When it comes to the workplace, getting along well with others is a must. Whether working closely with coworkers as a team or communicating with clients, interpersonal skills are needed in every industry. These “soft skills” are crucial talents that help to develop strong working relationships, increase team productivity, and generally foster a positive working environment.
What Are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills, one of the “soft skills,” are those abilities that help you to interact positively with other people, in both your professional and personal life. They include intrinsic and learned skills that facilitate effective communication through both verbal and nonverbal channels.
Some people may naturally possess interpersonal skills such as a friendly demeanor. However, most of these skills are developed through experience and practice interacting with others.
Interpersonal Skills Necessary for the Workplace
Employers value interpersonal skills, and they are prerequisites for many professions. The ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues and clients is crucial for accomplishing business goals, building a healthy working environment, and advancing within your own career. Let’s explore some of the most important interpersonal skills within the workplace.
Clear Communication
The foremost interpersonal skill in the workplace is the ability to communicate clearly with others. Effective communication involves successfully conveying information to others as well as attentively listening to others. This means focusing your full attention on others while they are speaking, avoiding distractions, and responding appropriately to the messages they are trying to communicate.
Communication is key to working effectively in a team to accomplish mutual goals. Skilled communicators are also highly valued in client-facing positions where understanding a customer’s needs may be the difference between making or breaking a sale.
Conflict Management
No matter how well everyone may get along in the workplace, conflict is inevitable. Arguments between employees, clients, and management can lead to a loss of productivity and sales and an unhealthy working environment. Individuals with strong conflict management skills are able to listen carefully to both sides in a conflict and work out a solution to resolve the dispute.
Teamwork
Effective teamwork involves more than just communicating well with other team members. It requires a combination of abilities and skills, such as cooperation, coordination of individual tasks, shared responsibility, and mutual respect.
Teamwork is crucial for achieving organizational goals. With the right application of teamwork, there is no challenge that cannot be overcome, which is why it is so highly valued in the workplace.
Empathy
To work effectively with coworkers and clients, it is important to be able to understand a situation from their points of view and to respond with compassion, kindness, and respect. Empathy builds a close-knit and productive team as well as a healthy work environment.
Receiving Feedback
No one is perfect, and the ability to receive constructive feedback encourages professional growth over time with the help of those who are more experienced. Constructive feedback lets you know when you are on the right track, but when it is negative, it is often mistaken for criticism.
No one likes being criticized, but the ability to distinguish constructive feedback from criticism is a necessary element of professional growth. By being open to feedback, both positive and negative, you allow yourself to grow and become a more valuable member of the workplace.
Learning Interpersonal Skills for Business
Some people seem like they are born with incredible interpersonal skills, and they may come more naturally to some than to others. But the truth is that the interpersonal skills valued in the workplace can be learned—and as with most talents, this happens with regular practice. Joining an online social skills group can allow you to move slightly outside of your comfort zone and practice your skills with others in a safe environment.