Self-Assesment Exercise 4
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Thomas Edison State College *
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Communications
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Feb 20, 2024
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Public Leadership Box 9.4 Self-Assessment
Nonverbal Immediacy Scale
Joseph M. VanMorter
Thomas Edison State University
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Public Leadership Directions: Originally developed to assess the nonverbal immediacy of teachers, this scale has been revised to reveal nonverbal immediacy in all types of public presentations. For each item, indicate how likely you would be to engage in the nonverbal behaviors while speaking before a large group. Use the following scale:
5 – extremely likely 4 – likely 3 – maybe/unsure 2 – unlikely 1 – extremely unlikely 1. I would sit behind a table or desk while speaking.
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2. I would use a lot of purposeful gestures while talking to the group.
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3. I would use monotone/dull voice when speaking.
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4. I would look directly at my audience while presenting.
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5. I would smile at the group while talking.
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6. My entire body would feel tense and rigid while giving my speech.
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7. I would approach or stand beside individual audience members.
1
8. I would move around the room while speaking.
1
9. I would avoid looking at individual audience members during my speech.
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10. I would look at my notes frequently during my presentation.
5
11. I would stand behind a podium or desk while giving my speech.
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Public Leadership 3
12. I would have a very relaxed body position while talking to the group.
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13. I would smile at individual members in the audience.
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14. I would use a variety of vocal expressions while talking.
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15. I would engage in a lot of nervous gestures or body movements, such as shuffling my note cards or switching my weight from one foot to the next.
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Calculating Your Score
Step 1: Total your responses to items 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 15
21
Step 2: Total your responses to items 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14
17
Complete the following formula:
42 minus total from step 1 = 21
Plus total from step 2 = 38
YOUR TOTAL SCORE = 38
Interpreting Your Score: Your score should fall between 15 and 75. The average or midpoint is
around 45. If your score totals 50 or higher, you are high in nonverbal immediacy and are likely to be seen as approachable and likable. If your score falls below 40, you might want to learn and practice the specific immediacy behaviors reflected in the items listed in step 2. Nonimmediate speakers are perceived as cold and distant and are more likely to bore their audiences. Based on the results from this assessment, it can be concluded that my nonverbal communication skills are below acceptable standards. This assessment is designed to measure
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Public Leadership nonverbal immediacy, and just as stated in previous self-assessment exercises, I feel that this assessment does not provide an accurate analysis of my ability as a leader when it comes to my nonverbal communication skills. Based on the analysis I am unapproachable, cold, distant, and likely to bore my audience during a speech or presentation, this is far from true based on my personal experience with providing briefings and product analysis to supervision and higher command authority within my organization. As with each assessment, I do understand the concept behind them, although I do not agree one bit with how they are scored. This analysis focuses on nonverbal interactions between speaker and audience, it looks at areas such as eye contact, body posture, facial expression, and tone of voice, all of which are important when speaking to groups. The one thing I cannot wrap my head around is why the analysis focuses on such specific
areas of concern. Why do I have poor nonverbal skills? Is it simply because some assessment tells me I do? In the past both my verbal and nonverbal skills were very poor, I would often stand
behind a podium because I felt safer and less exposed, I would make very little eye contact with my audience, my body would be very stiff, and my tone of voice would be very monotone and nervous. I would often forget what it was I was actually talking about because I would be so nervous and would often stray from the subject at hand. The one thing that made me better at verbal and nonverbal communication was practice, not studying from a book or reading articles on how to improve my communication, but practice alone. I feel that this assessment does not reveal any potential strengths or weaknesses in my leadership ability, many years ago I would say the opposite because of my lack of skills and experience. This assessment simply highlights my methods used when speaking to a group of individuals, but it must also be understood that the people I speak in front of all have a very specific and common goal that must be achieved.
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Public Leadership As mentioned I feel that this assessment will not enable me to become more or less effective in my nonverbal immediacy as a leader. My supervision as well as my subordinates rely
on me to relay pertinent information throughout my chain of command in order to meet mission requirements and meet deadlines. The amount of eye contact, movement, hand gestures, and vocal expressions do not hold any value in my organization. With that being said, if I were to brief or present information to another organization other than my own my tactics would change slightly. Eye contact would be more frequent in order to connect and read my audience and my tone of voice would be altered. I was never a fan of using hand gestures or moving around the room during a speech, I never felt there was ever any value added to doing that, I feel that it only
adds distraction, which can impact the effectiveness of a speech. I do sometimes feel tense at the beginning of a brief if I am in front of a new group, but very quickly relax once I get into my presentation or brief. Although I do not feel this assessment accurately depicts my leadership potential and my effectiveness with nonverbal immediacy, I feel there is always room for improvement. A better review of my audience and speaking topic would help me feel more relaxed at the beginning of a
presentation, which would potentially enable an audience to feel more comfortable with me, allowing them to process my message more clearly. I don’t always stand behind a podium, only for formal ceremonies, but often times I may begin a speech behind one and slowly move away from the podium as I progress in my speech. If I were to begin a speech away from the “protection” of a podium I would ultimately learn to not rely on its use during a speech, and force myself to become more comfortable and relaxed without a barrier between myself and my audience. I have come a long way from when I first began, my verbal and nonverbal immediacy have greatly improved. From the stuttering, tense, sweaty palmed individual I started out as, to
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Public Leadership the relaxed, confident, and well-spoken individual I am turned into. I have learned through the years that my nonverbal communication is just as important as my verbal communication. Being an effective and efficient leader with a good foundation of nonverbal immediacy skills will greatly improve the effectiveness and willingness of subordinate members to follow you as their leader in their attempts to reach a common goal.
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