Interpersonal Skills Reflection Paper

After some reflection on interpersonal skills I have come up with the following...
The skills (I) have ... Throughout my adult life I have held jobs in both teaching and in the food handling industry, which helped me to develop the skills in Tact, Listening, Feedback, Counseling, and Anger Management. Tact - Tact is defined by "a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense; skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations." (Tact, n.d). An example of tact being used would be in a parent/teacher conference situation. Many times conferences coincide with report card time, so that there is a proper time and place for both the parent and the teacher to discuss progress and if needed interventions or extra help. A …show more content…
Counsel is regarded as, " advice; opinion or instruction given in directing the judgment or conduct of another." ( Counseling, n.d.). Counseling is taking your listening skills a step further. Good listening skills are needed to be able to counsel. An employee needs to take time off because of an issue at home. You need to first listen to what is going on and then when the time arises, you can offer suggestions if needed, but sometimes it is more than just offering suggestions too. It can be helping the other person see a different solution, or a different opinion as well. This also requires empathy, tact, and good …show more content…
I have been able to be assertive when I have needed to be, but it is an interpersonal skill I would like to become better at. It is not a skill I am automatically comfortable with and a level of assertiveness is needed, in business and in life in general. An example of a situation needing assertiveness would be one where an employee is showing up late to work every day. The employee shows not taking into consideration that their tardiness sets off everyone else who have to pick up extra jobs to cover for them. Assertiveness would be needed to approach that employee and address their behavior without backing down, but in a fair way. Obviously, a manager or business owner needs to also employ listening skills, and tact at the proper time, but sometimes the situation needs to just be dealt with in a little more direct manner. The rules need to be followed for the system to run a certain