The importance of interpersonal skills for workplace success cannot be overemphasized. Thus, most recent jobs don’t require educational and technical proficiency alone, interpersonal skills have become a necessary qualification for almost all jobs.

Interpersonal skill is a term that refers to our ability to communicate, build trust-based relationships and work well with others. We can master the art of listening and public speaking, but skills such as control and management of emotions are also included in strong interpersonal skills.

If you’re dreaming of success in life, you should master these essential skills. You’ll be surprised to know that no less than 90% of people believe that good communication skills are essential for success.

Types of Interpersonal Skills

There are different types of interpersonal skills that are important for personal and professional development. The following are types of interpersonal skills:

Communication Skills

Communication skills are critical when you want to make a point, interact with coworkers, seniors or juniors or communicate with clients. Some components of communication skills are:

• Verbal Communication
• Non-verbal Communication
• Listening Skills

Emotional Intelligence

How often do you feel that things could be different if you had reacted differently to a situation?

Truth be told, emotions can be a strength when channeled effectively. By developing the ability to understand and manage our own as well as other’s emotions, we can become successful in life. This ability to control and channel emotions is known as emotional intelligence.

Teamwork

Do you take pride in being a lone wolf? Does it upset you when you need to collaborate with others and exchange information as well as for instructions while working as a member of a group?

If the answer is yes, you may need to work on your teamwork skills. Those who are better accustomed to working with others in a group or team environment may find it easier to succeed in a professional context, especially in an organization.

The good news is that this ability can be refined with practice.

Negotiation Skills

Whether it’s bargaining for the best price with a seller or convincing a customer/client to pay the desired price for a product or service, the ability to negotiate well rests on good interpersonal skills.

Once you master the art of negotiation, you’ll be able to frequently extract a mutually agreeable outcome from a discussion. A good negotiator makes everyone feel like a winner while also getting what they want out of a deal or negotiation.

Conflict Resolution and Decision-making

When you work in a group with others, there are times when conflict becomes unavoidable. It might be the functionality of an app, the content on a webpage, or simply the color of a product that you and your team members can’t agree upon.

No matter what the problem is, you need to apply your conflict resolution skills to de-escalate the situation. You can’t just walk out of discussions and leave matters pending when important and quick decisions are to be taken.

Interpersonal interview questions to ask candidates

Interpersonal interview questions are questions designed to reveal the true nature of a candidate’s personality, motivations, and values. They typically ask the candidate to present a situation, the actions taken to overcome the situation and the result of the actions. Interpersonal interview questions are used so both the candidate and interviewer have a more productive interaction.

Whether you are an interviewer looking for better questions or a candidate who wants to prepare for great questions, these are great interpersonal interview questions:

• What’s something that you used to believe but no longer believe?
• Who were the competitors at the last company you worked for, and how did your company differentiate itself?
• Tell me about your best and worst days at work.
• If I called your current boss, what would they say about you?
• Are you working on anything exciting outside of work?
• Wait… do you remember all of our names?
• If you didn’t have to work, why would you come into the office?
• Describe the last significant conflict you had at work and how you handled it?
• Is there something I didn’t ask that I should have asked you?

The benefits of interpersonal skills are life-changing. Thus, every employee in your hospitality business needs to possess interpersonal skills.