How to use interpersonal skills to get ahead in your career?
Communication is a skill required in all industries. While working as an employee in a company or being the owner of it, communication within the team is necessary. It improves the overall workflow and makes sure that the concerns or issues of everyone in the company are taken care of. It is an interpersonal skill necessary to succeed in your job and achieve career satisfaction.
Below are some interpersonal skills and their importance required in every workplace to succeed in that job or career. But first, let us look into what interpersonal skills are.
Interpersonal skills training is nothing but your ability to communicate with others clearly and successfully. In workplaces, interpersonal skills are necessary because- for a team to succeed, you all should be on the same page. Employees mainly use their skills to present their ideas and thoughts through brainstorming.
- It shows that you are confident
When you have interpersonal skills, you can interact with anyone and everyone. It helps you communicate the product and features to your customer base and have conversations with your colleagues. It implies that you can adapt various communication styles with people and their energy levels.
- It conveys your idea effectively
Regardless of the job or the field you work in, there are always certain aspects of your job that would expect you to communicate your information precisely and clearly. It includes presentations, negotiations, customer service, team-building activities, etc.
- It focuses on team success
Those who have good interpersonal skills training tend to perform well in their part of the job. They develop the ability to take directions well and involve everyone in the team. They are also often well praised by their superiors for honest and articulate feedback.
When you have well-developed interpersonal skills and appear for the interview, you will surely impress the employers and get selected. During the interview process, the employer and others note your strong and weak points to evaluate if you are capable of the post. Interpersonal skills would determine your propensity for teamwork and success.
- It creates a sense of leadership
It is a type of interpersonal skill that allows you to encourage or inspire your colleagues to do even better in their job. It can be learned just like any other skill set. But in contrast to other skill sets, leadership highly depends on your personality traits such as patience level, ability to take responsibility, self-motivation, dependability, and emotional intelligence.
- It eases the decision-making process
If you’re shocked that decision-making is listed here, try to twitch your perception a little. Do you know that your words hold the power to affect everyone around you? In a company where several employees work together, there are times when their ideas collide, creating confusion which results in delays in the decision-making process for the company. When you hold the ability to communicate your ideas clearly with confidence, people are more likely to side with you.
- It can also resolve conflicts
It is known to all that conflicts only arise when there is miscommunication. In a company employing 2 to 3 employees or hundreds, if an individual’s thoughts are not taken the way they thought they would, it creates a communication gap and later turns into conflicts. Conflicts in any environment are negative and can badly harm one another. When you have good interpersonal skills, you can listen to conflicts and come up with a solution to resolve the problem.
Now that you know the importance of developing or importing your interpersonal skills training let’s look into what it takes to learn them.
- Set your goals.
The initial step for improving or developing your interpersonal skills is setting up a meaningful goal. You should first consider your strong points and especially the elements of your conversations that you would like to improve.
For example, you might feel that you are unable to initiate a conversation with new people or colleagues. It can be intimidating in professional life. You should try to implement the SMART goal framework. It implies that you should develop goals that are more specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.
- Observe others communicate.
While working in a company, you would be given many chances to learn from your team members and superiors. When the time comes, you should try to observe the way others successfully interact with everyone in the room and note down the points that make the interaction interesting and successful.
For example, the tone of their voices, their hand gestures or placement, or the choice of words in the respective topic can help you understand what aspects of your skills need more sharpening. You can start by sharing your ideas with the people you feel comfortable with. for example, the people who are at the same post as you. Then slowly and steadily, you should expand your interaction with the team members and ask for feedback.
- Look for ways to practice your skills.
The next step is to brainstorm ideas and ways to practice your skill sets. You can develop your skills through interpersonal skills training by a mentor. You can also ask your mentor to engage in role-play scenarios where you both can play your part. In the end, your mentor can provide you feedback for improvement. You can also learn those skills through interpersonal skills training sessions. Ask your supervisor if the company offers such sessions. If not, then make use of your networking and find relevant programs.
- Choose your words carefully.
While interacting with someone in your company, the choice of words can make or break the conversation. For instance, while talking to your supervisor, you are not allowed to use words that are too casual or informal. On the other hand, interacting with your peers should not be too formal.
The tone of your voice also matters while interacting with people. Sometimes people get the wrong idea about your text because they don’t know the tone or the intention of saying that sentence. Your text can have many meanings if the tone is unheard. But while physically interacting with someone, the tone of your voice can speak more to them than your actual words.
- Use recordings.
You are the best critic for yourself. Sometimes a person’s preference for communication differs from others. The best way you can know about your rating from 0 to 10 for these skills is by recording your voice. Try engaging yourself in a mock conversational situation and record the whole conversation. Review your recording and find any habits or traits of yours that you would like to eliminate or continue.
Lastly, try speaking every time you get the chance to. Practicing more and more every day without a break can improve your interpersonal skills training. It will ensure that people look upon you for confident and creative ideas.
The Bottom Line
To know more about this topic, make sure to get in touch with Orator Academy and avail yourself of their training programs. It will not only improve the working pace of your team but will also help you go bigger and further in your career.
