“Empathy and social skills are social intelligence, the interpersonal part of emotional intelligence. That’s why they look alike.” – Daniel Goleman
You might be the best marketing professional or the best accounts fellow in your company, you might be the sales guy with the maximum number of clients or the technical head with the most efficient team in the company.
But, do you think this is all you require to be successful in your job?
Or let me rephrase it, is there anything you’re missing out on?
These questions might prove to be quite confusing at first, but if given some serious thought they will turn out to be equally significant.
The points to follow will take you through a discussion regarding the Interpersonal skills you require at work and the possible ways you can work on them.
What are Interpersonal skills?
- Interpersonal skills are the social skills you use every day to communicate or interact with the people around you. Right from expressing your thoughts and ideas to the body language you maintain while communicating, interpersonal skills has a lot of attributes to it.
- Of all the skills an employer or a manager seeks in his employees, interpersonal skills are the foremost one. Workers with these skills resolve conflicts very easily and politely. Moreover, an employee proficient in interpersonal skills can easily adapt to changes at workplace and convey professionalism in their attitude.
- Research has shown that more people lose their jobs because of being incapable in polishing their interpersonal skills than those who lack work related savvy. In fact, companies have started hiring employees on the basis of one’s prowess to express and present themselves.
How to Improve Interpersonal Skills?
There are some ways you can adopt to polish and improve your interpersonal skills. Going through the following points will make you well-acquainted with them.
1. Put on a happy face:
People who smile often and have a lively attitude are successful in keeping their co-workers happy.
So can be the case with you if you try and be happy while working. Try to be cheerful and polite in all the conversations with your co-workers.
2. Praise your co-workers’ efforts:
When it comes to praising, don’t hold yourself back. If your colleague has made efforts which deserve appreciation and need to be recognized, take a step forward to applaud and appreciate him.
Identify the qualities you like in your fellow employees and let them know about it. This will not only make them feel self-confident but will also enable them to form a high opinion regarding you.
3. Be considerate enough:
Be aware of your surroundings and of what is happening with your colleagues. Recognize the blissful events in their lives, from a birthday to getting a new car.
Express your compassion in case any one of them is going through a bad phase in life. Being considerate will let the other employees and your boss have an idea regarding how much you care about the company and its members.
4. Work on your listening skills:
Being a good listener is a pre-requisite of being a good speaker. It shows the concern and respect you have for the views your colleagues have.
They will feel more connected to you knowing that you are a dedicated listener and understand them better than others who prefer talking over them.
5. Try and settle disputes:
Be it a dispute, a spat or a banter, office environment is used to all these since long back in the past. But, can you be the person your colleagues turn up to in case of a dispute?
For sure, this requires a great amount of trust, but having earned it, you will be the person solving problems than creating them.
6. Be a great communicator:
Having been a good listener it is also very necessary for you to express your ideas and views in front of your team.
When in a discussion with your co-workers, don’t be blunt about your viewpoint, instead think carefully and put them forth in a polite way.
7. Do not be a whiner:
The people who complain the most turn out to be the least popular ones. All you need is to stop whining to avoid being portrayed as a negative person in front of your team.
If there is something troubling you at work, try alternatives like writing about it in a journal and talking to your friends and family. It is much better than being known as the office brat.
Keeping in mind the above points, you can easily assure an efficacious environment around you at work. Seriously, interpersonal skills are this easy to work on. Just hang in there and keep giving your efforts.
Author Bio: Anshuman Kukreti is a professional writer and a keen follower of the global job market. An engineer by qualification and an artist at heart, he writes on various topics relating to employment across the globe. Currently he is working for Naukrigulf
