The video below is an overview of Communication Competence.
” Communication Competence” by Daniel Usera & contributing authors, LibreTexts is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA . COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
In the world of staffing agencies, companies can greatly benefit from having competent communicators. But what is competent communication and what makes a competent communicator? Competent communication is communicating both effectively and appropriately. Effectiveness of communicating looks at getting the message that we want across and asking questions in ways that warrant the response we are looking for. Appropriateness of communicating looks at sending the right message in a way that makes the receiver more open to our message, without alienating that receiver. So is competent communication something we can learn or is it a natural trait? And if you can learn it, how can you become a competent communicator? To understand the answers to these questions, we should look at the 4 key characteristics of a competent communicator. Self-awareness Self-awareness involves knowing your own strengths and what you are good at as well as how you come off to others. Knowing what makes you a good recruiter allows you to play up those parts of conversations, whether it is personality, knowledge, or another strength. Understanding how you are perceived is also important as it can help determine if you are creating more or less interest for a candidate based on your words, tone or behavior. Adaptability Adaptability is being able to read a situation and change as needed. Being able to perceive how someone you are speaking with is responding to you and change your behavior or interaction level to best get along with them allows you to create the best experience for that person. This is crucial in creating the best possible relationship with that candidate. Empathy Empathy is having compassion with others and understanding how something you say might impact someone. This is important, especially in the staffing industry, because you want to create a positive image of your company both with people you can help as well as those you can’t. In addition, your message or connection will be lost if the candidate is offended or feels that you aren’t listening to them. Being helpful and compassionate to anyone in the job search will ultimately make people feel a stronger positive impression and connection. Cognitive complexity Cognitive complexity is the ability to understand that there are a multitude of reasons why someone might say or do something. When a call ends unexpectedly, we can make a few assumptions. We either assume that the candidate hung up, that the call dropped, or that that person became busy. Especially in channel-lean contexts, where we do not receive any cues of intention besides wording, such as email or text, it is crucial not to assume tone or deeper meaning. Understanding that things happen and that people don’t always have the worst or best intent in mind is key to being open-minded and keeping assumptions from getting in the way of a relationship. So can we work to improve these characteristics? ABSOLUTELY! Building self-awareness comes along with working to better your communication skills and listening back to conversations. Listening to the words you say and the tone in which you say them can reveal that maybe you don’t come across the way you think you do. You can become more adaptable by reading a candidate’s responses and trying to match that person. If that means that you are more outgoing with an outgoing candidate, or speaking more slowly to match the speed of another candidate, doing it will improve your adaptability. Empathy can be increased by trying to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, by experience, or by trying to help in any way you can. Finally, you can improve your cognitive complexity by stopping yourself from jumping to conclusions, taking a step back, and thinking, “Why might this have happened? Is there potentially another explanation?” Taking a look at yourself and seeing where you currently stand in each of these characteristics will allow you to figure out how you can become a more competent communicator today! |