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By Rebecca Canan

Early results are in from our Online Skills Assessment! Approximately 250 corporate communicators have participated in the assessment, which asks them to evaluate their current maturity on 16 core competencies.  Additionally, some managers also assessed their direct staff’s performance on those same competencies.  You can see the competencies and brief definitions to the right.

*Note: CEC Members have access to more detailed descriptions at four progressing levels.

Any guess on which skills emerged as the most developed on teams? Or which ones are in most dire need of improvement? A few things jumped out to me when I was looking at the results:

• Overall: For the most part, communicators are somewhere in the middle. This was (for me) somewhat heartening to see because It means that

a) participants are likely being honest as they evaluate themselves and

b) communicators have a LOT of room to grow as they move from learning a skill to really applying and leading in that skill.

• Strongest Skills: The strongest skills were Active Listening, Core Writing/Message Simplification, and Interpersonal Influence. These are the things that many of us like…the things that got us into Corporate Communications to begin with. We like people (wondering what makes them work, how can we relate to them) and we like writing (words! expression!).
• Weakest Skills: The weakest skills overall were Global Perspective/Cultural Awareness, Communications Measurement, and Business Acumen. The first is a bit new to some of us; the second is a perennial challenge; and the third is what many of you hypothesized would come out on bottom. When we surveyed Heads of Communications, 63% of all respondents chose Business Acumen in their top picks of skills for their teams to improve upon.

We’re currently aggregating data and sending out reports to the functional leaders who launched the surveys. Over the next week, we’ll be sending individual reports to communicators who took the assessment. These reports will include tips and questions to interpret your results, a development plan template, and related resources aligned to each skill. CEC members, if you’re interested in the assessment, get more information (and get started!) on Skills Maturity Assessment here. Let me know if you have feedback, questions, or ideas.

CEC Related Resources:

• Online Skills Assessment
• The Modern Communicator’s Skill Set
• The Modern Communicator’s Skill Set (Webinar Replay)