How Improving your Interpersonal Relationship at Work Can Promote Teamwork and Success

Interpersonal skills are essential for professionals to perform well in their work environment. They are learned by doing and practicing them each day. Without these skills, employees will have a hard time communicating with their work colleagues and may even get confused about how they handle situations at work. Finding out how improving interpersonal skills contribute to teamwork and success will undoubtedly give you the edge of improving your work values and performance.

Interpersonal skills include the following:

#1 Being respectful with colleagues and other people

A person who has respect for people around him will effectively foster good relationships and develop an ideal work environment. Not practicing respect in the workplace may lead to misunderstandings and chaos. That is why it is crucial to learn how to show respect to anyone, whether your boss or a workmate. Here are some of the diverse ways on how to do that:

• Show courtesy and gratitude
• Not grabbing the credit for other's work and accomplishments
• Help improve someone else's work when needed
• Show appreciation for other people's time and effort
• Listen to suggestion, feedback, and recommendations
• Avoid insulting, attacking others, as well as disparaging
• Respect other people's opinions and ideas

#2 Practicing self-awareness

Self-awareness refers to a person's ability to acknowledge what they are feeling conscious and the reason they're feeling it. According to psychology experts, self-awareness is one of four components of emotional intelligence: empathy, emotions and relationship building.

Being conscious of your emotions and feelings will help you become cognizant of understanding the information conveyed to others. Lacking self-awareness can lead to adverse effects in the workplace, leading to lowered productivity levels.

#3 Showing understanding and empathy

Empathy is a crucial factor in every relationship. With empathy, a person will always consider the needs, feelings, and thoughts of other people. There are various ways for professionals to learn and develop their skills by doing empathy-building activities.

#4 Behaving properly

Every worker needs to behave appropriately in the workplace. Some of the things you should not forget are the following:

• Be punctual
• Dress properly
• Develop and practice a positive attitude
• Show courtesy
• Promote cooperation 
• Be friendly
• Be accountable and reliable

#5 Promote active listening

Active listening refers to attentively listening to what other people are imparting. Make sure to approach the conversation and learn something from it. Active listening can help people to learn and grow. With this, it can help increase our understanding of matters with an open mind and a better way of understanding.

#6 Become an effective communicator

Communication is an indispensable component of our lives, whether in the workplace or personal relationships. This can be the missing link between failure and success. Poor communication can cause significant damage due to misunderstanding and issues with delegation.

#7 Being open or receptive to feedback

Feedback and constructive criticisms are all essential in both professional and personal growth. However, some people do not like that they are criticized. Thus, it is a must that we must identify the big difference between criticism and feedback. Criticism may involve an evaluation of someone's personality. On the other hand, feedback may sound similar to criticism, but they are ways to improve your work performances.

How Interpersonal Skills Contribute to Teamwork and Success

Every member of an organization must exert effort to improve their interpersonal skills. The benefits of such can contribute to the following:

#1 Development of stronger working relations with colleagues and clients

Lack of communication and poor interpersonal skills are often resulting in conflicts in the workplace. These problems should be prevented to ensure relationships among your work colleagues. When you respect and understand their concerns, you will create a harmonious relationship with them. Asking help from each other will be a routine for the team to create success. The same goes for when you are dealing with your boss and clients. There should be mutual respect, understanding, open communication, and active listening. Your approach to handling conversations with them must have proper interpersonal skills. When that happens, there will be a stronger working relationship with your workmates, employers, customers, and clients.

#2 Better teamwork

Teamwork is a factor that will help a company to reach their goals and become successful. One reason why some team members do not do their part is that they are not provided the same opportunity to share their views and suggestions. Maybe they have some bright and creative ideas in mind, however, being hampered because they are not given proper attention. This is why employees and team leaders must be open to feedback and suggestions from every member of the team. This will significantly help in brainstorming and collaboration.

Career Addict, in one of its published posts, mentioned that teamwork improves the morale of the employees. It stated,

"When the workload is shared, and members of a team collaborate, they can feel a greater sense of accomplishment when they complete a task and reach a goal that they would not have been able to achieve had they been working alone. This, combined with a sense of belonging, appreciation and recognition, can drastically improve employee self-esteem and morale."

It also mentioned that teamwork provides employees with a shared purpose, aside from creating a great exchange of ideas.

Improving interpersonal skills will help develop better teamwork among employees. It will also help in a smooth flow of ideas from everyone for the company's success.

#3 Development of an overall positive environment at work

Nobody wants to work and struggle in an environment where they may feel uncomfortable and not valued for their efforts. When they feel negative because of what they see and hear, they will not create positive work results. These may reflect the quality of the job they will render.

With improved interpersonal skills, camaraderie and better management will be achieved. When their feedback and sentiments are properly heard, they will be more motivated to perform better. Of course, workplace ergonomics must also be applied to the workstations.

#4 Improved productivity level

When teamwork, respect, cooperation, empathy, and open communication are present in the workplace, success can be only a step away. Workers who have excellent interpersonal skills are willing and motivated to do their best on every task assigned to them. This results in an improved productivity level in the workplace.

Final Thoughts

Improving interpersonal skills is a must for every member of an organization. Whether you are working in a company-based office or working remotely, these skills play a vital role in accomplishing more success.