5 Areas to Evaluate your Communication Skills
If you have been wanting to improve your speaking skills in your business or career, but you have no ideas where to start, this one's for you. In this blog, I’m talking all about the very first step in any personal or professional development journey: self-assessment.
We’ll cover why self-assessment is so important and 5 valuable questions you can ask yourself to better understand what your specific challenges are, which skills you should be focusing on developing, and how you can start!
Let’s dive in.
What is Self-Assessment?
Self-assessment is the process of evaluating yourself. It’s a powerful tool for evaluating your own knowledge, skills, or performance in any given area, and creating awareness of your own potential for self improvement.
Why is Self-Assessment Important?
While any assessment is valuable for receiving feedback for learning and development opportunities, self-assessment is especially powerful for promoting your own self-awareness and independence. Other forms of assessment (such as those provided by employers, clients, coaches, etc.) put the individual in a passive role, as they accept the feedback provided to them. The practice of self-assessment, by contrast, allows you to assume greater personal responsibility for your own abilities and performance, so you can feel as though you are in the driver’s seat of your career, your business, and your life.
Assessing Your Confidence and Communication Skills
Communication incorporates a wide variety of skills and is applied to a number of professional and personal situations, so there are many different assessment tools that are typically used depending on the context. When it comes to self assessment, of course you can use a formal evaluation with a score sheet, but much of the assessment comes down to asking yourself the right questions and knowing what to focus on. Below are 5 areas you should think about when assessing your own communication, and a few example questions for each
Self Confidence
Your self confidence is directly related to how successful you are as a communicator. When you lack confidence in your ideas and your ability to convey these ideas effectively, this self doubt translates into a lack of self trust, and it can be easily seen by those around you. Assessing your overall confidence level can help you understand the inner work required to set the stage for stronger skill development. Ask yourself:
How confident do I feel in my professional and personal life?
Do I stand up for and advocate for myself with ease?
Can I manage conflict calmly, without taking things personally?
2. First Impressions
Most people make a first impression in less than 7 seconds of meeting someone, and research shows that our first impressions of people are 76% accurate. All of this means that creating a strong first impression is SO important, because you might not get another chance. You want to be thinking of and evaluating for yourself by asking questions such as
“What’s the first impression I desire to make” and “on a scale of 1-10, how well am I making the impression that I desire?”
“How can I strengthen my first impressions?”
3. Professional Communication
Your professional communication skills focus on how you manage your interactions and relationships at work. This includes asserting your opinion, giving and receiving feedback, managing conflict, etc. As a professional woman, these skills are critical to Your credibility, relationship management and leadership. Think about your communication in the workplace and ask yourself questions like, “do I give and receive feedback with ease?” “Do I feel comfortable saying no?” How comfortable am I speaking with those in higher positions than me?” Do I manage conflict effectively and respectfully?
4. Sales and persuasion
Whether or not you work directly in sales, believe it or not, you are selling all the time. You might not even realize it but any time you want to get someone on board with your ideas, your selling and persuasion skills are at work. Honing these skills is integral to increasing the impact you can have in your career and/or business. Ask yourself questions like:
“how comfortable am I with selling myself/my business/ my ideas?”
“Can I easily get others to buy into my ideas?”
“On a scale of 1-10 how well do I negotiate?”
5. Public speaking
Your public speaking skills extend beyond just the podium and presentation room, and strengthening everything from your speech writing to your vocal delivery and body language can contribute to the success of your business/career. Ask yourself:
How comfortable am I speaking up in front of large groups?
Do I present my ideas in a clear and impactful way?
Do I know which gestures to use to present with the most confidence?
Give it a try for yourself and see what comes up for you. Remember, self awareness is the first step toward any change, and if you notice some areas are in need of a little T.L.C. know that, just like a muscle, your communication can be strengthened with dedication and practice.
Always in your corner,
Elisa xx
