Types of interpersonal skills – (with Diagram)

Gaining a good knowledge of types of interpersonal skills will definitely help you to accumulate a comprehensive understanding of interpersonal skills. 

Interpersonal skills are the communication or interaction and exchange of information, knowledge, thoughts, ideas, feeling and emotions between two or more people, it can also be with a small or large group of people. This interaction can be established by oral or verbal, non-verbal, written communication.

Two types of interpersonal skills are oral or verbal communication and non-verbal communication. 

Four types of interpersonal skills are oral or verbal communication, non-verbal communication, written communication skills and active listen skill.

11 types of interpersonal skills are verbal, non-verbal, written, listening, negotiation ability, problem solving skill, decision-making skill, multitasking, organization skill, communicating with individuals, communicating with a small or large group of people.

Strong interpersonal skills are an essential need for creating  connections between people and establishing quality relationships. 

There can be many different types or interpersonal skills,  given below are the eleven of the most necessary skills.

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Verbal communication skills
2. Non-verbal communication skills
3. Written communication skills
4. Active Listening skills
5. Negotiation ability
6. Problem-solving or Conflict Resolution skills
7. Decision-making ability
8. Communicating with individuals
9. Communicating among small or large groups
10. Multitasking Skills
11. Organization skills

What are the 4 types of interpersonal communication?

What are the 2 types of interpersonal communication?

1. Verbal communication skills

Verbal communication is a vital part of communication, where we use sounds, words, language, and speech in order to share or convey information and our thoughts, ideas, and feelings.

For establishing efficient and effective verbal communication, we need to:

• Speak clearly and precisely
• Deliver the words in easily understood manner
• Customize the words and style of delivery according to the place and situation
• Be cool and calm during verbal communication 
• Be focused and distraction free 
• Speaking with polite manner

2. Non-verbal communication skills

Nonverbal communication is the way of communication where you convey certain message, feeling or information to an individual or a group of people through your body language, physical appearance with your body and dresses, style of seating or standing, eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, speed of delivery of information or speaking, maintaining required space from people, posture and gestures etc.

It is a process of sending or receiving information to other people without using words or or writing rather through using nonverbal methods. 

3. Written communication skills

We not only communicate verbally or nonverbally, rather we also communicate through written methods. Writing can be done using paper and pen or electronic devices.

 Long ago when electronic devices or the technology was not much developed, people were using paper and pen for writing,  but now along with the development of technology and the immense opportunity of using electronic gadgets and softwares,  writing on electronic gadgets became much more popular.

In every business or workplace, writing is an essential part which can never be ignored. People communicate with each other through email, social media or different software, but the ultimate reason for writing is to communicate or send some sort of information to the other person or reader.

 Our writing has immense power to either convince others or create a sense of dissatisfaction. 

when a candidate or job seeker wants to get a job in a company or organisation, he is required to write a resume, the resume provides a bunch of essential information to the job recruiter.  

Even in organisations people need to communicate with each other through writing. In fact writing is almost an essential part of every industry.

This is the reason, developing writing skills which are persuasive and effective enough to convince the reader are very important skills that need to be developed by every individual.

4. Active Listening skills

Active listening is another important interpersonal skill every one must possess. Most people are too impatient to listen carefully and attentively. 

Listening without attention can create several negative issues such as misunderstanding, poor communication and unproductive results of expectation.

Listening to others without interrupting helps you to understand the speaker in the well manner and as a result creates better communication.

If you have a habit of interrupting others or being too quick to speak, then it is very important that you develop the skill of active listening, where you listen to others without interrupting and patiently with undivided attention.

 Not listening actively not only creates problems in the workplaces rather it can also create severe issues in relationship and family life.

5. Negotiation ability

Negotiation is all about A discussion between two parties or two individuals regarding an issue, argument, dispute or it can also be a business deal, where two individuals or two parties present their ideas and thoughts without creating any conflict, aiming to reach a compromise solution where both parties are benefited.

The actual goal of a quality negotiation is reaching a solution where both individuals or two parties mutually benefited without having conflict between them.

Establishing a Win-Win situation is the ultimate goal of a successful negotiation. 

Conflict can occur in every workplace, businesses or even personal and family life,  but possessing a good negotiation skill will help us to overcome this conflict and establish a successful, beneficial and compromise solution.

In order to develop negotiation skill one must:

Listen actively and with patient without interrupting others,  possess effective verbal communication skill, must be good in analysing to understand the actual issue and finding out the best solution, problem solving and decision making attitude is also essential for a quality negotiation, concerning for others and rapport building helps in to create a better negotiation, one must also carry positive attitude to face the difficult or challenging situation with being cool and calm. 

6. Problem-solving or Conflict Resolution skills

Problem solving or conflict resolution is a skill where you define the actual problem by finding the actual cause or the reason of the problem by identifying and analysing the issue indepthly and at the end solve the issue by implementing a perfect solution that can create resolution to the conflict or problem.

In order to find the root of the problem, you may need to go through a process of gathering the needed data, analysing them indepthly and finding the actual  cause of the problem.

In order to solve a problem successfully you need to develop active listening skills, skill of analysing and researching, be a creative person who can think creatively,  communicate effectively and be able to make decisions.

