You are a senior technician at Certkiller .com. A trainee asks you for an example of assertive
communication. What would your answer be?
A.
‘We are failing on this project because of your lack of performance.’
B.
‘Your conclusion and recommendations are wrong.’
C.
‘You probably don’t understand the complexity of this problem.’
D.
‘Help me understand why the report wasn’t submitted on time.’
Explanation:
As a communication style and strategy, assertiveness is distinguished from aggression and
passivity. How people deal with personal boundaries; their own and those of other people, helps to
distinguish between these three concepts. Passive communicators do not defend their own
personal boundaries and thus allow aggressive people to harm or otherwise unduly influence
them. They are also typically not likely to risk trying to influence anyone else. Aggressive people
do not respect the personal boundaries of others and thus are liable to harm others while trying to
influence them. A person communicates assertively by not being afraid to speak his or her mind or
trying to influence others, but doing so in a way that respects the personal boundaries of others.