The Key Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are a major contributing factor in an individual’s likelihood of attaining success in the workplace as well as success in their personal life. This report is will provide a basic overview of the key interpersonal skills.

Listening

According to http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html, Listening is defined as:

“the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.”

In business, this skill is more than useful, it’s critical! An example of this is in the requirements definition stage of a project. If as a project manager, you have not done a good job of listening to the primary stakeholders, you may create a project plan that does not meet all stakeholder requirements. Without

Assertiveness

Http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/assertiveness.html, defines assertiveness as:

“standing up for your personal rights - expressing thoughts, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate ways.”

This is useful in business because it shows that you have original ideas, and proves that you are not a pushover. If you aren’t assertive enough to speak up when you have an idea that will contribute to organizational success, then the organization loses out on the benefit of your knowledge.

To develop your assertiveness skills, check out http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/02/25/building-assertiveness-in-4-steps/.

Negotiation

Negotiation as defined by http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/negotiation.html,

Coaching

In the business context, coaching (according to http://www.wabccoaches.com/), is:

“the process of engaging in regular, structured conversation with a "client": an individual or team who is within a business, profit or nonprofit organization, institution or government and who is the recipient of business coaching. The goal is to enhance the client’s awareness and behavior so as to achieve business objectives for both the client and their organization.”

This is important in business because it enables individuals to grow their abilities, and thus become more valuable to the organization they are working for. An example is a new hire being teamed up with a more experienced employee. The coaching is important to ensure the new hire learns how to do things properly. It also gives the new hire a resource they can seek out for help as needed.

A great website for developing coaching skills is, http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2007/06/19/key-coaching-skills/.

Interpersonal skills are techniques that can never fully be perfected, but by focusing time and effort on development, individuals and teams can learn how to better utilize these skills to give themselves a better opportunity for