Interpersonal skills are the communication and people skills that we use to work well with others. They include active listening, empathy, teamwork, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and communication. Strong interpersonal skills improve workplace relationships, collaboration, leadership, and career success.
Key Takeaways
- This guide explains what interpersonal skills are, why employers value them, and provides 10 workplace examples.
- Good interpersonal skills make it easier to build positive working relationships and collaborate effectively with colleagues, customers, and managers.
- These skills include abilities such as active listening, communication, empathy, conflict management, emotional intelligence, and teamwork.
- These skills help improve collaboration, leadership, productivity, and workplace culture.
This guide is part of our Workplace Communication Guides, where you’ll find advice on communication, teamwork, active listening, conflict management, and other important workplace skills.
What are Interpersonal Skills
The word interpersonal reflects the way in which one or more people interact and interpersonal skills in essence are just that, the skills we have that enable us to be good at communicating and interacting with other people.
There are numerous skills that can be considered related to interpersonal communication and these include the art of active listening, the ability to show empathy to others, our conflict resolution skills, and how we communicate in general with others.
In other words, how well do we build and develop positive relationships with other people, both in professional and personal situations?
Interpersonal Skills are also sometimes referred to as “people skills”.
The Importance of Interpersonal Skills
The world and workplace are such that no matter what-sized company or business we run or work in (or even if we work from home), we inevitably have to deal with other people.
We have to communicate, work with, and interact with colleagues, other departments, customers in person or on the phone, and so on. Interacting with other people is unavoidable.
In other words, interpersonal skills are essential for developing relationships and communication with others, including when we collaborate with colleagues.
As a company or manager, employees with good interpersonal skills are more likely to be productive and aid a positive working atmosphere and environment.
For this reason, providing training, coaching, or mentoring to help employees improve their interpersonal skills can be worthwhile despite the time and financial cost that may be involved.
For managers, interpersonal skills are equally vital.
Motivational skills and Conflict management skills, for example, are extremely useful skills for a manager to have when managing a team.
Whether you’re interested in developing your career or improving relationships, improving your interpersonal skills can be a great idea for your personal and professional growth.
Example Scenario: The Minor Conflict that Escalates
Two colleagues can easily have a minor misunderstanding with each other and this might lead to a small agitation or sense of distrust between them.
If left unresolved, this situation might, at a later time, turn into a bigger conflict between the two colleagues.
This can then turn into a situation that draws colleagues into the conflict and divides the workforce. Or the conflict may cause issues and a lot of wasted time in meetings.
Such a scenario is surprisingly common, and the act of learning how to be an active listener (see active listening) can be enough to make a big difference. If one or both colleagues had been trained in active listening skills, the issue may not have started.
Likewise, if their manager had been trained in Conflict and Resolution Management then this situation might have been avoided.
10 Examples of Interpersonal Skills
There is a range of interpersonal skills that you can master yourself or provide training in, for your staff. The key interpersonal skills that training is available for include:
1. Conflict Management
This type of training can benefit both employees and managers.
For managers, understanding how to manage and avoid minor issues turning into conflict can be a great way to create a happier workforce. Likewise, appreciating how to provide solutions for conflicts that do occur can save a lot of wasted time in terms of lost productivity.
For staff, understanding techniques for engaging with fellow employees makes for a much happier workforce. These are skills that staff can also use outside of work for their own social and personal lives.
2. Motivation Skills
If you are in charge of any other staff in your role, having a good understanding of motivational and influencing Skills is a valuable tool to have.
Knowing how to communicate the rewards, the benefits, and how to make staff feel wanted and valued is not always easy. Master the art of motivating your team, though, and you can expect improved productivity.
3. Active Listening Skills
When we think we are listening, are we really listening? We are often thinking of what we will say next, for example, rather than properly focusing on the word being spoken by the other person.
In business, as discussed in reference to conflict management, the cause of many problems inside and outside of the workplace is a lack of listening skills. (Find Active Skills training materials here).
4. Dealing With Difficult People
Our training course materials on Dealing With Difficult People are a classic option that can benefit all staff.
For those front-line staff who deal with customers, such a course provides techniques and ways of dealing with the customers in a constructive and positive manner.
For managers and HR staff who deal with other employees within the business, the techniques for dealing with difficult people is equally as essential.
5. Empathy in the Workplace Skills
Empathy in the Workplace training might seem pointless in that surely we all have empathy for others, right?
The way in which we show empathy for colleagues and our team members can often be misinterpreted and misunderstood.
