Interpersonal skills are the skills we use every day when we
communicate and interact with other people, both individually
and in groups. They include a wide range of skills, but
particularly communication skills such as listening and
effective speaking. They also include the ability to control and
manage your emotions.
It is no exaggeration to say that interpersonal skills are the
foundation for success in life. People with strong interpersonal skills
tend to be able to work well with other people, including in teams or
groups, formally and informally. They communicate effectively with
others, whether family, friends, colleagues, customers or clients.
They also have better relationships at home and at work.
You can improve your interpersonal skills by developing your
awareness of how you interact with others and practising your skills.
This page provides an overview of interpersonal skills and how they are developed
and used. It explains where these skills are important, including particular jobs that
may require very good interpersonal skills. Finally, it discusses how you can start to
develop your interpersonal skills further.
Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/interpersonal-skills.html
What are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills are sometimes referred to as social skills, people skills,
soft skills, or life skills.
However, these terms can be used both more narrowly and more broadly than
‘interpersonal skills’. On this website, we define interpersonal skills as:
“The skills you need and use to communicate and interact with
other people.”
This definition means that interpersonal skills therefore include:
Communication skills, which in turn covers:
o Verbal Communication – what we say and how we say it;
o Non-Verbal Communication – what we communicate
without words, for example through body language, or
tone of voice; and
o Listening Skills – how we interpret both the verbal and non-
verbal messages sent by others.
Emotional intelligence – being able to understand and manage
your own and others’ emotions.
Team-working – being able to work with others in groups and
teams, both formal and informal.
Negotiation, persuasion and influencing skills – working with
others to find a mutually agreeable (Win/Win) outcome. This
may be considered a subset of communication, but it is often
treated separately.
Conflict resolution and mediation – working with others to
resolve interpersonal conflict and disagreements in a positive
way, which again may be considered a subset of
communication.
Problem solving and decision-making – working with others to
identify, define and solve problems, which includes making
decisions about the best course of action.
Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/interpersonal-skills.html
The Importance of Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills matter because none of us lives in a bubble.
In the course of our lives, we have to communicate with and interact with other
people on a daily if not hourly basis, and sometimes more often. Good
interpersonal skills ‘oil the wheels’ of these interactions, making them smoother
and pleasanter for all those involved. They allow us to build better and longer-
lasting relationships, both at home and at work.
Interpersonal skills at home
Good interpersonal skills help you to communicate more effectively with family
and friends.
This is likely to be particularly important with your partner. For example, being able
to give and receive feedback effectively with your partner can help to resolve
small problems between you before they become big issues.
There is more about this, and other aspects of using interpersonal skills at home, in
our pages on Personal and Romantic Relationship Skills and Parenting Skills.
Interpersonal skills at work
You may not like to think about it in these terms, but you almost certainly spend
more time with your colleagues than your partner.
At work, you are required to communicate with and interact with a wide range of
people, from suppliers and customers through to your immediate colleagues,
colleagues further afield, your team and your manager. Your ability to do so
effectively can make the difference between a successful working life, and one
spent wondering what went wrong.
There are, of course, some jobs in which interpersonal skills are particularly
important.
Customer-facing roles, such as sales and customer relations management, are likely
to specify good interpersonal skills as a prerequisite. However, there are a number
of other less obvious jobs and careers where interpersonal skills are also vitally
important. These include:
Healthcare provision, including doctors, nurses and other healthcare
professionals. Being able to listen to, and talk to, patients and their families
is an essential skill, as is being able to give bad news in a sensitive way. We
almost take these skills for granted in healthcare professionals—but we also
know how devastating the situation can be when these professionals have
poor skills and fail to communicate effectively.
Financial advice and brokerage. Financial advisers and brokers need to be
able to listen carefully to their customers, and understand both what they
are saying, and what they are not articulating. This enables them to provide
recommendations that match their clients’ needs. Poor interpersonal skills
mean that they will find it harder to build good customer relationships, and
to understand customer needs.
Computer programming and development. This area is often thought of
as the ultimate territory for ‘geeks’, with the assumption that interpersonal
skills are not essential. However, technical developers increasingly need good
interpersonal skills to understand their customers, and to be able to
‘translate’ between the technical and the practical.
Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/interpersonal-skills.html
What Are Interpersonal Skills?
People's interpersonal skills are their abilities and strategies for interacting with others.
They can help you build personal and professional relationships, as well as
communicate and work with others effectively. Interpersonal skills combine personality
traits and various social skills.
Many people refer to interpersonal skills as soft skills, people skills, emotional
intelligence, or employability skills.
Why Are Interpersonal Skills Important in the Workplace?
Many jobs involve a degree of teamwork and collaboration. If employees can’t
communicate effectively, are unable to find common ground, or are unwilling to help
each other, it can result in an increase in upsetting situations at work, decreased
productivity, and an overall toxic atmosphere.
