Shared Communication Competence: Moving Beyond the Individual in Interprofessional Communication

Abstract

Communication competence is considered a core competency for interprofessional work. Existing approaches to communication competence in teamwork conceptualize competence as an individual quality, displayed as certain situational skills. However, communication competence in itself is an inherently relational phenomenon; one cannot be competent alone, but rather meanings and interpretations of competence are relationally constructed, maintained, evaluated, and developed in communication. This chapter proposes a relational and systemic perspective of shared communication competence, defined as emergent, jointly constructed and negotiated, and temporally changing. Seen this way, the theoretical focus of competence shifts from individual capabilities to joint meaning-making processes.