Skip to main content

Assessing Your Communication Competence

Published Date
Author McGraw Hill Higher Education

A Quiz

 

Developing a better understanding of your management and communication style is essential in today’s workplace. Take this Communication Competence Assessment to help measure how well you communicate.

Instructions: The following survey was designed to assess your communication competence. Consider your everyday conversations at school, work, and home when completing the survey. There are no right or wrong answers to the statements. Circle your answer by using the rating scale provided. After evaluating each of the survey statements, complete the scoring guide.

  1. During conversations I often use eye contact…………………..1 2 3 4 5
  2. I often initiate new topics during conversations………….…….1 2 3 4 5
  3. During conversations I do not feel the need to interrupt the person speaking.………………………………….………1 2 3 4 5
  4. I try to regulate the speed of my speech based on the audience..1 2 3 4 5
  5. While speaking I rarely fidget or play with things (e.g., pencil, rings, hair, etc.)…..…………………….…………………….…1 2 3 4 5
  6. While speaking I avoid pauses, silences, uses of “uh,” and so on………………………………………………………..1 2 3 4 5
  7. While speaking I try to exude vocal confidence — I am not too tense or nervous sounding….………………………….1 2 3 4 5
  8. During conversations I ask follow-up questions.………………..1 2 3 4 5
  9. I try to encourage the people I am speaking with to join in the topic of conversation…………..…………………..….1 2 3 4 5
  10. I try to include the use of humor or stories in my conversations..1 2 3 4 5
  11. During conversations I try to not talk too much about myself………………………..……………………………..……1 2 3 4 5
  12. I try to control the volume at which I speak (neither too loud nor too soft).……………………………………………………..….1 2 3 4 5

Scoring:

Total score for all items ______

Comparative Norms: Total score of 12–24= Low communication competence; Total score of25–47= Medium communication competence; Total score of48–60 = High communication competence.

Interpreting the Result

Communication competence is the extent to which you regularly practice communication behaviors which are known to be effective. This is not so much a measure of what you communicate, but rather a measure of how well you communicate. It is a measure of the quality of how you use your voice, the extent to which you listen and actively participate in conversations, how you use non-verbal behaviors, and your tendency and ability to use humor and other techniques to bolster your message.

If your score is in the low range, this may indicate you have considerable room for improvement in your communication competence. Since the ability to communicate well is fundamental in many business contexts, it would be wise for you to seek to improve in this area.

If your score is in the high range, this may indicate you are a fairly effective communicator. Nonetheless, there is every reason to continue to hone your skills. There is always room for improvement.

If your score is in the moderate range, this may indicate that you are in a good position to pursue significant improvement in your communication competence.

Action Steps

No matter what your score is on this self-assessment, there is always room for improvement in your communication competence. Here are some actions you can take to work on this essential skill:

  1. Study the survey results in detail and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Continue using your strengths, and find ways to develop your weaknesses. Begin by uncovering your three lowest rated items in the survey. Next, use one or more of the suggestions below to improve the skills associated with these lower rated items.
  2. Reading — Your text is a great starting point for reading about effective communication techniques and habits. In addition, there are numerous books on how to improve your communication.
  3. Taking courses — Your college or university almost certainly has a communications department that offers courses on various aspects of communication. One particularly interesting possibility is to take an acting course or two. Acting courses focus on communication effectiveness and provide a great opportunity for you to improve your skills, even if you have little interest in the theater.
  4. Observation — Watch how others communicate and learn from their successes as well as their mistakes. Watch your instructors — what techniques do they use to engage the class, to introduce new material, to deliver hard news such a poor test results, and so on. The point here is not to be critical of others, but to look for things you would like to emulate in your own communication, as well as to look for things you should avoid.
  5. Practice — Seek out opportunities to practice your communication skills. Of course, this includes formal speaking situations such as class presentations. However, it extends far beyond this. Work on your conversation with people with whom you eat lunch, with team members in a club or an intramural team, and in other informal conversational situations.

Survey Caveat

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may find your communication skills may change over time, or you may come to understand what your abilities actually are only later in life. Third, communication is a skill that can be learned and practiced. If your score is lower than you hoped, do not be discouraged. Rather, work on your skills using the action steps listed above.

Source: Adapted from B. H. Spitzberg and H. T. Hurt, “The Measurement of Interpersonal Skills In Instructional Contexts,” Communication Education, January 1987, pp. 28–45

These surveys and feedback are part of a McGraw-Hill textbook by Angelo Kinicki and Brian Williams. “Management: A Practical Introduction 8e,” McGraw-Hill Education, New York, NY, 2018.

Copyright © 2018 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous edition © 2016. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.