The 11 most common communication competency questions

If you are wondering what communication competence is, how it’s measured, or what benefits it brings, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I answer 11 of the most commonly Googled questions about communication competence.

What is communication competence?

According to Oxford University, communication competence is defined in three ways:

1. The ability to choose a communication strategy that is appropriate and effective in a given situation or context.
2. The degree to which a communicator’s goals are achieved through effective and appropriate interaction. (a sender-oriented approach)
3. The ability to communicate effectively with people of different backgrounds and cultures. (a receiver-oriented approach). This includes being responsive to the social and linguistic characteristics of particular audiences.

There is a fourth definition of communication competence: the level of communication skills a prospective job candidate has. Businesses often list communication as a required competence in job descriptions.  Unfortunately this is a vague requirement for candidates because there are hundreds of different communication skills and no one is good at them all.

(FYI: communication competence is not to be confused with communicative competence. Communicative competence is an academic term related to learning languages.)

Can communication competence be learned?

Yes, communication competence can be learned. Communication competence is another way of saying how much skill you have. And skill can all be learned.

The thing is, the type and level of communication skills you need will vary for each situation. It isn’t practical to learn every type of communication skill. You need to pick the specific skills you want to learn. These will most likely be the skills that are relevant to your work. If you aren’t sure which skills to learn first, check out The 15 fundamental communication skills everybody need to learn.

How can communication competence benefit us?

It is easier to answer this by describing what happens if we don’t have communication competence. Confusion and lack of progress would be the result. The people we talk to wouldn’t understand what we want or why we want it. Our questions will remain unanswered or incorrectly answered. We wouldn’t be able to persuade anyone, or convince people to support our ideas.

Have you ever misunderstood a question and given an irrelevant answer. It is easy to do. Now imagine that happened every time you answer a question. That’s what happens if you are not a competent communicator.

How to achieve communication competence?

Achieving communication competence takes time. Don’t expect to read one book, or take a course for a few hours and suddenly become a competent communicator. In fact, I don’t believe it’s possible to achieve complete competence. There are simply too many types of communication skill to learn. There are also too many situations where nuances changes the how to apply a skill correctly.

But don’t be disheartened. It is definitely possible to achieve communication competence in many valuable skills. The key is picking the skills most relevant to you, your job, and what you want to achieve.

So how do you achieve communication competence?

1. First, learn the fundamental communication skills. These are the skills that underpin every other communication skill you need at work. You don’t need to become a Jedi master in each skill, but you do need to know what they all are. When you understand and use these skills, you’ll find all other forms of communication are easier.
2. When you know the 15 fundamental skills, pick the skills most relevant to your work and mater those. You will find you only need three to five specific skills to be an awesome communicator in your job.

If you’re wondering where to start, here is a list of 15 essential communication skills you need at work.

How to measure communication competence?

Many companies offer communication skill assessments. Each assessment offers a series of multiple-choice questions. Your answers provide some insight into level of competence.

The trouble is there is no consistency or standard metric. You could take three different tests and get different results. The lack of standardization means it isn’t easy to prove your level of ability.

Part of the problem lies in the large number of skills that make up communication skills. Presentations, active listening, email writing. Running meetings, giving bad news, delivering feedback. Summarizing complex topics and getting to the point. These are just a few of the skills that come together under the umbrella of communication skills.

Despite the lack of an agreed assessment, there is some interesting research about ways to measure communication competence at work.

The most relevant research created a model for managers and employees to assess each other’s communication skills. The assessment is a simple 11 question survey with each question being answered using a 5 point scale. The results of the assessment only provide useful information when used to create an action plan. This is a topic I plan to write more about so keep an eye out for a future article about a usable communication competence assessment.

If you’d like to find out more about the research based assessment look for the following article: Communicator Competence in the Workplace: Model Testing and Scale Development by Peter R. Monge, Susan G. Bachman, James P. Dillard and Eric M. Eisenberg.

