8.2 – Communicate Verbally
Purpose & Context
Career Development Professionals (CDPs) express themselves verbally in an effective manner, choosing language relevant to their audience. This enables them to share information, ensure clarity and understanding, and promote a cooperative and productive work environment.
Effective Performance
Competent career development professionals must be able to:
- P1. Use language appropriate to audience, e.g. avoid jargon
- P2. Vary tone and volume to:
- Stimulate interest
- Emphasize major points
- P3. Use pauses to:
- Provide transition time between key points
- Maintain participants’ attention
- P4. Use inflection to indicate intended purpose, e.g. increased pitch at the end of questions
- P5. Verify understanding of messages, for example:
- Paraphrase others’ message
- Summarize outcomes of discussions
- P6. Speak at appropriate pace
Knowledge & Understanding
Competent career development professionals must know and understand:
- K1. Barriers to effective speaking, e.g. background noise, contradictory body language
- K2. Cultural behaviours regarding verbal communication
- K3. Physical and mental disabilities that may affect body language
- K4. Verbal, non-verbal and paraverbal communication
- K5. Question types, e.g. open-ended, closed-ended, probing
Contextual Variables
Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:
Glossary & Key References
Terms
Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.
Paraverbal: messages transmitted through the manner in which words are spoken, e.g. tone, pacing, pitch
Information Sources and Resources for Consideration
Context Rating Scales
Criticality
Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?
Frequency
Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?
Level of Difficulty
Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?
Time Required to Gain Proficiency
Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?
A career development professional seeks advice and guidance on how to improve verbal communication on a regular basis.
Autonomy
Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and alone and/or as part of a team.
Automation
It is unlikely that this competency will automate.