Personality Development

9 Simple steps to Classic Professional Interpersonal Skills

Being a part of Society you have to interact regardless of wherever you are, you will be assured to be surrounded by people always!

Even if you are not much of a social person, norms dictate you to be nice to everyone.

So, everyone has interpersonal skills naturally. The reason is that you grow up amidst people, and you gradually pick and adopt things abruptly sometimes without your own knowledge. However, there are ways of improving your interpersonal skills.

You might wonder why improve something which is a natural gift to you? So, the reason is that it is not necessary that the things you adopt from your surroundings are always righteous and positive. There may be many times or you can say most of the times when you start your quest to learn something optimistic but end up learning the opposite one. This is what happens to those whose try to become optimist but finally result into a pessimist.

Thus, it is a must to improve one’s interpersonal skills as it also means rectifying the un-necessary ones and adopting or enhancing the rest.

So here are a few tips to make positive and refreshing interpersonal skills:

Smile Always: No one likes sullen faces especially not those faces who always look as if they carry the whole world’s burden all alone! Quit it off, it spreads a lot of negative energy around. Be serious with work no doubt but not that serious which results in you create a totally uncomfortable environment for everyone around you. Smile at people. This shows you are a cheerful person and good to be with. It also encourages people to come up to you and talk with less hesitation.

Appreciate others: People like being appreciated. When people come to meet you appreciate wherever necessary, people like to feel wanted and respected too. Notice the fine qualities of the people around you and compliment them. Thank those who help you – even with the smallest things, it shows you value their help and effort no matter the size of help.

Promote Harmony: When someone comes to you with an issue, resolve it. Feel honored to be asked for a suggestion. No one likes conflicts because it makes people feel sad. Give solutions that are practical and encourage harmony. Make the disagreeing parties sit together and iron out their differences. This will make them respect you more. But, this does not mean you go poking your nose at every conflict. Resolve issues when they are brought to you.

Be a Great Listener: Be aware of what is happening around you. Observe people and the surroundings. In case of a loss, give condolences and congratulate them on achievements. Ask for opinions and never avoid eye contact. Listen to them with interest and show them that you are interested in listening to what they have to say. Show them that you have understood by rephrasing what they said. This shows that you value what they say.

Be a Fun filled person: Everyone loves people who possess the ability to make an audience laugh. If you have a sense of humour, show it. Crack jokes. It is a great way to break the ice. When people laugh together, it helps them lower their barriers and get affectionate with you.

Empathize: Don’t sympathize, Empathize. Empathizing means getting into their shoes and understanding what they must be going through. It’ll help you in seeing things from others’ points of view.

Implement Espirit de corps: Always remember nothing at work place demands a one man show. Create an environment where people feel belonged and bind them to work together with ease, respect and affection. Ensure you take time out to follow up on the suggestions given by people and their requests. Whenever you say something, take their feedback to understand that everybody has understood. Show people that you are fair, and they will trust you in return.

Stop fussing out: If you have something to complain about, do it outside the office, in front of people who are not your colleagues. Or simply write it in your diary and limit it to yourself. People don’t like cribbers. Spare your colleagues from being horrified.

Communicate: Ensure clear communication. Pay attention. Request a repetition if you did not understood. Avoid talking at somebody’s back. Speak eloquently. It shows intelligence and maturity. Clear communication avoids misunderstandings with others.

Try on these tips, and let us know if you found them useful!

FILED UNDER: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT



8 Fastest ways to Improve your Listening Skills

Every species has a unique way and means of communication. As humans we communicate with each other by the means of speech. When speaking is so significant it definitely means that being two sides of the same coin, listening is of equal importance too.

As a matter of fact, listening is more important than speaking. The reason is that when you speak you share but when you listen you learn.

Now, as we normally classify Speaking into Casual Speaking - Formal Speaking, Arrogant Speaking - Humble Speaking, Personified Speaking – Practical Speaking, Diplomatic Speaking – Democratic Speaking and many more… we do not have so much braches of Listening.

Maybe that’s the reason why people often take it so lightly!

Now how to Improve Your Listening Skills?

Speaking and listening are two most primary natural behavior of every man so you might wonder why to learn Listening skills?!

So, the answer is that when you learn to adopt something invisible but which reflects and affects your personality as a character it becomes a skill which needs to be learnt. The means of learning may be different by it finally has to be learnt and sharpened like a pencil’s lead.

Now, everyone likes to be heard but do not know how to attract masses. This skill helps you make an iron strong foundation to become a successful orator.

So, what do you do? How do you ensure that you listen to what the other has to say and understand it perfectly?

The answers to these questions are called ‘listening skills’.

Following are the tips to Improve Listening Skills:

Turn towards the speaker: When someone is speaking, turn towards him as it makes the listener feel wanted and comfortable. Show him you want to listen to what he has to say. Lean forward slightly, but don’t give him the impression that you’ll fall on him any instant. That helps a lot.

Be attentive: Listen attentively, let your thoughts be at ease. Keep your ego aside and listen to the speaker with utmost concentration. Jot down your doubts if you fear you’ll forget them easily but do not interfere while the speaker’s speaking. Let him do the talking first. Consider this an opportunity to learn something new and not an excuse for you to get lost in your thoughts.

Let go of external distractions: Try to bring out the interest within yourself about the topic being discussed. Give a halt to all the unwanted noises approaching your attention. Virtually put the socket of the speaker’s voice in to your ear drums and pull it to the maximum volume. Try to maintain silence and ask the rest to do so, this will bring a serious attitude to action and raise your focus.

Focus on the speech: Focus on speech avoiding everything else i.e. the voice of the speaker, his presentation, his attire, his knowledge, his position…forget it all! Focus upon what is being spoken and you’ll listen excellent and understand every bit of it.

Avoid thinking of the future questionnaire, this will simply distract you and you’ll have no knowledge when you’ll be asked abruptly anything about the topic. Stay on listening mode only, this will help you get everything correct and you will spill out the right beans!

Give Positive Body Gesture: When you look at the speaker in the eye, it gives him confidence, and also goes to show that you are listening. Nodding of head with agreement and as acceptance make it more delightful for the speaker to know that you not just listen but also readily participating in it.

Wait for your turn: In any conversation/conference, let the other person finish speaking. Let him lay down all his points and then you can go ahead and make yours or contradict any of the ones he has made. If you feel that you’ll not remember all the points, keep a notepad handy and jot down the ones you would like to agree or disagree with.

Don’t give unwanted advice: Don’t tell the speaker how you handled a similar situation previously. It might not go well with him. Maybe he is not looking for advice. It could also mean that you consider your handling of a situation to be better than the way he is handling it. If the speaker explicitly asks for advice, then go ahead by all means. In that case, he would be receptive of your advice. As they say, “advice should be given only in two circumstances – when it is asked for, and when it is a question of life and death”.

Show that you are engaged: Keep nodding and show that you are listening. You could interject “hmm” in your responses. You could also use words like, “right, hmm, I understand, interesting, point”.

Ask questions if you have doubts. Rephrase what the speaker has said to show understanding. You could say, “So, what you mean is…..”, or “So, you propose we do it like this……..”, or “I think……….”

As you start working upon improving your listening skills, you’ll notice that your communication gets better and richer!

Initially, you will face difficulties, but gradually, you’ll understand how to use the silences.

FILED UNDER: personality development