Dear Reader,
As Fazal Abbas, I highly recommend taking the “Test: How diplomatic are you?” to gain valuable insights into your interpersonal skills. This assessment evaluates your ability to navigate complex social situations and communicate effectively in various contexts.
Key benefits of the test include:
1. Self-awareness: Understand your strengths and weaknesses in diplomatic interactions
2. Skill improvement: Identify areas for growth in conflict resolution and negotiation
3. Career advancement: Enhance your professional prospects by developing crucial soft skills
The test covers essential aspects of diplomacy, such as:
– Active listening
– Emotional intelligence
– Conflict resolution
– Cross-cultural communication
Research shows that diplomatic skills are increasingly valued in today’s globalized workforce. A study by the World Economic Forum ranks diplomacy among the top 10 skills required for future job markets.
Take this test to unlock your diplomatic potential and excel in both personal and professional relationships..
Diplomacy is trending topic in these times of distant but very close wars. It would take the action of united diplomats from halfway around the world to settle conflicts that threaten the very existence of humanity. For the diplomat is, by definition, the official charged with conducting negotiations between individuals, groups or nations to reach an agreement, or to resolve a conflict, without violence.
Diplomacy as a way of life
But while in international politics diplomatic officials play a key role in relations between countries, in daily life the discipline they exercise becomes convenient for social, interpersonal, and work relationships. As the vocabulary says, the diplomat is a person who does not compromise and pursues his end with patience and skill. It is shrewd, intelligent, cautious but also careful and skillful.
Useful skills for being diplomatic are:
- Emotional stability;
- Clarity about one’s interests;
- Aptitude to cooperate with others;
- Self control in crisis situations;
- Right consideration of oneself and one’s abilities.
Those who can be diplomatic, in short, do very well because they are not only able to manage his relationships with acumen and foresight, but he also knows how to control emotionality prioritizing calmness, perceptiveness, and reasoning.
There are people who are “born” diplomatic, by family upbringing or personal choice. There are others who can’t seem to avoid conflict or do without ruining interpersonal relationships. But what a struggle to live like this! Diplomacy does not guarantee social peace, but it does ensure the possibility of avoid contrasts, misunderstandings, grudges, hostility (and nervous stomach ache).
For become more diplomatic we can work on ourselves and these skills.
✓ Knowing how to communicate: We state our opinions clearly and directly but politely, without accusing or attacking the other person. We use first-person statements to express our ideas. For example, instead of saying “You never understand anything!”, it is better to “Maybe I misunderstood… (and calmly restate the concept).” Or, instead of “You are incompetent, this is not how this thing is done!”, better “How about looking at alternatives?”
✓ Knowing how to listen: the diplomatic person knows how to listen, not just hear. So let us strive to let the other person speak without interrupting him or her, in order to get a good understanding of his or her thinking. Only then can we quickly develop a plan to respond appropriately and, if appropriate, bring him to our side without him even noticing.
✓ Having empathy: we try to understand how others feel-this will help us interact with them more constructively, balancing emotions and reactions.
✓ Moving appropriately: Body language is crucial. When dealing with others, we maintain eye contact, smile (not too much) and assume an open posture to convey confidence and helpfulness. Talking to someone while looking away, or worse, staring at the smartphone, or in a defensive posture with crossed legs and arms and body facing three-quarters, does not “catch” the interlocutor but annoys or embarrasses him. And it does not play into our hands.
Dealing with conflict
It is precisely under these circumstances that the diplomatic person brings out his or her talents. If a conflict arises with someone, especially at work, we resolve the issue with calmness and control of the situation.
- We maintain a calm tone and respectful. Let’s forget about aggression, because we need to pacify, not increase friction. Once we identify the problem, we express our concerns and seek a solution that satisfies both parties.
- L’breadth of views helps us greatly in this task, because it enables us to understand attitudes and lifestyles that differ from our own without judging them, but identifying the most advantageous reaction for us.
Promoting ourselves
Just as the diplomat is concerned with promoting his or her country’s interests in an international scenario and managing relations with other states, we should be able to further our own interests promoting our image and prestige.
- This does not mean manipulating others or performing improper actions but aiming to protect ourselves, creating a network of positive relationships and trustworthy, so that our reputation is increasingly elevated and considered.
Learning to mediate
Diplomacy is a skill that is honed with practice. And mediation, or the pursuit of thebest agreement between the parties, is one of its most important tools. But knowing how to mediate is a talent that also helps a lot in daily life, because:
- it improves interpersonal relationships
- resolves conflicts
- helps find win-win solutions
Those who can mediate are also people endowed with creativity: indeed, it must be capable of having new ideas, considering problems from different angles and finding innovative solutions.
…and to negotiate
When one sets out to negotiate — that is, to negotiate peacefully and intelligently for one’s own interests without harming those of others — one must not have an attitude that reduces everything to “if you lose, I win” and “if you win, I lose.” Success comes when all parties involved can feel that they come out at least partly winners.
- This applies to every moment in life when we find ourselves negotiating something of advantageous (a used car in good condition) or of desirable (an adequate salary) for us, without taking aggressive or sly attitudes.
- Negotiation is the art of coming to terms without antagonizing anyone, with minimum compromise and maximum benefit: most useful in every area of life!
Do you want to attempt a career in diplomacy? You need one of these master’s degrees: political science, law, economics. You also need knowledge of English and another EU language (French, Spanish, German), preferably a third non-European language. The only way to happen to the profession is to pass the Access Competition for the Diplomatic Career, published annually by MAECI – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Measure your diplomatic aptitude
But not everyone can (or wants to) live and behave diplomatically. Some people are more irritable, more sensitive, more prone to distance themselves from others or refuse to compromise. Those who in the face of conflict attack, those who flee, those who become depressed. Yet a pinch of diplomacy (and understanding) would be enough to resolve so many issues not only personal but also professional, territorial, political. Human, in short.
What about you, can you be diplomatic and forward-thinking or do you tend to be more blunt and impulsive? To find out, play with the test.
