Within any workplace setting you’ll find many different types of individuals, with myriad characters and attributes. Trying to marry together all of these different types of people can be a challenge for leaders within that business model, but one way to help increase efficiencies and put together a well balanced team of employees that are ready to improve their standards and continue to develop as a team, is to put in place training courses that teach a development of interpersonal skills.
The personal and communication skills of employees will help to shape and determine the success of any company. Without good interpersonal skills, body language reading and communication techniques, a team can flounder, being ripped apart through a combination of those with too-strong a mentality, leaving the weakest and shy characters behind if left unchecked.
There are a number of ways in which interpersonal skills can be vital to the workplace, with each job role requiring a certain type of personal skill in order to be successful. You might be good at mentoring individuals, or small groups of people, a skill that is useful in leading small teams of people in the workplace to reach wider team goals. Others are great natural leaders, being able to captain a ship to its long distance destination. For others, good interpersonal skills relate to the ability to be good listeners and for other being able to convey a message, ethos or direction into a coherent working plan through clear communication.
Other interpersonal skills directly relate to individual tasks, so for some having the ability to negotiate in a working environment is key to their roles, or to problem solve on a daily basis on a micro and macro level within the business. Empathy allows individuals to build and nurture relationships with colleagues that can be beneficial through a pleasant working environment.
No matter what type of industry you work within, or the role you individually hold, there will be some form of teamwork involved. Even for freelancers and sole traders there will always be suppliers, contractors and clients to engage with. Good personal skills will be required for all of these interactions in order for a venture to be a successful one.
There are a number of little things that can be achieved through careful consideration and planning by individuals and employers, ensuring that any weaknesses in personal and communication skills are ironed out. As an individual you can improve your interpersonal skills through practice of active listening during all conversations in the workplace. Always be mindful of what the other person is saying to you during a conversation, have empathy for his or her viewpoint and sure to display that you are actively listening in order to build up a rapport that can be beneficial to the tasks being completed to a sufficient standard and on time. Other ways to personally improve is to be mindful of your body language, actively promoting a positive stance in the workplace, smiling whenever possible and offering appreciation of your colleagues
Mike Madden