Is communication competency situational?

Absolutely 100% YES communication competency is situational.

Think about it, does a priest at a wedding speak in the same way a drill sergeant speaks to new recruits in the army? Weddings would be quite different if the priest shouted like a drill-sergeant!

The same is true at work. Different situations call for different communication skills. For example, body language is often described as an important skill. But does body language help you write a simple email?

Being a competent communicator means choosing a an approach that is both appropriate and effective for the situation. Adapting to the situation, people, and desired outcome are all important.

What are the communication competency levels?

There is no official definition for different levels of communication competency. This is because there is no single framework defining communication competence. However, there are well defined levels for competence.

The four levels of competence are:

1. Unconscious incompetence (ignorance) — you aren’t aware you need a skill.
2. Conscious incompetence (awareness) — you know you need a skill but you don’t know how to do it.
3. Conscious competence (learning) — you know a skill and when to use it, but it takes effort to do it right.
4. Unconscious competence (mastery) — You can use the skill correctly even when you don’t think about it.

These four levels are true for competence in any skill. This includes all the different skills related to communications.

You can also have different level of competency in each of the communication skills. You may be a master of body language but ignorant of how to get to the point.

Is there a communication competency framework or model?

There is a competency framework that describes different levels of awareness and ability. The framework is true for any skill and includes the four levels described above.

1. Unconscious incompetence.
2. Conscious incompetence.
3. Conscious competence.
4. Unconscious competence.

The competency framework works for all communication skills. Unfortunately, the framework lacks specific information. It can’t help you assess your ability to communicate. The best you can do is take a list of communication skills and evaluate yourself against each one.

Then, identify the skills you want or need to improve and find training to help you.

What does communication competence look like?

It is easy to identify bad communicators. They include the person who shouts at work and the colleague who never seems to get to the point. These people all show signs of incompetent communication. These situations stand out, they frustrate us, and they are easy to identify.

But good communication is harder to spot. If someone is a competent communicator, they can get their message across quickly and clearly. They usually do it without upsetting people. The audience reacts to the information and doesn’t stop to think about the quality of the delivery.

It takes effort to identify good communicators. While the bad communicators stick out like a sore thumb.

In my opinion, good communication competence looks like this:

1. A message I delivered that is clear and no longer than it needs to be. Different topics are separate and not mixed up. The listener/reader knows why they have received the message and what they need to do with it.
2. Competent communicator speak at the right volume and at the right speed (keep in mind the ‘right’ volume and speed are different depending on the situation.)
3. Competent communicators take notice of the people around them. They adjust the message and approach to ensure the greatest chance of understanding.

What does communication competence require?

1. Knowing which skills you want to learn is the first step to becoming competent. You will waste a lot of time and effort if you don’t know the specific skills that will benefit you the most.
2. Ability and desire to learn. Knowing how to find training material is essential for gaining competency in communication. You must find and use reliable sources of information and training for each of the skills.
3. Patience and perseverance. Becoming a competent communicator takes consistent and conscious effort over a prolonged period. You’ll need to practice, review, and practice some more. Over time you will master individual communication skills and improve your communication competence.

Why is communication competence is important?

If you’ve read this far you probably have a good idea why communication competence is important. Being a competent communicator impacts everything we do. Our ability to work with other people, share ideas, and to influence all rely on communication.

Modern workplaces don’t promote people for time served. They promote people with the right skills and experience. More and more often those skills must include communication.

If you want to make your job easier, and have more career options, find a way to improve your communication competency.

Conclusion

So there you have it, answers to the 11 most Googled questions about communication competence. If you have other questions about this topic, please send me a message and I’ll be happy to add them to the list.

Also, if you want to make significant improvements to your own communication competence, get a FREE copy of The First Minute Workbook (normally $30). It is 120 pages of information and activities to help you be clearer and more concise in all your workplace communication.