Example from the Development Guide
Relationship Awareness Competency
The ability to read people, situations, and your impact on them accurately, and how to build strategic alliances within the larger organization.
Sample Behavioral Indicator from the Survey
Read people and situations accurately.
Recommendation from the Development Guide
Look for Messages at Multiple Levels
When someone is speaking, give him or her your conscious attention, and consider the impact of what is happening from each person’s point of view to orient yourself to their concerns. Maintain eye contact and listen to the words as well as their meaning. Try to pick up their emotion through their tone, body language, or use of key phrases. Do the same when you are talking. Scan the faces and postures of people you are addressing for external, unspoken cues to their emotional reactions. If you have trouble sensing what others are thinking and feeling, develop the habit of asking direct questions, such as, “What is your initial reaction to what I have said?”