Many years ago, I remember hearing someone say, “Business would be easy if it weren’t for all the PEOPLE involved!” This pithy, humorous statement certainly captures the universal frustration experienced by professionals in industry. Very often, the most difficult and painful challenges in business are the interpersonal ones, not the technical ones. Given this reality, it’s amazing how many professionals enter their careers lacking even basic interpersonal skills.
Thankfully, for those of us who lack a natural tendency toward success in building relationships with other human beings, there is no shortage of high-quality resources to help us on the journey to master interpersonal skills and improve our careers. In this paper, I present the results of my research on these interpersonal skills: listening, assertiveness, negotiation, feedback, persuasion, interviewing, and coaching.
Listening
Listening means paying close attention and making a conscious effort to process what you hear. This is an important skill in business and can be used to great effect when selling to new customers and keep existing customers happy. When we take the time to listen to customers we can learn a lot about how to meet their needs. This skill has helped me succeed in business relationships more than any other. One website that offers helpful advice on …show more content…
Negotiation skills are important in business because there is always a difference between the position of parties at the outset of any negotiation. Negotiations take place on a daily basis with vendors, customers, employees, and even business partners in the typical business, so this is a critical skill to learn. One website that offers helpful advice on developing this skill suggests that learners master the top three negotiation skills of persuasive people (Tracy, B.,
Thankfully, for those of us who lack a natural tendency toward success in building relationships with other human beings, there is no shortage of high-quality resources to help us on the journey to master interpersonal skills and improve our careers. In this paper, I present the results of my research on these interpersonal skills: listening, assertiveness, negotiation, feedback, persuasion, interviewing, and coaching.
Listening
Listening means paying close attention and making a conscious effort to process what you hear. This is an important skill in business and can be used to great effect when selling to new customers and keep existing customers happy. When we take the time to listen to customers we can learn a lot about how to meet their needs. This skill has helped me succeed in business relationships more than any other. One website that offers helpful advice on …show more content…
Negotiation skills are important in business because there is always a difference between the position of parties at the outset of any negotiation. Negotiations take place on a daily basis with vendors, customers, employees, and even business partners in the typical business, so this is a critical skill to learn. One website that offers helpful advice on developing this skill suggests that learners master the top three negotiation skills of persuasive people (Tracy, B.,