The way you carry yourself in your personal life or at work and how you interact with others play a huge part in life; it can positively or negatively impact you. Social skills are equally important, along with doing well in work or completing on schedule.
It depends on how you are relating it to others. Social skills are skills that promote effective and healthy communication with others. Social skills include written, verbal, non-verbal, and visual communication used to relay any kind of message to others. Social skills are also known as Soft skills, sometimes referred to as Interpersonal Skills as well.
A common way in which you exercise your social skills are –
- The language you are using in both written and verbal form
- The tone, pitch, and volume of your voice in verbal conversation
- Physical gesture and body language in visual form
- Facial expressions and eye contact in verbal conversation
Social skills are equally important as hard skills for a respective job in any sector. Social skills are crucial for freshers or those who have no experience and equally important for the people who are working at a higher post in the company. Social skills play an immense role in elevating your professional career. As Aristotle said, ‘man by nature is a social animal, who inherent the need for social interaction’ no matter what personality trait heshe belongs to. Communication in any form helps to know the other personality and thoughts more simply. It enables you to foster and build a meaningful bond or relationship with your employee and co-workers.
Why are social skills required for career success?
The answer of ‘why’ can be seen in an interview process, especially for a new job. At the interview, the main focus of any interviewer or recruiter is on ‘how you conduct yourself in front of them.’ They read your cover letter or CV to know about your educational qualifications or background. Still, to study your personality as an individual, they analyze your body language, visual expressions, physical attire, listen to how you talk about yourself, the language you use, and whether you maintain eye contact or not.
How to improve your social skills?
As we all have different personalities and we worked according to that in every situation. For some people, it is very easy to grab any habit, but for some people, it might be more challenging. Every time it is not possible to know our actions, facial expression, and body language, right? We are not robots. You can boost your social skills and become more comfortable in the workplace by working on actions, facial expressions, and the pitch of your voice, which helps build a healthy bond among clients and co-workers.
– Assess the situation
Try to talk to your trusted colleagues and get their feedback about you and your personality in the work environment. Your main motive is to improve yourself, and it can turn into an uncomfortable point but don’t consider those feedbacks in criticism or in a hostile gesture.
– Adopt good gestures
Obviously, we like some personality gestures or habits in our friends or group, right? Once you have a good sense of what others do well, try to adopt it in your daily life. Don’t mimic as it is, but mold them according to your requirements.
– Small talks
It is challenging for few people who don’t believe in minimal conversations, but honestly, small-talk is a pathway for deep discussions. Try to hear them out and reciprocate the conversation. It helps you to know about their views, opinions, and perspective.
– Set goals
The thought of moving towards betterment is exceptional and appealing. Set your goals on which habit or gesture you want to work on first, start to prioritize things according to time management. Try to do SMART work (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely) and hard work.
– Conflict resolution
Conflict is the part of the workplace that is normal, but having a solution is very rare. Try to think out of the box, which opens your mind spectrum. These soft skills majorly focus on your positive attitude and warm gesture towards others.
– Cooperation
Cooperation is the second word for the workplace. It is the ability to work in coordination and in a concrete manner. This social skill plays an essential role in a group or in teamwork.
Adopting these social skills in your workplace can play a game-changer. As it is a necessity to get a job. Moreover, it represents your personality in the righteous order in front of others. If you find that social skills don’t come easily, don’t distrain yourself, try every day with a positive attitude, and notice changes anytime soon.