And it’s more than that. According to the Future of Jobs report for 2020–2025, there’s a
growing demand for interpersonal skills, such as negotiation and emotional intelligence.
List of Key Interpersonal Skills
Here’s a list of interpersonal skills that are most valued in the 21st century:
1. Communication
2. Leadership
3. Decision-making
4. Problem-solving
5. Organization
6. Social skills
7. Collaboration
8. Emotional intelligence
9. Adaptability
10. Stress management
1. Communication Skills
It’s no accident that communication skills top the list. There’s so much more to effective
interpersonal communication than speaking coherently. It’s also about listening,
understanding what the other person is saying, and reading non-verbal cues.
Examples of interpersonal communication skills include:
Verbal and nonverbal communication
Body language
Public speaking
Presentation skills
Negotiation
Mediation
Persuasion
Active listening
Conflict resolution
Assertiveness
Diplomacy
Giving and receiving feedback
Improving communication skills can be difficult, especially for introverted and
neurodivergent individuals. If you’d like to try it, you might want to enroll in online
courses, such as Communication Skills Master Class from Udemy.
2. Leadership
Being a leader has nothing to do with corporate seniority levels. It's an interpersonal skill
that helps inspire others to work on the things you’re passionate about. Leadership
skills can be learned, but they’re highly correlated with your character traits. That’s why
certain people become natural leaders, even if they don’t start meetings with an
icebreaker. If you wish to improve your ability to lead others, you can try online courses
such as Leading People and Teams from Coursera.
Samples of interpersonal skills in leadership include:
Management skills
Mentoring
Motivation
Inspiring others
Reliability
Dependability
Responsibility
3. Decision-Making
Decision-making skills are essential for managers. Do you empathize with others
enough to see the implications of your decisions? Can you communicate an unpopular
decision in a way that will make people see your point? Or if a decision is to be made by
a group, can you weigh all the pros and cons? And finally, are you mature enough to be
held accountable for your decisions?
Decision-making requires interpersonal skills, such as:
Problem analysis
Making evidence-based decisions
Executive decision-making
Brainstorming
Consensus-building
4. Problem-Solving
Employers don’t want workers who give up when faced with an issue. They want people
who exhibit problem-solving skills and fix an issue themselves or know when and how to
find people who can do that at hand.
Some examples of interpersonal skills in problem-solving include:
Drawing conclusions
Insight
Experimenting
Creative thinking
Persistence
Questioning
5. Organization
Organizing your work is even more important in the era of remote jobs and flexible work
arrangements. Employers look for particular traits and want reliable workers who can
keep deadlines, prioritize tasks, and perform their jobs efficiently.
Among interpersonal abilities, organization skills could mean:
Time management
Administrative skills
Planning
Strategizing
Goal-setting
Working with deadlines
6. Social Skills
Humans are social creatures. Even if you enjoy solitude, you must have some basic
social skills to be successful at work. Sitcom characters like Sheldon Cooper can be
adorable, but in real life, saying improper things to others is not cute. It’s worth
learning how to start a conversation or how to introduce yourself casually—they’re basic
things that can make work life more manageable.
Interpersonal skills include social abilities, such as:
Relationship building
Developing rapport
Networking skills
Social awareness
7. Collaboration
Most 21st-century companies require their employees to collaborate effectively, form
cross-functional teams, share knowledge, and help one another. It doesn’t matter if
you’re a software engineer or a cashier at McDonald’s—your boss will expect you to
work with others at some point.
Interpersonal skills in collaboration mean:
Teamwork skills
Team building
Delegation of duties
8. Emotional Intelligence
You might be the smartest person in the room. Still, if you say hurtful remarks about
your colleagues and dismiss other people’s ideas without consideration, you won’t take
another step on your career ladder.
Interpersonal skills associated with emotional intelligence include:
Self-awareness
Empathy
Cultural sensitivity
Open-mindedness
Tolerance
Patience
9. Adaptability
Workplaces change. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that businesses and
employees must be able to adapt to various work conditions. Accepting changes and
overcoming challenges can make you more resilient, successful at work, and more
relaxed in the long run.
Aspects of adaptability related to interpersonal skills include:
Flexibility
Resilience
Positive attitude
Humor
10. Stress Management
Everyone feels tense sometimes. However, being unable to work because of stress is a
serious issue, not only for the employer but also for you. Too much stress can lead to
burnout and depression. Nowadays, it’s very important to know how to handle
stress productively.
Examples of stress management as an interpersonal skill include:
Reacting to stress
Staying calm under pressure
Deescalation techniques
Relaxation techniques
As you see, you can’t underestimate the importance of interpersonal skills in the
workplace.
Communication and interpersonal skills are important for successful project
management, building team dynamics, and effective and efficient cross-departmental
collaboration.
