Week 3 Assignment Essay

Running Head: COMMUNICATION SKILL ASSESSMENT

Communication Skill Assessment
Instructor: Chiji Ohayia
Management Technology with Technology Tools
January 28, 2014

Communication Skill Assessment
As we have addressed communication is very vital to everyday life, communication skills are some of the most essential skills that one needs to be successful in the workplace (Team, 2014). Communication skills are something that we continue to perfect on a daily learning basis. To be a good communicator you need to be sure that you are efficient in all areas of the communication process (Team, 2014). Communication takes place in face-to-face conversations, through emails, via phone conversations, and much more.
So how can you determine if you are communicating effectively? A company could consider a communication audit. A communication audit is a systematic assessment of an organization’s communications practices (Baack, 2012). A strategic communication audit determines what is working well, what is not, and what might work better if adjustments were made (Coffman, 2004). I think that I am good at communicating but I also think that I have a lot of room for improvement. I think that I could listen better and better consider the audience that I am communicating to when I have a message to send. To evaluate my communication skills, I chose to take a communication quiz provided by the Mind Tools website.
My communications score was a forty-nine. My score analysis is that I am a competent communicator, but I sometimes experience communication problems. I was advised to take time to think about my approach to communication, and focus on receiving messages effectively, as much as sending them (Team, 2014). The areas in which I need to work on to prefect my communication skills are; planning my message better, created a well crafted message, choose the right channel in which to send my message, allow the receiver to receive and interpret my message, and encourage feedback from the receivers of my message. To be a better communicator one must first understand the process of communication. The individual who is the starting place of communication sends it in a message, and then transmits it through a channel, the receiver of the message then deciphers it, and then there will be feedback from the receiver to the sender as to whether the message was understood or whether more information is needed to understand the message (Team, 2014).
I scored a ten out of fifteen on planning my message. To plan my communication, I need to take time to think about what I want to tell my receiver, this will eliminate the use of unnecessary information. I need to first understand the objective of why I am communicating. I also need to understand who my audience is and what I need them to know. Plan my message by knowing what to say and how I will deliver the message. I also need to ask for feedback on how well my message was taken. Following these steps will allow me to insure that the receivers will receive the message I want to send, positively. A good communicator uses the KISS (”Keep it Simple and Straightforward”) principle. This means knowing that less is more, and that all good communication should be efficient as well as effective (Team, 2014).
I scored a fourteen out of twenty-five for creating a clear and well-crafted message. To improve my message crafting I need to first decide what I want to say and exactly how I want to say it. To make this possible I need to not only consider what I am going to say, but how it will be perceived. It is important to consider the receivers perspective or it is possible that part or the entire message will be lost. To help me communicate more efficiently it is important that I understand what a really want to say, anticipate the receivers reaction, and select words and body language that permit the receiver to really pay attention to what I am saying. To communicate in

Show More