An important skill for communication and socialisation, assertiveness is often misunderstood and confused with being aggressive when interacting with people.
To be able to be assertive, we first need to understand what assertiveness is. To put it simply, being assertive is the ability to express your needs, feelings, wishes, and personal rights in an honest, direct and appropriate way whether you’re at home or at work. If you feel the need to learn more about being assertive, consider joining the Assertiveness and Self-Confidence Training Course by PD Training in Kuala Lumpur.
Unlike being aggressive, people who are assertive know that they should always respect certain boundaries of other people such as thoughts, 
feelings and beliefs. Being assertive makes a person stand up for themselves comfortably and without feeling guilty, without denying the rights of the other person.
Being Passive
When we respond in a passive manner, we tend to allow the wishes of others over our own, which sometimes may lead to them challenging our personal rights and self-confidence. But why do some people adopt a passive approach? This actually comes from a deep longing of being liked by others. It may sound alright, but in reality, being passive will eventually lead to failure in communicating your thoughts and feelings. It will also get people to do things that they don’t really want to. Passive individuals allow others to decide what happens to them which leads to low self-confidence and self-esteem.
Being Aggressive
Being aggressive, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of being passive. By being aggressive, you have switched the tables by being the one who challenges the rights and self-esteem of others. There are many ways that you can be aggressive such as rushing people unnecessarily, ignoring them, telling instead of asking, and generally just not giving people their due respect.
When a person has aggressive behaviour, that person will be blinded. He/she will not be able to see how inconsiderate he/she is towards the feelings of others. Praises and appreciation comes rarely from this person and this aggressive stance tends to put other people down.
To have excellent interpersonal skills is to be knowledgeable in the different ways of communicating and approaching people. A wrong approach might provoke a person while the correct one can be a pleasant experience. When your approach is either aggressive or passive, it can have ugly consequences for everyone involved. This can truly be a terrifying experience for anyone and if the aggression doesn’t stop and thoughts and feelings are not clearly stated, this can lead to manipulation which is seen as a hidden form of aggression.
The best way to have a complete interpersonal relationships at home and at work is to improve your communication and assertiveness skills. The best option to do this is to join the assertiveness and self-confidence training course of PD Training in Kuala Lumpur.
PD Training delivers thousands of professional development courses each year in Kuala Lumpur so you can be assured your training will be delivered by a qualified and experienced trainer.
All public Assertiveness & Self Confidence Training courses include am/pm tea, lunch, printed courseware and a certificate of completion. Customised courses are available upon request so please contact pdtraining at [email protected] to learn more.