Interpersonal Skills

In a job interview, a candidate with a weaker resume could outdo a candidate with a much stronger one. While the logic says that recruiters will prefer a candidate with high hard skills, it is not always the case. You see, soft skills in an interview certainly help you stand out. It is one of the big reasons why people with lower GPAs and academic performance can land promising jobs. In this explanation, we touch upon the concept of interpersonal skills and their importance in organizational behavior. If you are ready to dive deeper, then let's keep moving!

Interpersonal Skills Definition

What is the definition of interpersonal skills? In any organization, communication is a key factor in its success. Top-tier managers communicate the tasks to the team leads, who then communicate them to their team members. This information flow helps them keep their performance on track and promptly rectify mistakes. To make communication effective, employees need to have strong interpersonal skills.

In organizational behavior, interpersonal skill is one of the main subjects. The reason is that it helps the organization achieve its goals. When the employees have good interpersonal skills, they can communicate effectively to find common ground. It also proves to be a key to handling complex situations in organizations and allows us to create a collaborative working environment.

As for employees, they must develop strong interpersonal skills, which would help them in their professional journeys. We devote years and years of our lives to our professional careers; therefore, we must make conscious efforts to develop these skills. It has a direct impact on our employability and networking.

Importance of Interpersonal Skills in Organizational Behavior

We cannot downplay the importance of interpersonal skills in organizational behavior. For employees as well as employers, interpersonal skills play a huge role in understanding tasks and communicating issues effectively.

For employers, it helps identify issues that could hamper the performance of employees. Employers must have strong interpersonal skills to communicate their roles and responsibilities to the employees. They can use these skills to build rapport with the employees.

As for employees, it helps them to build good working relationships with their colleagues. They can use these skills to communicate their problems to the management. It would ensure that their problems are taken care of immediately. This factor will increase their job engagement and satisfaction.

Interpersonal Communication Skills

Interpersonal communication skills are required to share information and express feelings or thoughts either face-to-face or through a medium. It includes the following:

• verbal communication,
• non-verbal communication, and
• active listening.

Communication is an important aspect of interpersonal skills. People need interpersonal communication skills to communicate their messages and effectively receive information.

Interpersonal communication is an essential part of an organization. Employees require information sharing to perform day-to-day tasks. They can communicate the progress of projects and get information from their superiors through interpersonal communication. It helps them to complete the tasks on time and produce better results.

At the workplace, these skills could prove fruitful in resolving issues among coworkers. Organizations must focus on cultivating these skills in the workplace. They can introduce training to help employees acquire these skills.

Fig. 1 - Interpersonal communication involves verbal, non-verbal communication, and active listening

Let’s discuss the elements of interpersonal communication skills.

These are:

1. verbal communication
2. non-verbal communication
3. active listening

Verbal communication – It is an important element of interpersonal communication. You need to have good verbal communication to achieve success in your profession. From job interviews to working in an organization, effective verbal communication makes you stand out and helps you to connect with colleagues.

Non-verbal communication – This type of communication includes body language, facial expressions, and gestures. It serves to provide clarity and establish trust in your verbal communication. It shows how the communicator is feeling or what his intentions are.

Active listening – Communication is not complete without active listening. To connect with others and work collaboratively, you must actively listen to what others communicate. This will help you understand the message and provide a reply or solution. Active listening is especially important in dealing with customers.

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills

Communication skill is a life-long skill that has a direct impact on our lives. It enables us to express our thoughts, listen to others, and build strong relationships along the way. However, to make communication effective, we need to understand the concept of interpersonal effectiveness skills.

It is the ability to manage communication effectively. People often struggle to say what they want to say, and this could make them feel frustrated. Interpersonal effectiveness skills help to enter a conversation with a defined objective. This way, one can easily communicate their thoughts to others.

Another aspect of these skills is learning to say no to others without compromising your relationships and self-respect. This way one can communicate with others while maintaining their integrity. We can use these skills to maintain healthy relationships in our personal and professional lives.

Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace

Professionals must develop a range of interpersonal skills to succeed in their workplaces. Here we discuss some interpersonal skills in the workplace that will help you professionally as well as personally.

Conflict resolution – When you can resolve conflicts, it can help you in your career. Employees can have disagreements or conflicts in the workplace. The main thing is to manage these conflicts and move on. You need to be a good communicator and listener for conflict resolution. This skill is essential for leadership roles and will prepare you for such a role in the future.

Empathy – Building connections requires empathy on your part. It allows you to relate with others and connect with them on a deeper level. In an organization, employees who can empathize with coworkers can become the favorites of the majority. This skill adds value to your job as you interact with your colleagues, listen to their issues, and empathize with them.

Emotional intelligence – Employees with emotional intelligence can manage emotionally-charged situations effectively. They can tackle a wide range of social dynamics. These employees excel in roles where they must deal with customers. They can understand the needs of customers and provide satisfying solutions. Such employees are a good fit for leadership roles.

Leadership – In an organization, the management is on the lookout to find potential leaders. Any employee who exhibits leadership qualities could be considered for such roles in the future. Such employees possess the ability to inspire others and lead by example.

Fig. 2 - Leadership is a crucial interpersonal skill

Interpersonal Skills Examples

Let’s go through some examples of interpersonal skills in the workplace.

Management skills

Employees with management skills can work in leadership roles in their professional journeys. From task management to people management, a manager/leader must do it all. With good interpersonal skills, managers can forge strong relationships with their team members. Management is also about delegating tasks effectively and choosing the right employee for the right tasks. It can improve the job satisfaction of employees and increase productivity.

Teamwork

You will not always get individual tasks. In projects, the management forms a team to work collaboratively. Therefore, it is important to have teamwork skills. You should be comfortable with collaboration. These skills help you work in teams and inspire your team members. Teamwork can only function well when all the members are on the same page.

Dependability

Dependability means that your managers and coworkers can depend on you to perform the assigned tasks. It is about taking responsibility and getting the job done. Dependable employees are an asset to the organization.

Adaptability

Adaptability is a key interpersonal skill for every professional. A fast-paced working environment enables employees to work according to the situation. The ability to multi-task and follow instructions quickly makes employees valuable to the organization.