Discuss the importance of interpersonal skills
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Interpersonal Skills are the skills we use when engaged in face-to-face communication with one or more other people.
What we say is an important way of getting our message across - see Verbal Communication and Effective Speaking - but using our voice is only the tip of the iceberg. We actually communicate more information using non-verbal signals, gestures, facial expression, body language even our appearance - see our pages: Non-verbal Communication, Personal Presentation and Personal Appearance for more information.
Listening is a vital interpersonal communication skill. When we communicate we spend 45% of our time listening. Most people take listening for granted but it is not the same as hearing and should be thought of as a skill. Our Listening Skills page acts as an introduction to the subject and lists the ten principles of listening. Active Listening provides a lot more information about how to listen effectively and can help you to avoid misunderstandings. We also have a page on Ineffective Listening, you may recognise some of the bad habits you or other people have picked up when listening. Reflection and clarification are both common techniques used to ensure that what you have heard and understood is what was intended - you can find out more on our pages Reflecting and Clarification.
Good interpersonal communication skills enable us to work more effectively in groups and teams, which may be either formal, like at work, or informally - in social situations. Our pages What are Groups and Group Roles explain the importance of group interactions. We also have a page on Meetings and some guidelines about How to Conduct a Meeting. It is often desirable to build strong relationships with others, which can in turn lead to better communication and understanding - see Building Rapportfor help with understanding how to develop interpersonal relationships and What is Empathy? to find out how you can take these principles further and develop empathy for others.
Interpersonal communication skills are essential to developing other key life skills. Being able to communicate well with others is often essential to solving problems that inevitably occur both in our private and professional lives. Our section on Problem Solvingprovides information and advice to aid constructive and effective problem solving. Decision making is another area which can benefit from good communication skills as it often requires communicating complex information so that the most appropriate decision can be made. See our section: Decision Making for more information.
Interpersonal communication is a large subject area; our page Barriers to Effective Communication details some of the common barriers that may mean our communication fails or is less effective than it should be. Learn to avoid such barriers and allow your messages to be sent and received with greater accuracy.
What we say is an important way of getting our message across - see Verbal Communication and Effective Speaking - but using our voice is only the tip of the iceberg. We actually communicate more information using non-verbal signals, gestures, facial expression, body language even our appearance - see our pages: Non-verbal Communication, Personal Presentation and Personal Appearance for more information.
Listening is a vital interpersonal communication skill. When we communicate we spend 45% of our time listening. Most people take listening for granted but it is not the same as hearing and should be thought of as a skill. Our Listening Skills page acts as an introduction to the subject and lists the ten principles of listening. Active Listening provides a lot more information about how to listen effectively and can help you to avoid misunderstandings. We also have a page on Ineffective Listening, you may recognise some of the bad habits you or other people have picked up when listening. Reflection and clarification are both common techniques used to ensure that what you have heard and understood is what was intended - you can find out more on our pages Reflecting and Clarification.
Good interpersonal communication skills enable us to work more effectively in groups and teams, which may be either formal, like at work, or informally - in social situations. Our pages What are Groups and Group Roles explain the importance of group interactions. We also have a page on Meetings and some guidelines about How to Conduct a Meeting. It is often desirable to build strong relationships with others, which can in turn lead to better communication and understanding - see Building Rapportfor help with understanding how to develop interpersonal relationships and What is Empathy? to find out how you can take these principles further and develop empathy for others.
Interpersonal communication skills are essential to developing other key life skills. Being able to communicate well with others is often essential to solving problems that inevitably occur both in our private and professional lives. Our section on Problem Solvingprovides information and advice to aid constructive and effective problem solving. Decision making is another area which can benefit from good communication skills as it often requires communicating complex information so that the most appropriate decision can be made. See our section: Decision Making for more information.
Interpersonal communication is a large subject area; our page Barriers to Effective Communication details some of the common barriers that may mean our communication fails or is less effective than it should be. Learn to avoid such barriers and allow your messages to be sent and received with greater accuracy.
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