Communication competency is the ability for someone who is communicating with another to reach their goals through interactive and appropriate interaction. Primarily, it is a skill level that human resources professionals and those responsible for managing others must attain and possess. In order to achieve competency in communication, the communicator must meet six criteria: flexibility, involvement, management, empathy, effectiveness and appropriateness.
Flexibility requires the communicator to be able to adapt to situations, so that it changes the behaviors of others in order to meet goals. Adaptability or flexibility may require the person who is communicating with others to be sensitive to both the goals itself and the people responsible for achieving the goals. For example, a supervisor may motivate workers by acknowledging the long hours the employees have had to put in, but at the same time make sure the job is being done.
Involvement in the conversation is another skill required to achieve communication competency. This requires the communicator to directly interact with the other party. Interaction includes listening to the needs and concerns of others. It also requires the communicator to be aware of how other people perceive them and to know what to say in response to all of this.
Being able to manage the conversation requires the communicator to regulate how they interact with others. The communicator must also adapt and control the conversation and their social interactions. Conversational management requires the communicator to control the direction the conversation takes, which is another level of attainement.
Empathy is the ability of the communicator to show that they understand where the others are coming from to share their own emotions. It is an emotion where the communicator shows he or she knows where the others are coming from, and that the communicator understands and understands.
Effectiveness is the ability for the communicator to reach the goal of the conversation. The ability to reach the goal of the conversation is the measurement of the level of communication competency. Effectiveness is the ability to meet both the requirements of the communicator and of the other parties involved.
Communication competency criteria also require appropriateness. Appropriateness is the ability to uphold the expectations of the situation at hand. How appropriate the conversation is in achieving goals is one of the primary measurements for attaining communication competency. When all of these criteria are met, the communicator has reached the highest level of communication competency.