Communication assessment

Communication Assessment

Through the process of communication assessment, one can assess how effective or ineffective their communication skills are. In the communication process, a communication specialist possesses outstanding communication abilities. A communicator has the ability to transmit and receive messages. I took a brief exam to assess my communication abilities, and I received a score of 60 out of 75 (Leonard, E. C., & Trusty, K. A. (2015). There are 15 questions total, and they address both verbal and nonverbal communication. Additionally, they emphasized the importance of a communicator's verbal and nonverbal communication abilities. One of the questions also looked at how to communicate while being culturally sensitive. My score which is 60 means that am not an excellent communicator and thus have some communication gaps. I set goals on what to communicate, appreciate others views and perspectives, and I am culture sensitive when communicating. To have excellent communication skills as per the test, one should understand the audience, develop interesting messages, be culturally sensitive, and be able to listen and appreciate others perspectives. 

Communication Gaps

My communication gaps are not going through an information before I send to the receiver and worrying too much on how the audience/receiver will perceive my message. Although I believe in what I write I tend to understand that it is good to go through the text before sending to the intended person. This is to determine whether the message is clear, look for typos and sentence structures among others. This has been my weakness and thus a communication gap. When I send the information without scanning it for mistakes and clarity, the receiver may not get the intended message and thus result to misconception. The communication gap on worrying too much on how the receiver or the audience will perceive the message. 

Communication Training

Due to the above communication gaps, I need communication training on how communication happens and how to make the message interesting to the audience. Communication process involves the sender who uses a particular medium to send a message to the receiver. I find it challenging to choose the right medium and how the message can be perceived by the receiver as intended. The nature of the message and understanding the audience is key in communicating. I would like to have additional training in this area to improve my communication skills. Making a message interesting is also not an easy task to me. To improve my skills also, I also need additional training on how I can make a message interesting to the audience. I can also want to have a training on the overall communication process to improve my communication skills.

Importance of Communication in the Business Field

In the business field, communication is vital. This means that I should have strategies which will help me improve my communication skills. This is to make my social life and understanding idea better at the workplace. Effective communication skills make one's life easy at the workplace as one understands how to relate with the employees well and how to solve problems when working with a team. I would like to improve my communication skill on how to have a conversation, how to make an inquiry, how to persuade and how to make a presentation.

To improve on my conversation I should consider seven strategies. The strategies include; "clarifying my objective, structuring my thinking, managing my time, finding a common ground, moving beyond argument, summarizing often and using visuals" (Baker, 2010). To ensure that my conversation is effective is should first evaluate what I want to achieve from it. I should also structure my thinking so that I can translate experience to ideas and how to achieve the ideas. Time is important when having a conversation. It will enable me to understand how I would achieve the conversation goal within the specified time. Conversation is a workplace may not just be the normal one. This means there is the reason I am entering into a conversation and I should just not argue but use facts to support my ideas. Summarizing ideas will enable me to achieve the conversation goal and manage my time. Using visuals is for clarity.

Making inquiries is also a crucial component of communicating. In my profession is also important. This is because when I will start working I will not be knowing everything. In this case, I will enquire from the department manager, co-workers, and those who have the job experience in the organization. To improve my inquiry skills I should; "pay attention, ask quality questions and give positive feedback" (Baker, 2010). This will help me respect the other people and give them a chance to express their ideas.

Communication is a way of persuading others. I should also improve my persuasion skills so that the audience/receiver of my message gets the intended one. To be persuasive, I should first understand my audience. Second, I should understand the core idea. Then I should use the language which is simple and easy to understand for the audience to be able to remember the ideas put forward. I should also consider delivering the message with words, visual aids, and also putting into consideration the non-verbal behavior like body language.

Making a presentation is also an important factor in advancing in my profession. This is because it will enable me to understand how to arrange the ideas well and coherently, clearly express the ideas, summarizing the ideas, and having an effective idea delivery. To be effective in my presentation, I should also learn how to use visual aids like PowerPoint presentation, charts, and diagrams. This is for clear message delivery. The presentation should be interesting and the audience should be given time for questions about the topic being discussed. This will enable me to manage time well when having a presentation (Theobald, 2010).

References

Barker, A. (2010). Improve your communication skills (Vol. 39). Kogan Page Publishers.

Leonard, E. C., & Trusty, K. A. (2015). Supervision: concepts and practices of management. Nelson Education.

Theobald, T. (2011). Develop your presentation skills. Kogan page.