Being able to act and communicate effectively with the people you work with is one of the most critical skills required for a successful career. Of course, it’s not always easy to be consistently effective in this area. Fortunately, there are some tactics that can help. Read on to find out what they are.
Listening skills
First of all, before anything else, you need to be able to really listen to what other people in a work environment are saying to you. Now, for some people, this won’t be difficult at all. However, for others, what the other person is trying to convey can get lost pretty quickly.
That is why listening skills, such as active listening, are so essential. This is when you make a point of echoing back what the other person has said to show that you are following along and understand.
Additionally, learning when to ask the right questions versus when to just offer support can be crucial for interpersonal effectiveness too. After all, sometimes, your colleagues will want specific help on how to solve an issue. While at other times, what they are looking for is a validation of their experience and emotional support.
Empathy
If you really want to master interpersonal effectiveness at work, embracing empathy is vital. Of course, empathy means understanding the situation from the other person’s position. A skill that can help you be much more compassionate, but that can be tough at the best of times.
The good news is that some tools can help you get a much clearer grasp of where the other person is coming from. Even if you don’t think like them at all. One of these is to make an effort to understand the personality type you are dealing with.
In fact, there are several ways of doing this, including using the MBTI scale. Although, many people now prefer to use tools like this online Enneagram test because it accounts for features of each type both more deeply and accurately than others on the market. The result is that you get a much better insight into how the person you are dealing with is processing the situation.
Assertiveness
Finally, being able to stand your ground at work is vital. If you don’t want to end up with all the worst tasks and shifts, that is. In fact, it can even mean the difference between advancing in your career and staying stuck where you are.
Unfortunately, there is a fine line between assertiveness and aggression. Therefore, it is imperative that you not fall into the latter. Not to mention avoiding being passive as well.
In fact, being assertive is all about respect. It’s about having respect for the people that you are interacting with, as well as having respect for your own opinion on the subject.
Although clarity and a few tactics like using the ‘broken record technique‘ can really help you as well. Something that should encourage you to be able to stand your ground without resorting to techniques that can damage interpersonal effectiveness like exploding.
