Recently
i had a job interview with an International company, and despite testing
technical / professional skills, a great importance on the interview process
was given to the "Interpersonal skills".
Interpersonal
Skills is one of the elements how your manager perceives you and coworkers,
which play a large role in things as minor as your day-to-day happiness at the
office and as major as the future of your career.
No
matter how hard you work or how many brilliant ideas you may have, if you cannot
connect with the people who work around you, your professional life will
suffer.
Here
are some tips, on how to improve our Interpersonal Skills.
- Smile. Few people want to be around someone who is
always down in the dumps. Do your best to be friendly and upbeat with your
coworkers. Maintain a positive, cheerful attitude about work and about
life. Smile often. The positive energy you radiate will draw others to
you.
- Be appreciative. Find one positive thing about everyone you work
with and let them hear it. Be generous with praise and kind words of
encouragement. Say thank you when someone helps you. Make colleagues feel
welcome when they call or stop by your office. If you let others know that
they are appreciated, they’ll want to give you their best.
- Pay attention to others. Observe what’s going on in other people’s lives.
Acknowledge their happy milestones, and express concern and sympathy for
difficult situations such as an illness or death. Make eye contact and
address people by their first names. Ask others for their opinions.
- Practice active listening. To actively listen is to demonstrate that you
intend to hear and understand another’s point of view. It means restating,
in your own words, what the other person has said. In this way, you know
that you understood their meaning and they know that your responses are
more than lip service. Your coworkers will appreciate knowing that you
really do listen to what they have to say.
- Bring people together. Create an environment that encourages others to
work together. Treat everyone equally, and don't play favorites. Avoid
talking about others behind their backs. Follow up on other people's
suggestions or requests. When you make a statement or announcement, check
to see that you have been understood. If folks see you as someone solid
and fair, they will grow to trust you.
- Resolve conflicts. Take a step beyond simply bringing people
together, and become someone who resolves conflicts when they arise. Learn
how to be an effective mediator. If coworkers bicker over personal or
professional disagreements, arrange to sit down with both parties and help
sort out their differences. By taking on such a leadership role, you will
garner respect and admiration from those around you.
- Communicate clearly. Pay close attention to both what you say and how
you say it. A clear and effective communicator avoids misunderstandings
with coworkers, collegues, and associates. Verbal eloquence projects an
image of intelligence and maturity, no matter what your age. If you tend
to blurt out anything that comes to mind, people won’t put much weight on
your words or opinions.
- Humor them. Don’t be afraid to be funny or clever. Most
people are drawn to a person that can make them laugh. Use your sense of
humor as an effective tool to lower barriers and gain people’s affection.
- See it from their side. Empathy means being able to put
yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand how they feel. Try to view
situations and responses from another person’s perspective. This can be
accomplished through staying in touch with your own emotions; those who
are cut off from their own feelings are often unable to empathize with
others.
- Don't complain. There is nothing worse than a chronic complainer
or whiner. If you simply have to vent about something,
save it for your diary. If you must verbalize your grievances, vent to
your personal friends and family, and keep it short. Spare those around
you, or else you’ll get a bad reputation.