How to Improve Your Assertiveness Skills for Increased Employee Productivity

Assertiveness skills are the key to your success in whatever path you choose. This form of communication highlights an individual’s ability to converse effectively, expressing feelings, opinions, and ideas in a manner not to hurt the rights of other people. Assertive behavior instills the ability to speak your heart out, the ability to say “No” when required, and using the body language to improve the impact of the message being conveyed. No wonder, assertiveness is one of the most vital soft skills that, when implied in right situations at right time, can take you to the peak of success.

The assertiveness training takes you to gain more confidence, allow you to express more freely, let you accept your faults, and improve your capability to create an impact without violating the thoughts, beliefs, and expressions of others. This certainly becomes a win-win situation for all.

Assertiveness Skill Development Techniques

There are certain training techniques that can improve the assertiveness skills of a person, making him a firm person, without being rude.

• Behavior Rehearsal: This technique literally means practicing the way you want yourself to sound and look. Rehearsing your behavior helps best when you are trying to use the affirmative “I” statements for the first time in expressing your opinions, needs and emotions. You can best identify your behavior that you are willing to confront under certain situations. Rehearsing helps you not to be aggressive or passive, rather being more firm in what you say while not being rude.
• Fogging: This is an effective technique in improving assertiveness skills, and helps you in receiving criticisms positively. It is often when people cannot take criticisms comfortably that they become aggressive or passive in their behavior. Fogging teaches you to acknowledge criticisms comfortably, agreeing with what others have opinion about you, but remaining the best judge of your choice.
• Repeated Assertion: This technique deals with sticking to your own point, while respectfully ignoring irrelevant logic, manipulative assertions, arguments, and criticisms. Generally, calm repetition of your point can be very effective in presenting your approach, while ignoring others’ views in a subtle manner. Proper rehearsal is necessary for repeated assertion, choosing your words carefully, not to instigate any disrespect or rudeness.
• Negative Assertion: This technique is significantly essential in improving your assertiveness skills, where you are better off looking at your negatives in a more comfortable manner, rather than feeling defensive. Such behavior also helps in reducing the hostile behavior of the critic. Rehearsing with this technique, you should learn to accept your faults and errors positively, but not apologizing for it. Rather, agree with the criticism of your negatives.
• Workable Compromise: This is one of the most important assertiveness skills allowing you reach an agreeable compromise without letting you lose your self-respect and self-esteem.

Discover the Benefits of Assertiveness Training in Workplace

• Increases employee performance
• Make you more effective and productive
• Help you manage your clients and colleagues more effectively
• Help reduce work stress
• Challenge problems and win over them
• Help you balance your work and personal life more efficiently
• Have better control over your job activities and responsibilities

Thus, instead of being aggressive, manipulative or passive in your behavior, try your assertiveness skills in walking up the ladders of success.