You can develop your problem solving skills by following these simple 9 steps:

• You must learn to define the main or the actual problem without looking at the result of the problem.
• Give your most effort to find out the actual cause of the problem rather than being busy with the problem itself.
• Do not be entangled with the problem but seek earnestly for the solution.
• Listen actively to others and gain information.
• Speak to many other people who can help you in this matter and gather ideas from as many people as possible.
•  Do not rely on only one possible solution, rather make a list of many possible solutions, so that you can implement them one by one and find the best result.
•  Do not follow the traditional method, rather be creative in your every steps  by implementing creative ideas.
• Implement the finest solution plan first but if it doesn’t work go for the next one.
•  Take your decision according to the result of the outcome, in order to do that you need to  go through a continuous analysis process. 

7. Decision-making ability

We all make decisions in our day to day life, in fact every day we make several decisions,  some decisions bring regression in our life and some bring success.

 From family or personal life to professional life everywhere we need to make decisions, making decisions is an essential part of every human life.

But the question is, how shall we make a decision? is there a process for making a decision wisely. Of course there is a process to make a wise decision.

In order to make a decision:

•  First of all, you need to identify the actual problem and the area where you need to make the decision.
•  Gather information from different resources in order to make a better decision.
•  Do not just rely on your own understanding rather gather knowledge and information from other resources and peoples, using offline and online facilities.
• Go through a in-depth scrutinized process in order to find which is the Best possible method.
•  Once you recognize the best method,  review it thoroughly. 
• Now it is the time to implement it by taking action, so this is where you make decisions.

8. Communicating with individuals

In our daily life, most of the time we communicate with individuals.  Being effective and persuasive in communicating with individuals can  make you an attractive and  respected person. 

Speaking with a clear voice, enthusiastic and self confident attitude, speaking fluently and without errors,  proves your word as authentic and attractive to the listener.

Not interrupting others while they are speaking, respecting others’ opinion or view, responding calmly and humbly, maintaining sufficient distance from the listener, maintaining regular eye contact, displaying a pleasant and cheerful face etc  help you to communicate with individuals in the best manner. 

9. Communicating among small or large groups

While you’re speaking in a meeting or addressing a large group of people it is very important that you go through a well prepared process in order to deliver the information in the most pleasant and effective manner.

Being confident is an essential part of communication with a small or large group of people, as the lack of  confidence can cause you to be nervous and as a result create poor communication.

In order to establish an effective communication among small or large group of people, you need to:

• Be well prepared beforehand.
• Establish regular eye contact with every individual. 
• Be aware of your  audience and their expectations.
• Be prepared to present your information in the midst of distraction.
• Be comfortable with the environment and the technical stuff that will be used during communication.
• Test all the electronics Gadgets and the equipment that will be used during  delivering the information.
• Speak clearly and without grammatical error.
• Display the best manner, pleasant appearance and professional body language along with a pleasing and appealing facial expression.
• Do not speak too fast  but make sure everyone understands you.
• Implement humor and feeling in order to make your communication more alive and attractive.
• Be limited to your allotted time.
•  Display your confidence throughout the communication process.
•  Be energetic and enthusiastic while speaking. 

10. Multitasking Skills

Multitasking is all about performing more than one task simultaneously without losing its quality. 

Possessing multitasking skills help to save money and time and be versatile in workflow. Many organisations demand for people with multitasking skills,  therefore developing multitasking skills will help you not only to execute the several tasks efficiently rather it will also help you to become a better employee. 

Example of multitasking skill are:

Suppose you are a web developer, so you may be a professional web developer but you must also know the Search Engine  Optimisation job, the organisation may instruct you to perform SEO work beside the web development job,  and in this case you must be able to handle these two tasks simultaneously with best performance.

Another example is , You may need to take care of your child, do the marketing work,  cook food, take care of the garden, take the dog for a walk, spend time with family members, when you handle all these as a single person, actually you are performing multitasking. 

11. Organization skills

Organisational skill is another very important skill that helps you to become a desired employee as it helps you to meet the deadlines, carry out the task effectively and efficiently and minimises the work stress as a result increases the productivity. 

As your organisation skills directly or indirectly affect your work performance, it is considered as an essential skill to be possessed by every employee.

Organisational skills are required as it helps the employee to use the resources in the most efficient and effective manner in order to to produce the most productivity. 

Possessing organisation skill means managing your time, resources, energy and the workplace in the most productive manner to accomplish success in your assigned task. 

It is all about organizing your work in the appropriate manner and performing them smoothly for the best possible performance.

What are the 4 types of interpersonal communication skills?

The four types of interpersonal communication skills are verbal communication, nonverbal communication, communication through writing and listening actively. 

These four types of interpersonal communication skills are the four pillars of becoming a successful and effective professional to impress the employer and to produce the best possible result in the  workplace. 

What are the 2 types of interpersonal communication skills?

The two types of Interpersonal communication skills are verbal communication and nonverbal communication. 

Verbal communication is all about communicating through speaking or using words, whereas nonverbal communication is where we do not use words but we communicate with people through our body languages, behavior and manners.

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