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Here we will look at communication competence.
A general agreement about communication competence is that "effective communication involves achieving one's goals in a manner that, ideally, maintains or enhances the relationship in which it occurs" (Adler and Towne, Looking Out Looking In, 9th ed., 1999, p. 33). |
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Human Performance Model
To the left is a basic human performance model containing the three essential elements of human behavior. We must have the ability to do something, want to do it (motive), and have the opportunity to do so. Bring back the old detective lines of Means, Motive, Opportunity? It is the same idea, but applied to all human performance.
It emphasizes the significance of motivation in communication, and that brings us to such elements as values, beliefs, and other drivers of human behavior. We must realize that all the communicative skill in the world will not change the outcome of a relationship where the participants do not WANT to participate. The final element of Communication Competence, the Commitment necessary to be successful, is incredibly significant. You gotta wanna, as they say, and sometimes the connection between communication partners is so tenuous, or damaged, that further interaction is no longer appealing. Motive must be worked on at that point.
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Characteristics of Competent Communicators
1. Use of a wide range of behaviors: that is, they have a large repertoire of communicative skills. 2. The ability to choose appropriate behaviors: they understand the relationships between context (where communication takes place), goals (what intentions are at work in a given situation), and people.
3. Skill at performing communicative behavior: the actual ability to use one's knowledge of people and behavior to do the work of communicating.
4. Cognitive complexity: the ability to understand another's point of view; perspective-taking; empathizing.
5. Self-monitoring ability: paying attention to your own behavior in the situation, and using that knowledge to modify and inform future decisions in the interaction.
6. Commitment: do you care about the relationship enough to invest in it further? More generally, do you care about your own communicative ability to improve your skills through education, training, and practice?
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