Assertive Communication (What It Is, Characteristics, Types And Techniques)

The assertive communication is a form of conscious expression within the social skills of relationship, the same allows the manifestation of ideas, opinions, wishes, feelings and even rights, in such a way that these are completely clear, that is, they are transmitted in a direct, honest and respectful way.

This style of communication it is quite functional to ensure that our rights are valid, handle conflicts correctly, conduct a negotiation in the best way, managing to demonstrate skills and establishing conversations that are sustainable with more than one person and in completely different contexts favoring the taking of decisions.

Assertive communication characteristics

To ensure that communication is assertive, it is necessary to take into account several elements or characteristics of it. All of these are related to emotional, psychological and pragmatic aspects of the act itself. Some of the factors to consider are these:

• Body posture: the body when speaking must maintain an open and frank position, which manages to generate trust of the listeners towards the interlocutor, transmit an interesting and sincere aura.
• Location: A question comes into play here. Where can an interesting conversation take place? The answer is very simple, a peaceful place that creates security for all participants.
• Gesturality: the gestures that accompany the words during a conversation play an important role, whether against or in favor, it all depends on whether or not they are consistent with what you want to convey.
• Reciprocity: It is important to pay close attention to the time spent talking and listening to the responses of others. It is important to maintain a similar range for both parties, or you run the risk of monologue or others feeling indifference from the speaker.
• Joint: the way the words are pronounced during a conversation, the tone of voice that is maintained and the rhythm of the sentence have direct consequences in this. This can make the difference between an enjoyable and enriching exchange, one where listeners are exhausted or discouraged from hearing what you have to say.

Assertive communication types

In more extensive terms, we can say that there are three different categories of assertiveness within communication, which help to characterize it and differentiate it from others:

• Verbal: is one that has to do directly with what has been said, assertiveness is based on a good choice of words, sentence construction and everything related to linguistics.
• Non verbal: they are all the aspects that surround the language throughout the communicative act. Linguistic processes having direct consequences.
• For verbal: it is an intermediate range between verbal and non-verbal communication, encompassing elements of both to formulate a message and transmit it in the best possible way.

What will assertive communication do for you?

The soul of assertive communication is empathy, your ability to connect with your own needs and those of others to find points of collaboration. And that is tremendously comforting.

This will allow you to:

• Feeling entitled to make requests that you previously avoided for fear of upsetting or losing friends
• Better understand your feelings and needs, something fundamental for your self-esteem
• Stop feeling attacked and understand that when someone is angry it is because they have not been able to satisfy some of their needs
• Open the way to collaborate to find joint solutions
• Deepen conversations when others state their needs
• Feel more secure showing your feelings and vulnerability

Assertive communication is not just a way to defend your rights or say no. It is a new way of relating to the people around you.

3 Assertive communication techniques

Assertive communication has several techniques that can be applied so that it can be considered as such, here we will explain three of them:

1. Broken record technique

This technique consists of repeating the same statement several times without actually modifying the tone, volume or rhythm of the voice, always from a peaceful position, avoiding any type of confrontation.

2. Fog bank technique

It can be distinguished from others since it allows clients to be right, without giving rise to discussion or comforting continuing to take center stage. It is an efficient but dangerous technique, if it is not used correctly clients may think that there is little interest in helping them.

3. Technique for change

The use of this technique seeks to achieve a global vision of the discussion, in such a way that revitalization is achieved to greatly reduce the levels of frustration or aggressiveness that are present.

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