Imperfection: Responding to Communication Skills Assessment

Not all of us are effective in communicating. In fact, when you take a look at the world today, a lot of us have trouble getting a simple message across. We all have pretty good idea about what we want to let others know, but most of us do not have the right idea about how to do it. All we need to do is to improve our communication skills and the first step to improvement is being able to see our mistakes. This is the reason for communication skills assessments.

Communication skills assessments come in two parts: verbal and non-verbal. The verbal communication skills assessment takes measure of how adept we are at the use of words. It assesses the way we use words to convey our meaning and the way we interpret meanings from words. This part of a communication skills assessment does this through written and oral exams.

Non-verbal communication skills assessment takes note of the way we say things without the use of words. These take note of how well we are able to express ourselves using gestures, drawings and other "symbolic" languages. This is usually done through observation and evaluation.

How should one respond to the results of a communication skills assessment?

1) Accept : Tests are made to be objective as possible. The results of your communication skills assessment are ensured to be free of any bias. This means that you cannot blame someone if you made some mistakes. You cannot be perfect, since no human is. Even in such a natural field as communications, people are apt to make mistakes. Do not try to blame the testers for your mistakes.

Don't rant and rave about the test, just accept the truth that you are not perfect and move on to the next step.

2) Improve : The next step is improvement. Once you have accepted the fact that you are not perfect, you must try to improve yourself. The main goal of a communication skills assessment is not to criticize you, but to improve you.

Some people, when they get bad results from communication skills assessment, sink into despair. They think that they have no hope of improvement. However, here is the truth: communication skills are not fixed from birth. This means that you can take steps to improve them.

There are two ways to do this: by yourself or through another person's help. If you choose the former, there are a lot of resources available out there for you to use. This means that you only need the will to improve. If you choose the latter, some professionals are ready to help you. More often than not, the ones who conducted the communication skills assessment will provide you the help that you need.

3) Observe : Once you have improved yourself, you need to be observant. We always need continuous improvement so be vigilant and see what improvements need to do next. If you continue to be observant about your communication, you increase the chances that you will never need a communication skills assessment again.

Communication skills assessment is like a mirror, letting you see what parts of you need improvement. However, this instrument alone is not enough to make you better. You need to have the right attitude in order to actually improve. Always remember that in life, having the right attitude is everything.

Recommended reading:

1. Twice as Fun: The Two Types of Communication Skills - Communication is one of the most fundamental assets of humans. In fact, when you think about it, communication is not...
2. Some Myths and Facts on Effective Communication Skills - Communication, like so many other activities of humanity has a lot of myths surrounding it. Some have basis in the...
3. Say What You Mean: Developing Verbal Communication Skills - Words are said to be man's greatest achievement. However, many people would argue that verbal communication was developed not out...
4. Tips to Have Great Interpersonal Communication Skills - One of the keys to success is having great interpersonal communication skills. People with interpersonal communication skills have a higher...
5. Reading the Unreadable: Communication Skills for Pharmacists - "I thought communication skills were for teachers?" is the most common phrase uttered by people when they hear of communication...