anything written. I made the decision that because our entire team was relying on this paper, I would take over and write the whole paper myself. It was due within a couple of days, so I took all over her information and what she had written so far, to my room. I gathered all the research I could find and contacted my other group members asking for their sources again. Over the course of a couple of days, I had completely re-written our 10 page paper and silenced any fear I had.

While it was not the best written paper because I had less time to prepare than I could have, we did pass our group project presentation. Having to completely take over a project from someone was the largest academic obstacle I have encountered thus far. I knew that my grade and the grade of my group was in the hands of someone who didn’t communicate that she needed help.

What I learned from this is that fear of communication, especially when I need help and am feeling overwhelmed, can severely impact not only your life but the lives of others. I learned that in order for group projects to work well, we all have to stay in communication and understand exactly what our part of the project is. Asking for help is not usually comfortable and sometimes fear inducing for me, but to be successful, it is necessary. There is no shame in asking for help and being honest, and by doing so, it drives away fear. I also came to learn that when crisis happens and there is no one acting, I step in. Being the leader is not naturally my preference, but I am more than capable of stepping up when the opportunity comes.

This lesson I learned has come into play several times in my life after this project. I have been involved in many projects where communication was vital to the success of our work. I’m thankful I learned that lesson, even though it was during an already difficult class for me. It stretched my capacity for responsibility and encouraged me to take more risks and leadership roles in future group projects. Academically, I was also stretched and reminded that great work doesn’t happen in an instant, but rather over the course of time, working hard and dedicating time to it. I never want to feel panicked thinking my grade is going to drop significantly because communication never happened. I have been led by this experience ever since my freshman year and have strived to reach out to others in my groups to make sure they are not overwhelmed. Fear can make us close up and not acknowledge problems, but I choose to see those problems in the light and in the open so solutions can be made and actions can be taken.