10 Interpersonal Skills that Set Professionals Apart

Larry Kim
Marketing and Entrepreneurship
3 min readAug 5, 2019

When it comes to developing your professional skill set, technical skills usually get all the limelight — but what about interpersonal skills?

Interpersonal skills like empathy and honesty are critical to professional success.

Pairing high-quality interpersonal skills and with superb technical skills like chatbot development is a recipe for a unicorn professional.

Discover 10 interpersonal skills that everyone should strive for!

1. Empathy

Being able to consider other people’s situations and feelings while making decisions is a golden quality if ever there was one.

Demonstrating empathy will make you a better coworker, boss or employee — when people think of a supportive colleague, you’ll come to mind.

Also, when you show empathy, others will be more likely to show it back to you.

2. Consistency

Consistency is the most fundamental and most important form of discipline.

Talent paired with consistency is a unicorn combination.

3. Mindfulness

Mindfulness means being intentionally aware of the present moment and the current situation, whatever it is.

By practicing mindfulness, you can have better focus, objectivity and clarity.

A key part of mindfulness is keeping your concentration on what you can control, and not wasting valuable mental energy on the things you cannot control.

4. Good Listening

Whether it’s following instructions or better understanding your customers, the ability to listen is an incredibly powerful skill.

It’s the kind of skill that makes you a good friend, caring partner and valuable professional.

Good listeners also usually no when to say less and take in more, rather than talking over others and getting combative.

Listening can also be practice in humility, especially when it pertains to taking criticism and negative feedback.

5. Delegating and Prioritizing

There are only so many hours in a day.

You can’t take on every project and every request, so it’s key to be able to know what to prioritize, what to delegate and what to decline.

6. Good Time Management

Being able to deftly manage your time and projects is a great skill to have.

Avoid procrastination, deal with small tasks quickly, and break down larger tasks into a series of managable smaller tasks.

7. Humility

The ability to ask for help when you need it is a sign of strength, not weakness.

It’s an act of humility to acknowledge that you need help and reach out for it.

8. Positivity

Being able to stay motivated isn’t just about chasing goals, but also staying positive.

Maintaining a positive spirit — even when things aren’t sunshine and roses — is an all-star quality that will help your entire team weather a storm.

9. Assertiveness

Learning to speak up can be difficult at first, especially if you tend to be passive or shy.

But speaking up and making yourself is a way to contribute to the conversation, lean in and lead.

10. Honesty

Last but certainly not least on our list of stellar interpersonal skills is honesty.

Honesty is key for every area of life, including the workplace.

Being honest and trustworthy makes you an asset to your company, boss and team.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best Unicorn marketing & entrepreneurship growth hacks:

  1. Sign up to have them sent to your email directly

2. Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing news & tips via Facebook Messenger.

About the Author

Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey — provider of the World’s Best Facebook Messenger Marketing Platform. He’s also the founder of WordStream.

You can connect with him on Facebook Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.

Do you want a Free Facebook Chatbot builder for your Facebook page? Check out MobileMonkey!

Originally posted on Inc.com

--

--

Larry Kim
Marketing and Entrepreneurship

CEO of MobileMonkey. Founder of WordStream. Top columnist @Inc ❤️ AdWords, Facebook Advertising, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Start-ups & Venture Capital 🦄