Indeed, there are certain techniques and methods we can learn for showing compassion and understanding at work.
Furthermore, we simply may lack the understanding, expertise, or knowledge for some issues that our colleagues experience.
Empathy in this context means not only understanding someone else’s point of view but also making the effort to respond in a supportive way. To help build this vital interpersonal skill in your team, try these empathy training activities for the workplace.
6. Communication Skills
You might feel that you communicate well both in the workplace and outside of work, but do you? And do your colleagues or team communicate well?
In terms of Interpersonal skills training, communication skills are one of the most popular courses that many companies tend to offer, given that it acts as a good all-round workshop.
Communication Skills training includes listening, feedback, and non-verbal communication (such as Body Language).
7. Assertiveness Training
Trying to get the balance right when dealing with other people can sometimes be very confusing and difficult, and this is certainly true when it comes to the issue of being assertive.
This is what makes assertiveness training such a useful interpersonal skill.
At work, we sometimes need to be assertive, such as when we are managing other people. But how assertive can you be without being seen as bullying someone?
Assertiveness training is another of those interpersonal skills that will make you a better co-worker, manager, and person in general, once you understand some key techniques for finding the right balance when it comes to assertiveness.
8. Fundamentals of Intercultural Communication
Our Fundamentals of Intercultural Communication training materials have been instantly popular since we introduced it and this perhaps highlights the awareness within companies of the need for this interpersonal skills course.
Many of us now work in an environment with colleagues of various backgrounds, cultures, and religious preferences.
For this reason, having a core understanding of techniques for being able to communicate well in such an environment has multiple benefits.
By becoming more knowledgeable, understanding, and compassionate around colleagues from various backgrounds, we create a more unified and happier workplace.
9. Anger Management
In terms of interpersonal skills, Anger Management is, in some respects, a key interpersonal skill given the high level of disruption that even one wayward employee can create amongst fellow employees.
This is a course and skill that can greatly benefit managers who have to deal with unruly staff, as well as being a worthwhile course for those who easily get angry.
10. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence training is particularly important in certain careers, such as nursing, because empathy and compassion are core skills included under emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence training can be very useful in helping employees understand how to show compassion correctly, including when providing feedback, when dealing with change and failure.
FAQs
What’s the difference between interpersonal skills and communication skills?
Communication skills are one part of interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills include communication, but they also cover teamwork, empathy, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, relationship building, and other abilities that help people work effectively together.
Can interpersonal skills be learned?
You can certainly learn interpersonal skills, and this can be achieved through practice, feedback, coaching, and workplace training. As a manager or employee, you can offer workshops on active listening, conflict management, empathy, and communication, and these can help employees greatly improve their skills.
Which interpersonal skills do employers value most?
Employers tend to value ten or so core skills, which typically include communication, teamwork, active listening, emotional intelligence, adaptability, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and trust-building skills. The most important skills will tend to depend on the role, but the ability to work well with others is consistently one of the most sought-after qualities.
Which careers benefit most from strong interpersonal skills?
Strong interpersonal skills are valuable in almost every profession. They are particularly important for managers, HR professionals, teachers, healthcare workers, customer service teams, sales professionals, and anyone who works closely with colleagues, clients, or customers.
How to Improve Your Interpersonal Skills
If you are a Human Resources (HR) department, there are a number of Interpersonal skills courses you can provide your staff, and you can find the list of our Interpersonal Skills Training materials here.
These packages are fully customizable and can be downloaded instantly, and they provide everything you will need to teach the given workshop.
Using Interpersonal Skills on Your Resume (CV)
The skills section of your resume or CV is the place to list some of the interpersonal skills that you have developed.
For work that involves dealing with a lot of people and where compassion and understanding are key aspects of the job, mentioning these skills will be of value.
Jobs such as nursing (as previously mentioned), teaching, mental health counseling, and event planning are a few examples where people’s skills can be a key to doing the role successfully.
You might want to simply list your people’s skills, something like this:
Extra Skills: Experienced at dealing with people, great communication skills, and a good listener.
Alternatively, in your cover letter, you might want to briefly mention the experience you have of dealing with other people, like this:
- I spent three years working as a waiter, having to deal with customers in a busy restaurant, during which I learned great people management skills.
- For the last two years, I have also been a volunteer in an old people’s home, helping out on weekends to listen and chat with residents. From this, I have developed great active listening skills.
I hope you have found this post on what interpersonal skills are useful and have a much better idea now of what people’s skills are and why they are important.
