Interpersonal skills involve interacting with other people. They are essential for the development of interpersonal awareness. In this post, we will cover the following techniques to teach your students interpersonal skills:

  1. Take interest in others
  2. Be friendly
  3. Take risks
  4. Silence negative self-talk
  5. Be a team player

Take interest in others

The first technique for showing increased interpersonal awareness is to take an interest in other people. One way to do this is by simply being kind. Teach your students to:

  • Hold a door for someone.
  • Ask someone how his or her day is going.
  • Don’t worry about their interest in you, it will come with time.
  • People who are not interested in others have the greatest difficulties in life.
  • To make friends and develop good relationships, get interested in other people.

Be Friendly

Another way to develop interpersonal skills is to be friendly toward other people. This is as simple as smiling and saying, “Hi” to everyone you see. Teach your students to ask people how they are doing or how their day is going. Make eye contact with the people you interact with throughout the day. Remember to look at others and smile. A good rule to remember is if you want people to like you, smile at them.

Ask your students:

  • Do you say “hi” to people you see?
  • When you speak to people, do you look them in the eye?
  • Do you smile at everyone?

Take risks

Teach your students that risk must be taken by anyone who wants to interact with another human being. Risk is taken every time we reach out from ourselves to touch another person. In order to relate to other people, we must expose ourselves emotionally and open up. Each time we do this we risk being rejected. However, once you experience the rewards of positive interpersonal relationships, you learn that the risk is well worth the effort. Remember: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Silence Negative Self-Talk

This inner voice has a lot of power over our behavior. Teach your students to silence negative messages and replace them with positive affirmations, like the following:  I…

  • have many friends.
  • like others.
  • am at ease around others.
  • am a friend to all.
  • understand others.
  • am a caring person.
  • like all kinds of people.
  • have many close friends.
  • like to meet new people.
  • am a team player.

Be a team player

When you think about it, getting along with others has always been a valuable skill. The ability to interact with co-workers, neighbors, family members and customers will always be important. Being able to get along makes the road to success a lot less rocky. To those who measure success in terms of meaningful relationships, it is absolutely essential. So, teach your students to work with others and be a team player.

Thanks for tuning into our series on teaching interpersonal awareness to your students. If you want to learn more about developing or teaching soft skills, sign up for a free soft skills webinar here.