Assertive behaviour

Deloitte place emphasis on assertiveness being a key employability skill and suggest it is the 'only effective way to achieve our goals'.  Deloitte describes assertiveness as a way of standing up for your own rights whilst accepting and respecting others rights.

Assertiveness is considered as a rational process, where an individual is able to be objective in relation to their natural emotional response to a situation, and instead, should react based on rational thinking and processing.  Assertiveness is believed to be an effective way of resolving conflict, which avoids personalising issues.  Assertiveness is said to create a win-win situation, in which individuals' should avoid being either aggressive or passive.

There are three suggested steps to being assertive:


1. Actively listen to others, demonstrating an understanding by paraphrasing and providing reflection on what they are saying. (on it's own, this stage = being passive)


2. Explain how you feel, ensuring you depersonalise yourself from emotive responses


3. Explain what you want to happen, how you want to move forward in the future in relation to the issue discussed.

In the safety of the learning environment, it is important that as a teacher, I proactively encourage learners to practise and develop assertiveness, contextualising to their learning experience and in relation to prospective workplace environments.  This can be achieved by the use of role plays and case studies, actively engaging learners in developing assertive skills.

 

Consideration must be given to criticisms of the assertive approach in relation to the expectation that individuals should be able to detach from their emotions in an objective way and whether in real life situations this is a realistic expectation.  Other criticism relates to the creation of deadlock situations, where due to the even assertive approaches of individuals nobody actually achieves their goal and stalemate is the only conclusion.

This is something that can be explored, developed and reflected upon through practical application with learners.  It is important, that I give learners the opportunity to evaluate and reflect upon their own assertiveness so that they may take ownership of their skills development.

My own levels of assertiveness have been discussed in other sections of this blog, and is a skill I intend to continue to develop in line with my professional role as a teacher.