Communication Assessment - Eric M. Eisenberg & Sean E. Mahar

1. Business Leadership - As a business leader, you’ve put together a team to launch an initiative to remedy a wide-spread issue within your company. A few weeks into the initiative, you’ve seen no improvement. What is your next step?*
- Insist team members improve their performance.
- Communicate specific ways team members could improve.
- Rethink team members’ roles/responsibilities in the execution of the initiative.
- Collect feedback on how you could’ve better planned and executed this effort.

2. Classmate - Imagine you are a student working on a project with a classmate, and he or she doesn’t provide quality work for their half of the responsibilities. How do you proceed?*
- Supplement and revise their contributions to ensure a higher score.
- Proceed with the project the way it is but inform the teacher of who contributed what.
- Talk to your partner about what they didn’t understand and ask how you could help them complete their half of the project in a way that will ensure a higher score.
- Explain to your partner why their work isn’t up to par and ask them to redo it.

3. Parent/Child - Until now, your child has been a straight-A student, but they’ve just brought home a report card with 4 A's, 1 B, and 1 C. How do you start a conversation with your child concerning their grades?*
- Sit them down and ask them what’s been challenging them this year. Are they having problems with teachers, friends, concentration, etc.?
- Instate consequences if grades don’t improve.
- Remind them that low grades will make it more difficult to succeed. Tell a relevant story from your or a friend’s life.
- Make a point to praise them for their higher grades and ask them about which class they enjoyed the most before inquiring about the classes with which they struggled

4. Service Industry - Imagine you are the general manager of a popular local restaurant. You’ve noticed an increase in negative online reviews in the last couple of months. What are your initial thoughts on improving customer satisfaction?*
- Give employees constructive feedback on their customer service skills.
- Assess what you and the other members of management could do to address customer complaints through your leadership.
- Run a promotion to bring in new business.
- Hold a restaurant-wide meeting to discuss the issues causing the negative reviews.

5. Hospital Setting - Imagine you are a physician and a patient you discharged last week is back in the ER. What are your first thoughts regarding the reason for their return visit?*
- The patient was likely not following discharge instructions.
- Maybe the nurse failed to provide proper aftercare instructions.
- The patient probably didn’t ask enough questions to understand the proper aftercare regimen.
- I wonder if I missed part of the underlying problem.

6. Spouse - About a month in advance, you and your spouse agree to attend an event together. Four days before the event, your spouse schedules an important meeting during that time and thus will no longer be able to come with you. How do you approach the situation?*
- Try to be as understanding as possible, and calmly discuss ways that you could work together to avoid problems like this in the future.
- Clearly express your disappointment and be sure to remind them multiple times about any future events.
- Insist they reschedule their meeting, no matter how important it is.
- Shrug it off, and don’t say anything. It’s better to avoid conflict.

7. Coworker - One of your coworkers tends to come by your desk unannounced to have lengthy conversations. Sometimes the conversations are work-related and constructive, but they frequently disrupt your productivity. What do you do?*
- Try to move the conversations along as best you can. This is part of working in an office.
- Communicate with your coworker that while you want to continue to share ideas, it’s best if you identify a time when you can give them your full attention.
- Talk with your supervisor about the best way to proceed.
- Try being standoffish when they are bothering you. They’ll likely get the picture.

8. Friend - You confide in a friend about a problem you are currently facing in your personal life and ask for their advice. They respond with advice that doesn’t seem relevant. What is likely your first thought?*
- They weren’t paying attention while I was talking.
- They might have misunderstood what I was saying.
- I did not effectively convey my situation in a way that they could understand.
- They don’t care about the outcome of my situation.

9. You are giving a presentation to show your team progress on an important project and share important information needed to move forward. Almost immediately, a landscaper begins mowing the lawn right outside the window, making it difficult for the participants to hear. What do you do?*
- Power through the meeting and be sure to speak loudly.
- Go over the information as quickly as possible and ask for employees to email you with questions.
- Excuse yourself to go outside and speak to the landscaper about moving to a different area for the duration of the meeting.
- Proceed with the meeting as planned and hope for the best.

10. When you are speaking to a group, how well do you feel you communicate your ideas?*
- I thoroughly think through my message before addressing an audience and feel as though I convey my ideas clearly and concisely.
- It depends on the situation, but I always follow-up to ensure that my message was understood in the way I intended it.
- I like to speak off the cuff, and just answer clarifying questions as they come up.
- I feel like I communicate my ideas well, but my thoughts are often misperceived.

Name*
First Last
Email*
By clicking the submit button, you are agreeing to receive email updates from Eric Eisenberg and Sean Mahar. You can unsubscribe at any time.
CAPTCHA

Assessment