You may have worked tirelessly to maintain a high-grade point average when you were still in school with the hope that you will land a good job and be the top in your field in a few years. But when you finally entered the professional world, you realized that your grades and technical skills hardly matter.
The people promoted and recognized are not often the smartest in the company or even the best in what they do. Upon closer look, you will realize that they have probably one thing in common – excellent interpersonal skills.
If you are wondering, “What are interpersonal skills?” read on to get an idea of what they are. Interpersonal skills refer to the behavior or strategies used by an individual to relate with others more positively. In the workplace, people with excellent interpersonal skills are easy to work with and tend to get along well with everyone.
Possessing these skills is critical in advancing your career because you do not function in isolation. Whether you like it or not, you have to interact with your co-workers, superiors, clients, and stakeholders. These people can only acknowledge your hard work and value if you know how to associate with them pleasantly.
What Interpersonal Skills Do You Need to Advance Your Career?
Since you already know the answer to the question, “What are Interpersonal Skills?” the next thing you need to learn is how to develop the interpersonal skills listed below. Note that these are the abilities that most employers look for during hiring and promotion.
- Communication Skills
Communication skills are your way of conveying a message through written, verbal, and non-verbal means. This ability is arguably the most important interpersonal skill that you need to master since it is vital to building good relationships, and it significantly impacts people’s perception of you.
Effective communication is also critical to getting ahead in the workplace. You can have a brilliant idea or a project concept, but if you cannot clearly express this idea to your superiors, then it will not matter.
- Teamwork
No matter how capable you are, you must realize that you cannot do everything on your own. To succeed in your goals, you need to learn how to collaborate with your co-workers, compromise, and show respect. Your superiors will have second thoughts promoting you if they see that you are having difficulty cooperating and compromising when working with a group.
- Resilience or Adaptability
Another critical skill that you need to learn to reach the top is adaptability. You cannot be successful if you quit every time things do not go according to plan. You can only reach your goal if you keep on moving and learn how to find alternate solutions when hindrances arise. Your company needs leaders who are resilient and able to bounce back after a setback readily.
- Conflict Management
There are no perfect relationships. Conflicts naturally happen whenever two or more people are interacting with each other. Apart from your skill to quickly resolve disagreements, conflict management also refers to your ability to consistently work toward your goal without letting misunderstandings affect your output.
- Problem-Solving
If you want to prove your value to the company, then you should show them that you are action-oriented rather than a mere talker. Instead of complaining during challenges and difficulties, you should work to find ways to resolve them. Employers notice people who look for solutions to fix the problem at hand rather than waste time mulling about things that cannot be undone.
The items mentioned above are just some of the critical skills you need to develop to relate well with people and advance your position in the process. Note that cultivating these attitudes will not only help you to shine in the office, but they will also help you build a satisfying and purposeful career.
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