Communication Competence

You’ve probably had a moment when a conversation went sideways and thought, “That didn’t go well.” Maybe the words were right, but the tone was off. Or perhaps you didn’t say anything at all and wished you had. That’s where communication competence comes in. This chapter examines the principles of effective and responsible communication in a professional setting. You’ll learn that competence goes beyond just saying the right thing; it involves being self-aware, culturally sensitive, ethical, and adaptable. We’ll also explore how to intentionally develop these skills by acquiring knowledge, practicing mindfulness, and reflecting on your choices. Whether you’re sending an email, giving feedback, or participating in a meeting, your ability to communicate competently will directly impact your credibility, relationships, and success at work.

Defining Competence

We have already defined communication, and you probably know that being competent at something means knowing what you’re doing. When we combine these terms, we obtain the following definition: communication competence refers to the knowledge of adequate and appropriate communication patterns, as well as the ability to use and adapt that knowledge in various contexts (Cooley & Roach, 1984). To better understand this definition, let’s break apart its components.

The first part of the definition we will unpack deals with knowledge. The cognitive elements of competence encompass both knowing how to do something and understanding why things are done in a particular way (Hargie, 2011). People can develop cognitive competence by observing and evaluating the actions of others. Cognitive competence can also be developed through instruction. Since you are currently taking a communication class, we encourage you to observe the communication concepts you are learning in the communication practices of others and yourself. This will help bring the ideas to life and also help you evaluate how communication in the real world matches up with communication concepts. As you build a repertoire of communication knowledge based on your experiential and classroom knowledge, you will also develop behavioral competence.

The second part of the definition of communication competence we will unpack is the ability to use. Individual factors affect our ability to do anything. Not everyone has the same athletic, musical, or intellectual ability. At the personal level, a person’s physiological and psychological characteristics affect competence. Regarding physiology, age, maturity, and ability to communicate affect competence. In terms of psychology, a person’s mood, stress level, personality, and level of communication apprehension (i.e., level of communication anxiety) all affect their competence (Cooley & Roach, 1984). All these factors will either help or hinder you when you try to apply the knowledge you have learned to actual communication behaviors. For example, you might know strategies for being an effective speaker. Still, public speaking anxiety that kicks in when you get in front of the audience may prevent you from entirely putting that knowledge into practice.

The third part of the definition we will unpack is the ability to adapt to various contexts. What is competent or not varies based on social and cultural context, making it impossible to have only one standard for communication competence (Cooley & Roach, 1984). Social variables such as status and power affect competence. In a social situation where one person—say, a supervisor—has more power than another—for example, their employee—the supervisor typically sets the standard for competence. Although we clearly define communication competence, there are no universally accepted definitions for competence in any given situation, as competence varies at the individual, social, and cultural levels.

Developing Competence

Knowing the dimensions of competence is a crucial first step toward developing it. Everyone reading this book already has some experience with and knowledge about communication. After all, you’ve spent many years explicitly and implicitly learning to communicate. For example, we are expressly taught the verbal codes we use to communicate. On the other hand, although numerous rules and norms are associated with nonverbal communication, we rarely receive explicit instructions on how to do it. Instead, we learn by observing others and through trial and error with our nonverbal communication. Competence encompasses both verbal and nonverbal elements, and it applies to various situations and contexts. Communication competence is essential for understanding communication ethics, developing cultural awareness, utilizing electronic communication, and thinking critically. Competence involves knowledge, motivation, and skills. It’s not enough to know what good communication consists of; you must also be motivated to reflect on and improve your communication skills.

Regarding competence, we all have areas where we excel and areas where we have room for improvement. In most cases, we can consciously choose to work on our weaknesses, which may require considerable effort. There are multiple stages of competence that we challenge you to assess as you communicate in your daily life: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence (Hargie, 2011). Before you have built up a rich cognitive knowledge base of communication concepts and practiced and reflected on skills in a particular area, you may exhibit unconscious incompetence, which means you are not even aware that you are communicating in an incompetent manner. You may exhibit conscious incompetence once you learn more about communication and have a vocabulary to identify concepts. This is where you know what you should be doing and realize you’re not doing it as well as you could. However, as your skills increase, you may advance to conscious competence, meaning you are aware that you are communicating effectively. This will add to your bank of experiences to draw from in future interactions. When you reach the stage of unconscious competence, you communicate successfully without straining to be competent. Just because you reach the stage of unconscious competence in one area or with one person does not mean you will always stay there. We encounter new forms of communication regularly. Although we may be able to draw on the communication skills we have learned about and developed, it may take a few instances of conscious incompetence before we can advance to the later stages.