Interpersonal Intelligence

Your Ability to Understand Others

Your interpersonal intelligence is your ability to understand others. We are social beings that exist in an extremely sociable world. We all need the ability to understand and live in harmony with the people around us.Intelligence is only one part of the concept of your mind, which has many abilities that are interconnected. These include your ability to think logically, to reason, think abstractly, problem solve, understand ideas and concepts, how you learn, and how you communicate and use language.

Why you need Interpersonal Intelligence

Because we are social beings, and while we often live our lives as individuals, we must also know how to live as part of a bigger community. You need the ability to understand people from their perspective and be able to interact on an appropriate level. This can be as simple as offering a sympathetic ear or as complex as helping you to choose a career path.

While we all need interpersonal skills, it becomes a vital ability for people who interact with people as part of their careers, for example, teachers, social workers, and salespeople.People with a high level of interpersonal skills are in the extrovert group and are sensitive to the feelings and moods of those around them. If you have good interpersonal intelligence, you are seen as a team player, willing to cooperate with your team members. You work with others easily and efficiently alongside a wide range of different temperaments.

Interpersonal Skills Affect your Communication

To communicate effectively at work and in your everyday life, your interpersonal intelligence is necessary for positive outcomes. You use this intelligence when you communicate with every single person you come across.

For effective communication you need the ability to understand other people’s points of view and opinions. Put yourself in the other person’s position to see the situation through their eyes.The better your interpersonal skills the better you communicate with the world. If you find you communicate easily with those around, you probably are a good listener.

You can also see and understand other people’s opinions without judging them, and understand people’s moods and emotions, and how they affect them.Highly developed interpersonal intelligence will make communication simpler, and reduce the incidence of debates, arguments, and problems, and make the workplace a healthy productive environment for all team members.

Five Tips to Improve Interpersonal Intelligence

Good interpersonal skills are important in the workplace. How your colleagues and employers perceive you is important to your future success. No matter how brilliant your work is, your reputation will suffer if you are known to be difficult to work with. Here are some tips to help improve your personal intelligence:

1. Smile at Others: There is nothing more depressing than being around someone who is always negative. Even if there are problems in your life, maintain a positive outlook and smile as often as you can at others. You will find a positive outlook draws people to you.

2. Appreciate People: Show your colleagues you appreciate them. Think of at least one positive thing about everyone you work with and let them know. Say thank you to people when they do something for you, and do not forget to give praise where praise is due. By taking this attitude with your colleagues, it will make for a happy team where everyone wants to do their best.

3. Be Aware of Others: Pay attention to what is going on in other people’s lives. Express sympathy through the tough times and congratulations at happy milestones and successes. Ask your colleagues and friends for their opinions and make eye contact when you communicate with people.

4. Be Clear in your Communication: Have you often said something and been surprised at how others interpreted your meaning? Was it something completely different to what you meant? Be clear in your communication with others. Choose how and what you say wisely to avoid misunderstandings at work and in your personal life. Think about what you say before you say it, so that when you do speak people listen.

5. Be an Active Listener: Really listen to what people say. To demonstrate you hear what is being said to you, in your own words, verbally interpret what has been said to make sure you have understood what people say.