If You’ve Ever Applied for a Job, You Must’ve Wondered Which Interpersonal Skills to Put on Your Resume
These skills are something hiring managers always look out for. In fact, on a scale from 1 to 5, managers rate the importance of having good interpersonal skills at 4.37.
In the workplace, it is especially important to find people who will be able to communicate and collaborate well with their colleagues.
Let’s go over interpersonal skills examples and see why they are so important in the workplace.
What are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills, often known as people skills or personable skills, are skills you use to communicate with others. We use them daily when interacting with others, whether in the workplace or in our personal lives. Interpersonal skills meaning is of or pertaining to the relations between persons: He has strong interpersonal skills.
In order to be a good communicator, you should not only be able to express your thoughts and feelings clearly but also listen to and understand others and their feelings and needs.
So, what are examples of good interpersonal skills? Here are some of them:
- Active listening
- Empathy
- Patience
- Conflict resolution
- Teamwork
- Dependability
- Negotiation
- Leadership
- Flexibility
You also might be wondering how do you gain interpersonal skills. The tricky part is, these skills are not something that’s learned in the classroom. Some people simply possess these soft skills naturally. However, they can also be learned and honed.
Interpersonal Skills at Work are Essential
Businesses must understand the importance of personal skills and help their employees nurture better communication and collaboration. Managers should identify areas for improvement and help their employees evolve. They should encourage them to attend courses and training that promote personal growth and put them in situations where they can practice good communication skills and improve collaboration.
There are many different types of these skills.
Depending on the industry, particular skills can have more or less value. For example, one of the most desirable interpersonal skills in nursing is empathy, while the ability to communicate clearly and persuade others is one of the crucial interpersonal skills for finance.
It is essential to have people with solid personable skills on your team, as it will allow your business to run smoothly and make your day-to-day operations much more efficient.
Don’t Forget about your Outsourced Teams
Keep in mind that ensuring that everyone within your organization has good interpersonal communication skills is not enough. Nowadays, most businesses also collaborate with third parties such as freelancers and agencies. It is essential to make sure that they also have developed interpersonal skills in order to ensure that your communication and collaboration are running smoothly.
For example, when you’re outsourcing digital marketing, you want to choose a reputable agency such as AdVisible that has a proven track record of not only successful campaigns but also good and transparent communication with their clients.
The interpersonal skills of your third-party collaborators are equally important to your success, so make sure to choose wisely who you associate with.
Why are Interpersonal Skills Important?
The importance of interpersonal skills is undeniable. Here are 7 ways your workplace can benefit from them.
They Promote Effective Communication
Effective and seamless communication is the foundation of any successful business. In order to be a good communicator, interpersonal skills are essential.
These skills help establish relationships between coworkers and encourage a mutual exchange of skills, information, and ideas. What’s more, they promote mutual respect and openness to another’s opinions and feedback.
When your employees know how to communicate well, their performance is better, they can effectively manage tasks, and complete their assignments in a timely manner.
They Allow Continuous Feedback
In order to effectively complete tasks, you need an open and constructive feedback loop.
A feedback loop is ongoing communication between a supervisor and an employee. Employees might ask for feedback at various stages of performing their tasks. Receiving this feedback is essential for the successful completion of tasks.
Supervisors should tell employees that they are doing well or that they should make relevant adjustments in a timely manner. However, they sometimes give feedback only when the assignment is already done, which is a mistake.
This breaks down the feedback loop and can negatively affect employee productivity.
Good interpersonal skills can help both supervisors and employees avoid these mistakes and continue the cycle of ongoing feedback.
They Make Your Employees More Relatable
Your employees will see each other as much more approachable if they have good interpersonal skills.
They will find it much easier to build good relationships and have effective communication with someone they find relatable and approachable, so having a team of well-versed communicators will boost engagement and increase productivity levels across the board.
They Increase Customer Satisfaction
Your employees are not the only ones who can benefit from good communication skills in the workplace, see what we mean by this with good communication skills. If your employees are diplomatic and tactful, your customers will also be more satisfied. Soft skills play a crucial role in building strong and positive relationships with your customers.
They Help Foster Both Personal and Professional Relationships
One of the biggest benefits is that they help create and foster meaningful relationships. This involves multiple variables such as consistency, sincerity, follow-through, and empathy.
However, they not only help create personal relationships in the workplace, but they also help keep these relationships within professional boundaries.
They Make Good Leaders
All of your employees should have good interpersonal skills, however, they’re especially important for leaders.
The reason for this is that, in order to be a good leader, one has to be able to communicate clearly, foster interpersonal relationships, and establish trust. Without these abilities, their team will not be productive and will inevitably fail in the long run.
They Encourage Empathy
Another crucial characteristic of leaders is empathy. Being able to recognize when their subordinates are worried and stressed allows them to make a powerful connection with them and help them overcome challenges and tribulations. This not only helps to create loyalty and boost morale but also boosts productivity.
Do your employees have good interpersonal skills? Use this article as a guide to determine if there are any weak spots within your team and detect areas that need improvement.
