Improving the Interpersonal Skills of Your Managers and Employees

If you were a school teacher at report-card time, what kind of communication grades would you give the members of your team? How important are interpersonal skills in your business?

Most organizations do a great job in training their managers and employees in on-the-job skills, but completely overlook interpersonal skills training. How important is communication training? What is the value of an interpersonal communication workshop? No other single investment you can make will give you the kind of ROI you'll receive from training your team in the art and science of effective interpersonal communication.

The way your managers and employees communicate dramatically affects morale, teamwork, productivity, employee retention, customer relations and your bottom line. If your team could achieve a 10%, 20% or 30% improvement in their communication skills, what would it mean to your business?

The Art and Science of Effective Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is an art. Some people are naturally good at it, and they can't really tell you why. They are just great communicators. They get along with most people and know how to build strong working relationships. They know how to listen. They know how to get their point across. They know how to collaborate and negotiate. When they need to confront, they don't hesitate, but they don't erode the relationship in the process. In fact, the clarity they bring to difficult situations strengthens the respect that underlies their working relationships. These people are artists.

Some communication artists have an amazing inborn talent for effective interpersonal communication. Others have developed their skills through study, practice and a lot of trial and error. Regardless of how they acquired their interpersonal skills, effective communicators stand head and shoulders above their peers.

Interpersonal communication is truly an art, but it's also a science. The science of clear communication, active listening, persuasion and collaboration is easy to teach, but hard to learn. Effective communication is situational. The "right" thing to say or do in one situation may backfire in another. What works with one person doesn't work with another. Effective communicators have mastered both the science and the art of interpersonal communication, applying the principles of emotional intelligence to each situation they encounter.

Effective Interpersonal Skills Training Workshops

In our interpersonal communication workshops and seminars, we teach the art and the science of effective communication. Each participant typically completes an assessment prior to the workshop and receives a 20-page personal profile outlining her/his communication style. During the workshop, participants get to know themselves, how they act (or react) in various situations, and where they are effective or ineffective as communicators. We teach them the science of interpersonal communication, and we coach them on becoming more effective as communication artists.

Our interpersonal communication workshops are fun, entertaining, practical, challenging and highly effective in bringing about a change in behavior. Roger Reece conducts each workshop, and teaches the principles of interpersonal communication through a wealth of personal stories and illustrations. As an expert facilitator, he uses role-play, group discussions and interactive dialogues to actively involve every participant in the learning process.

If you want to expand your manager/employee training program to include effective interpersonal skills training, all you have to do is contact us to learn more about our communication workshops. Don't wait. Schedule an in-house interpersonal communication workshop for your team today!