The goal of our Assertiveness Training course is to enable participants to learn to express their rights, requests, opinions, and feelings honestly, directly, and appropriately without violating the rights and self-esteem of others.

Each Assertiveness Training Institute training course begins with a self-assessment that enables individuals to understand their personality. We delve into each person’s strengths, weaknesses and stress areas to help people understand what makes them “tick.” We then begin the process of enabling participants to understand how to communicate more effectively with others. Through various activities and assertiveness training exercises, participants then begin to recognize other communication styles and the best way to communicate to them. Here is when the process of becoming more assertive truly takes shape – by understanding the needs of other communication styles, participants learn how to express their opinion and stand up for their interests regardless of who they are dealing with.

For more information on our assertiveness training courses contact us here.

Assertiveness Training: How To Teach Assertiveness Skills

I've been a communication skills coach for over five years now and heard some scary stories of conflict management trainers opting for the flight response in conflict and assertiveness skills trainers unable to assert themselves.

Think about it. If you cannot teach yourself assertiveness, how can you expect another person to learn from you?

So the first lesson is to make yourself have assertiveness in your communication and behavior.

The Best Model to Speed Up Learning

The next step is to provide the passiveness, assertiveness, and aggressiveness model. Draw three columns with "Passiveness", "Assertiveness", and "Aggressiveness" headings.

Under each heading, write down elements that describe each type of communication and behavior. I also encourage you to provide examples.

Under the "Passiveness" heading, you could have:
- A flight response (withdraw and run away)
- Avoid eye contact
- Often a loss for you and win for them as you avoid having your needs met
- Say nothing

Under the "Assertiveness" heading, you could have:
- A relationship-healthy response
- Strong, non-intrusive eye contact
- Win-win situation
- Example: "Could you repeat that please? I didn't understand."

Under the "Aggressiveness" heading, you could have:
- A fight response
- Stare down your opponent
- Win for you and a loss for them as you get your needs met at the expense of someone else (really ends up a loss-loss)
- Example: "Shut up and do your work!"

The Number One Activity to Teach Assertiveness

There are some activities to teach assertiveness I like that I recommend you use. One activity stands out, however. Role playing!

The best activity to help children is to role play. Act out situations they are likely to face in school and at home. If the child is having problems with a bully, be that bully (within reason of course!) and get the child to communicate and behave assertively.

Role playing is also useful for others you teach like women or teenagers. Tailor the scenarios to situations the person struggles in. By acting out the situations, you teach your students the assertiveness skills when they need them the most.

Source: Joshua Uebergang link

Related: Assertiveness Skills

For more information on our assertiveness training seminars contact us here.

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