Working In Business For Highly Effective People – Interpersonal Effectiveness

Interpersonal Effectiveness

Describe about the Working in Business for Highly Effective People.

Introduction

Today’s world economy is knowledge-based. The cut-throat competition, globalization and diverse workforce have made the business environment more challenging than ever. The efficiency of human energy is decisive factor defining success or failure of any business. It is linked with communication, relationships, self-awareness and conflict management. The purpose of this portfolio is to reflect on managing self and others and its co-relations with interpersonal effectiveness.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

It is quite interesting to link interpersonal skills with Emotional Intelligence. This is because it has a lot to do with emotions, feelings of own and others too. The framework of emotional intelligence consists of four core competencies. They are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management (Goleman, 1990). If you study this model, you’ll observe that it mainly emphasizes two parts i.e. Intrapersonal skills and Interpersonal skills. The framework can be considered as the best model to measure the effectiveness on these skills at workplace.

The intrapersonal skills can be called as ‘Life skills’ (UNODC, 2003). This is because they are associated with productivity, morale, job satisfaction, work-life balance and achievements in your life. It includes conversational skills, reflection, clarification, sympathy, and empathy, coping with stress, negotiation, team-building and working in groups. Ne should note that communication is the soul of interpersonal effectiveness. In fact, it is the foundation of all. Personal and professional relationships need to be maintained at high level without an exchange.

The interpersonal skills develop problem-solving approach, thinking out-of-the-box, taking initiatives and working with assertiveness. Empathy i.e. putting ourselves in others’ shoes makes you a matured and confident leader. You can resolve the conflicts (both internal and external). Caring and sharing is the core elements to apply the intrapersonal skills in your organization. Synergy plays a crucial role in achieving goals (both personal and organizational too).The intrapersonal skills can be enhanced through group activities, role plays, training, workshops, project works, team picnics. ‘Unity in Diversity’ is one of the best techniques used in various organizations. Multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic team members have heterogeneous ideas.  Secondly, birthday celebrations, greetings, work anniversary will give them ‘great feeling’ all together. One can take help of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to understand the priorities. In short, the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ will decide the effectiveness of interpersonal skills for an individual.  

Critical Incident:

                                        STARP Table

S = situation the context/background to where/when you had the experience	I was working for an insurance company as an Underwriter. A new client approached us with unique customer requirements. My boss asked me whether I am interested to work on this project. It was complex work in nature. The other team members were not ready to come out of their comfort zone.
T = task what was required of you in the situation listed above	It was expected that I should take an initiative on this pilot project, interact with the client, understand his expectations, design the process flow and work in liaison with him.  To meet the client and boss’s expectations with complete sense of confidence in new business.
A = action what you actually did given the situation & what was required of you	I approached to my boss stating my interest in the new project. I started training myself as guided by the client. Designed the process flow and got it approved by the client and continued.
R = result how well did you do & what did you learn from doing it	The first two months were experimental. I maintained complete database. Preparation of process manuals with all rules and guidelines. The work was audited by a third party based on customer feedback. My previous team members, boss and senior management admired me for such contribution. As a result, we signed a long-term contract for the same.
P = plan what do you intend to do now to improve or build upon, if needed	As our business is expanded, a new team of 10 members was created to handle the business. I was nominated as a Subject Matter Expert (SME). I trained the team with the help of Onshore team. The floor support was provided by me along with audit. People and performance management; quality and timely service delivery would be my priorities.

Critical Incident

Theoretical Analysis and Reflection:

The above mentioned STARP table helps to understand the effectiveness of interpersonal skills. It is said, “Always consider your problems as opportunities.” Actually, they are hidden opportunities. I dared to come out of comfort zone and at least though to start working on it. Initially, I faced a lot of challenges to know the end-to-end process. However, they were minimized in due course of time. I started enjoying the new work. Secondly, my boss asked me to take an initiative. Certainly, he would be confident about me unlike others. Here, my relations with the boss are strengthened than before. I could create my own identity in the office. Thirdly, it was proved I was ‘willing to learn new things.’ My communication with the client created confidence in me and my management. In this sense, I worked on ‘self-awareness and self-management.’ When I became Subject Matter Expert, I was into leadership position. I applied same strategy. Know the people, processes. Caring and sharing. No blame game. Give others time. Have patience. Take initiatives and work consistently. First, manage self and then others. Positive thinking will give positive outcome. A leader cannot be successful without team effort! In short, answer with actions than words. Put your mind and soul in everything what you do.  Link to Organisational Effectiveness:

People need to be social and proactive in maintaining relationship with others. The skilful use of body language is decisive because you are judged by verbal & non-verbal cues (Pease, 1988, p.270). In fact, it is a must for the leaders. Once you create ‘friendly’ image in others’ mind, they will approach and connect with you (cited in Carnegie, 2004).  When things are proven and tested, people are confident about you and your decisions. You need to take little efforts to convince them. When the new process was set-up, many team members came up with new ideas for system improvement. New techniques, tools were introduced. Similarly, they were given the credit. It fostered the culture of creativity. The team was ‘enjoying’ the work. They started supporting each other. The conflicts were resolved. Birthday celebrations, team outings, fun fairs were planned. The office was converted into ‘second home’. The principle of ‘All for each and each for all’ was followed religiously. It ceased the culture of ‘blame game’ and replaced with ‘the Wall of fame’. As a result, the team won ‘The Best Team Award” in the same quarter. Trust, Transparency reflected through their work. It’s ‘We’ rather than ‘I’ who is important. As a result, all the stakeholders ensure stable, secure and sustainable business growth. 

Future goals and strategies

Managerial effectiveness is nothing but ‘striving for excellence!’  The journey had begun and the management had great expectations from us in due course of time. We had slow learners in our team. They lowered the speed of average processing time. It was shared in the weekly meeting. Two goals were set for them: 40% increase in production for the same month and the team should win ‘The Best Team Award in the next month. The top-performers came forward and promised to support them. The strategy was designed that they would sit with them for an hour everyday as to understand what makes others top-performers. They worked on English Typing Speed. Short-term refresher training was also provided to them. The sense of belongingness boosted their confidence leading improvement in performance by 60%. They started taking quick decision and time was saved naturally. Again, it was team effort. In other words, the effectiveness of interpersonal skills!

Conclusion

The above discussion reflects the key learning and takeaways are applicable to any business or a firm. Interpersonal skills have a great deal of contribution in terms of problem-solving, leading by example, conflict resolution, achieving goals, job satisfaction, performance management, work culture, motivation etc. The positive effectiveness of interpersonal skills contributes to the growth of an employee, team and organization. Hence, it is win-win situation for all!

References

Carnegie D. (1981). How To Win Friends and Influence People? RHUK Publication.

Covey Stephen. (2004).The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Paperback.

Drussel J. J. (2012). Social Networking and Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills among College Freshmen.  St. Catherine University & University of St. Thomas. St. Paul, Minnesota. Pg. 38-40.

Hayes J. (2002). Interpersonal Skills at work. New York: Routeledge. 

McPheat S. (2010). Emotional Intelligence. London: Bookboon.

Tracom Group. (2014). Workplace Performance: The Impact of Interpersonal Effectiveness.

Pease A. (2004). The Definitive Book of Body Language. Buderim: Pease International.