Do You Have People Skills?

Succeeding in the workplace requires hard work and dedication. It may require hours spent perfecting a technical skills or time spent traveling and networking with other professionals. Many people often know the skills and credentials needed to succeed. However, it’s harder to understand what people skills are necessary to succeed in the workplace.

It’s vital that you don’t neglect your people skills on your quest for financial security and professional fulfillment. Often management will accept or promote a candidate with stronger people skills than technical skills because it is harder to teach someone how to be an effective member of the team.

If you find that your career is going nowhere or that opportunities pass you by, you might find that focusing on your personal skills will reinvigorate your success.

Active Listening

It’s not enough to hear what someone is saying, you have to listen to them and let them know that you heard what they are saying. Instead of forming your opinions and responses before the person is finished speaking, you will avoid jumping to conclusions or reacting inappropriately.

Fostering Trust

Much like in a romantic relationship, trust is an essential component to a workplace relationship. Don’t make promises you can’t keep and don’t spread gossip. Your honesty and integrity should be known far and wide throughout the office. Don’t forget; it takes constant vigilance to build trust and one mistake to ruin all your efforts.

Tolerance & Empathy

By fostering tolerance and empathy, you will help create a better workplace environment. It can also keep calm in stressful situations, which will get you noticed by superiors and let you improve your response to any crisis that occurs. Let this tolerance and empathy lead you to greater awareness of what your body language and your tone convey to your coworkers.

Responsiveness

There are very things more frustrating than having to hound someone to give you an answer you need to do your job. Focus on being responsive to the requests of your coworkers. This response doesn’t mean you have to drop what you’re doing or go outside of your job definition. Instead, it means that you should give a prompt response to all communications, even when your answer is no.

Proactive, Not Reactive

When at all possible take proactive measures, not reactive. This advice is especially true when you make the inevitable mistake. Before you approach your boss, know what steps need to be taken to correct the error and what steps you can take to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Instead of waiting for someone to discover your mistake, take ownership of getting it fixed.

These people skills can help you find success in any workplace. Whether you feel stuck in your position or just want to improve your overall effectiveness as an employee, everyone in your office will appreciate the efforts you put into improving your people skills.