Interpersonal Skills

Last July 21, 2010 we had our seminar about Interpersonal skills. The seminar helps us to enable social communication, interaction and the ability to relate between individuals. I believe that good interpersonal skills are capable of reducing conflict and increase participation and assistance with colleagues in the work environment as well as increase the productivity.

While we are having our seminar, I have learned some ways on how to improve interpersonal skills. And those things are as follows:

• Think positively, and enter the mindset to work well with others and maintain good relationships.
• Do not criticize others or yourself.
• Be patient.
• Learn to listen, experts recommend listening 80% of the time and only talking 20%.
• Be sensitive to others, this includes not gossiping.
• Have a sense of humor appropriate to your situation. Many people benefit from a good joke.
• Treat others and their experience with respect.
• Praise and compliment people when they deserve it.
• When someone is telling a story, don’t interrupt or try to upstage them with a story of your own.
• Smile – even when you don’t feel like smiling.
• Be cheerful and try to make others smile.
• Look for solutions.
• When someone compliments you, don’t disagree or boast about it – simply say thank-you with a smile and move on.
• Don’t complain.
• When you’re unhappy, try your best to act happy anyway. You will end up feeling better and so will the people around you, your mood is contagious.
• Fake it ‘till you make it. If you’re not naturally confident or happy, fake it until you generally possess the desired characteristics.
• Learn to appreciate, be helpful and not demotivate your team members. Work as Team not as an individual, this will achieve better results.
• Treat your Team members and colleagues as friends and not as strangers or subordinates.

“The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude. If you are suspicious, unfriendly and condescending, you will find these unlovely traits echoed all about you. But if you are on your best behaviour, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you are going to spend most of your working hours.”

-Beatrice Vincent

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_skills