How Good A Communicator Are You?

1. When another person is talking to you, you tend to:

1. devote your entire attention to them
2. listen to them but your mind wanders from time to time
3. rarely listen, with mind wandering a great deal

2. When presenting a case, you tend to:

1. ensure that the people listening are given ample opportunity to intervene during your presentation
2. sometimes allow people to intervene when you notice they want to
3. like to finish before taking any questions or clarifications

3. In trying to convince somebody to do something, you tend to:

1. present only rational arguments
2. present rational arguments but use some emotional messages
3. appeal to them on an emotional level

4. Before communicating an important message to people at work, you tend to:

1. plan thoroughly what you are going to say
2. think through what you are going to say but not plan it precisely
3. do little planning, go with the flow and communicate in the here-and-now

5. If somebody had not performed well on a particular job and you were the boss, would you:

1. be fairly assertive and direct about their performance
2. try to communicate the problem calmly but also with some assertiveness
3. try to support the person and let them know what they did that was wrong

6. If you had to sack some people at work, would you:

1. let the personnel officer do it
2. leave most of the responsibility with personnel but offer the opportunity for discussion with yourself
3. see each of them face to face

7. When you arrive at work, do you tend to:

1. plan all your communications by listing the meetings, emails and calls you need to make
2. respond to what comes in throughout the day
3. do some planning but build in a contingency for unexpected incoming tasks

8. Do you view text messaging as:

1. a way of keeping in touch with friends to make social arrangements
2. the primary method of keeping your colleagues updated
3. a way of alerting workmates to important news

9. Do you think the use of good spelling and grammar is:

1. a must-have tool in the communications mix
2. an out-dated concept as communication is now less formal
3. nice to have, but not essential

10. In important decision-making meetings, do you tend to:

1. talk more than you listen
2. listen more than you talk
3. do both in equal measure

How Did You Score?

What Your Score Means

21-30 You are already a good communicator, thoughtful, passionate and prepared to listen. You take time to consider how the other party is feeling and are committed to continually improving your communication, both in terms of its style and your command of new technologies.
          You may sometimes find it hard to balance your IQ (intelligence) with your EQ (emotions) in choosing whether to present bare facts or the passion your feel about the subject.

11-20 You have a good instinct for communication, which will serve you well in most business situations. Most of the time you are fairly well planned, take time to think about what you are portraying to others, and are assertive in your actions.
          Occasionally you may feel you have not presented your best side, or may have failed to justify your arguments because you have not had sufficient time to think them through.

1-10 Although you understand the basics of communication, you need to take some time fine-tuning your style. You feel there are too many occasions when other people don’t seem to understand your point, or take up a contrary stance for no good reason.
           You may often get bogged down with information overload and need to find ways of filtering incoming messages to free up more time.
          It might be that you are not making the best use of the available technology and could do with brushing up on tools and techniques.

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