How to Boost Interpersonal Skills to Advance Your Career

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Interpersonal skills are the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that help people effectively interact with other people. Interpersonal skills meaning are more than just what is written on your resume. These are the “people skills” that help you communicate clearly, collaborate effectively, and manage conflict successfully.

Interpersonal skills also involve a combination of communication skills, empathetic skills, emotional intelligence, and adaptability skills. They are what help you build genuine connections with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders in both stressful and cross-cultural environments.

In other words, they fill the bridge between your technical knowledge and your ability to be successful in a profession. You may have a knack for numbers or code, but without interpersonal skills, job responsibilities that involve working with others may feel daunting.

Ultimately, when one understands interpersonal skills, they are thinking about how to listen, communicate, understand, and adapt to situations, qualities every successful professional needs in an increasingly collaborative world.

1. Communication

Being a strong communicator goes far beyond sending an email or speaking up in a meeting. It is about clearly expressing your ideas and adapting a message for each audience.

Strong communicators are good at:

• Breaking down complex concepts in a simple and digestible way.
• Using a story to provide an emotional connection.
• Listening genuinely and responding meaningfully when asked.

For example, when proposing a product strategy, you might describe a common real-life situation to show the effectiveness of your idea in addressing a common or complex business challenge. Similarly, other important elements of communication include eye contact and tone of voice, which indicate confidence and honesty.

2. Active listening

Active listening is the practice of paying attention to what others are saying and to what others aren’t saying. It requires understanding viewpoints, reading nonverbal cues, and showing you understand. 

For example, when a client says they are “happy” with a design, but their tone of voice and body language indicate otherwise. An engaged listener would notice these small nuances in communication and ask additional questions. When you are engaged, you develop rapport, reduce the chances of misinterpretation, and make others feel acknowledged.

3. Teamwork and Collaboration

Contemporary workplaces flourish on collaboration. Whether at a start-up or a multinational, teamwork ability gives you the advantage of working alongside professionals of different disciplines. 

To be an effective team member:

• Recognise the strengths of each member.
• Give credit openly.
• Invite discussion and feedback.

4. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

The demand for emotion-based skills across the globe is projected to increase by 22% between 2016 and 2030. This reflects the increasing emphasis placed on these skills.

Empathy helps us understand the feelings of others and emotional intelligence (EI) helps us to learn how to manage our own feelings in stressful situations.

Examples of developing EI include:

• Identifying emotional triggers.
• Managing our own stress.
• Compassionately being present for others.

5. Adaptability and Positive Attitude

Change is constant in every workplace. Whether it’s a new software system, a transition in leadership, or a shift in the market, your ability to adapt and implement those changes determines your effectiveness.

Adaptable employees:

• Are calm and collected during challenging situations. 
• View challenges as opportunities for learning. 
• Stay positive in the face of a change in plans. 

By having a positive attitude, you become a source of motivation for others who are looking for guidance when challenges arise

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Here’s how to develop interpersonal skills​:

1. Assess Your Current Skill Set

Consider your strengths and weaknesses. Show upon your previous experience – what worked well, and what could’ve been done differently? Create a list of: 

• Areas in which you excel (e.g., empathy, teamwork).
• Areas for improvement (e.g., active listening, resolving conflicts).

2. Develop an Action Plan

Select one or two areas to focus on during the career-related event and think of specific and actionable goals.

Consider these interpersonal skills examples​:

• Problem: “I am uncomfortable starting a conversation with senior colleagues.” 
• Plan: “I will make an effort to have at least one conversation a week to become more at ease and confident.” 

3. Build Relationships

Networking is not only for job advancements – it is also a way to practice and enhance your interpersonal skills. Accept invitations to team social events, accept discussion and conversation invitations, and reach out to new people outside of your partner organization.
Building interpersonal relationships can allow you to improve empathy, collaboration and communication, delivering simultaneous gains.

Defining objectives allows you to create accountability and move forward in a consistent manner.

4. Engage in an Online Course

If your workplace does not provide adequate opportunities to practice negotiation, communication and leadership skills, consider taking a soft skills or management course.

Many online delivery platforms or universities offer structured online courses with pathways that emphasize a pragmatic approach to learning. This self-evaluation process provides you with clarity on how to proceed and what areas to pursue for improvement.

5. Get Feedback

Having constructive feedback is one of the fastest ways to make improvements. Make a regular arrangement for feedback on your communication and teamwork, monthly or quarterly with your Manager or Mentor.

You can then apply that feedback for half of the effect you would like to have.

6. Practice Daily

Everyday interpersonal interactions can serve as practice for working on our people skills. Use team meetings to:

• Ask clarifying questions
• Listen and not jump into statements while they are still talking
• Think before you speak, to create more thoughtful interactions

You can also write daily reflections to remind you how you felt in the moment, along with some mindfulness practices such as deep breaths, in order to remain calm through stressful moments.

7. Utilise Role-Play Activities

Role-playing can help improve people skills in a fun and effective way. In advance, practice scenarios such as:

• Presenting an idea to a skeptical audience.
• Facilitating and mediating a disagreement in the workplace.
• Showing empathy to respond to a customer complaint.

Role-playing prepares you to overcome these situations without putting undue pressure on yourself to react in the moment and under circumstances.

We provide a vast range of courses in collaboration with renowned universities and institutes, blending technical knowledge with essential soft skills training. 

Here are some courses worth considering: 

• Online MBA – Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth
• Online MBA – Manipal University, Jaipur
• Post Graduate Certificate Programme in General Management – IIM Nagpur

As the workplace continues to evolve and become increasingly digital and dependent on technology, interpersonal skills are what will keep you and your team human. Interpersonal skills help you effectively communicate with others, collaborate efficiently, and feel confident when navigating difficult or complex situations at work.

But remember that learning and mastering interpersonal skills does not happen overnight and is a continuous journey of learning coupled with self-awareness. 

If you’re ready to take that journey, Jaro Education provides flexible, industry-standard programs to support you in developing these timeless skills. Whether focused on leadership, communication, or emotional intelligence, you will want to build up your toolbox of interpersonal skills today to give you a competitive edge and pathways to success for the future.