A global survey of 4000 professionals cited that training for interpersonal or soft skills is the number one priority. It is most likely to define the future of the workforce and an employee’s career path.
Interpersonal Skills will set employees apart and will determine their success as team members and, eventually, leaders in an organization. According to a study, people who have exceptional soft skills will make $29,000 more than their counterparts who lack the needed Interpersonal Skills.
Interpersonal skills, also known as emotional intelligence, deal with how people communicate and interact with one another. They encompass several employability characteristics that make a person a valuable contributor in the workplace.
An employee who has the following Interpersonal Skills will most likely thrive in the highly competitive job market:
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Effective Communication
An employee may be working in the seemingly introverted IT department or the dynamic world of construction. They could be dealing face-to-face with customers or typing away on the computer all day. Whatever the job entails, communication is one of the essential interpersonal skills that they need to develop.
Communication is not all about speaking or expressing one’s thoughts. Much of it should be spent listening to what others have to say. It is a delicate art of being in tune with the body language of others, probing to get what their hearts want to say, and being considerate of their feelings. By listening intentionally, an employee can respond accordingly and adjust or revamp the flow of conversation.
Communication also entails sending the message across in a calm and restful manner. The workplace is not a venue to spill out feelings and emotions. To develop Interpersonal Skills, one must reign any anger, fear, or even extreme joy to express thoughts professionally and clearly.
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Conflict Management
No matter where an employee is in their career, whether in the entry-level or leadership position, there is an excellent chance that they will encounter conflict at some point in their jobs. They may need to appease an angry client or resolve disagreements between team members.
It would be best to listen to both sides of the story and gather enough information before coming out with a resolution. It would be beneficial to foster a spirit of fairness and avoid taking sides. If a supervisor, for example, needs to offer feedback, they should give it constructively and provide useful recommendations.
The goal is not to declare a winner instead, to come up with a solution that will benefit the whole organization.
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Teamwork
Even if an employee spends most of the time working in a cubicle independently, they must remember that they are an integral part of the team. It would be best if they Imagine themselves as a cog in the company’s machine. If they fail to work with colleagues effectively, the engine will eventually break down.
Teamwork involves collaboration and constant communication. Those who are taking on a leadership position must have the ability to encourage and motivate team members. They must make it a point to resolve conflicts as they arise. It is recommended that they seek the opinions of others and bring them together to create a reliable and cohesive solution.
Extensive technical knowledge or hard skills about one’s job is crucial, but what determines stable and lasting success is Interpersonal Skills. Other employees with the same hard skills may come and go, but a person who has these soft skills are on their way towards the highest rung of the corporate ladder.
