Interpersonal Relationship

↪ Interpersonal relationship skills refer to the ability to build understanding with individuals having similar interests and goals as we do. In a workplace, interpersonal relationship skills allow us to share a special bond with our co-workers such that trust and positive feelings for one another are maintained.

↪ Interpersonal relationship skills at workplace allow a better understanding among employees as well as more effective communication. For individuals spending, on average, seven to eight hours of their day at work, it is irrational to believe they can work all by themselves. So we all ought to have healthy interpersonal relationships at work in order to be able to have a friendly ambience.

● Why are interpersonal relationships important?

↪ The importance of interpersonal relationships in workplace is evident from the following benefits:

· Greater employee satisfaction. Human being is a social animal. Working in isolation makes an individual prone to stress and he starts to find his job monotonous. Therefore, interpersonal relationships give employees a chance to form close relationships with fellow co-workers, developing in them a sense of joy as well as satisfaction.

· Better decision-making. Any important decision making within an organization is based on its employees brainstorming to find the best ideas and strategies. However, this requires a platform such that every individual has the liberty and an equal opportunity to express his views and opinions. Such effective communication is best possible when employees have close associations with each other that allows for effective communication as well as some honest feedback.

● How to improve interpersonal relationship skills

↪ Interpersonal relationships in an organization are very critical for the job as well as career success of individual employees. However, they also require a lot of efforts on the part of the employees to nurture and maintain them. Following are some of the tips that can help you improve you interpersonal relationship skills and achieve the ultimate success you desire:

· Interact with your colleagues or subordinates more often. Greet your colleagues every day you see them even if they are from a different team. Also, provide an open platform for everyone to discuss any issue at hand and encourage honest feedback. Whether you use verbal or written communication method makes little difference but you must be able to make informed decisions. Hiding things from a co-worker or ignoring him may spoil your relationship with him.

· Conduct as well as attend morning meetings. Leaders should make it a habit to arrange and members should make sure to attend morning meetings. However, these meetings should not be made too formal e.g. by allowing coffee mugs as well as informal interactions between the members during the meeting.

· Arrange picnics as well as off-site meetings for team members. Meeting outside the office, is an effort to change the atmosphere, gives team members a special opportunity to open up to each other and build strong bonds of friendship over time.

● STRESS MANAGEMENT:

↪ Factors that lead to stress:

• Fear and uncertainty. When you regularly hear about the threat of terrorist attacks, global warming, and toxic chemicals on the news, it can cause you to feel stressed, especially because you feel like you have no control over those events. And even though disasters are typically very rare events, their vivid coverage in the media may make them seem as if they are more likely to occur than they really are. Fears can also hit closer to home, such as being worried that you won’t finish a project at work or won’t have enough money to pay your bills this month.
• Attitudes and perceptions. How you view the world or a particular situation can determine whether it causes stress. For example, if your television set is stolen and you take the attitude, “It’s OK, my insurancecompany will pay for a new one,” you’ll be far less stressed than if you think, “My TV is gone and I’ll never get it back! What if the thieves come back to my house to steal again?” Similarly, people who feel like they’re doing a good job at work will be less stressed out by a big upcoming project than those who worry that they are incompetent.
• Unrealistic expectations. No one is perfect. If you expect to do everything right all the time, you’re destined to feel stressed when things don’t go as expected.
• Change. Any major life change can be stressful — even a happy event like a wedding or a job promotion. More unpleasant events, such as a divorce, major financial setback, or death in the family can be significant sources of stress.

↪ Your stress level will differ based on your personality and how you respond to situations. Some people let everything roll off their back. To them, work stresses and life stresses are just minor bumps in the road. Others literally worry themselves sick.

● Effects of Stress on Your Health

↪ When you are in a stressful situation, your body launches a physical response. Your nervous system springs into action, releasing hormones that prepare you to either fight or take off. It’s called the “fight or flight” response, and it’s why, when you’re in a stressful situation, you may notice that your heartbeat speeds up, your breathing gets faster, your muscles tense, and you start to sweat. This kind of stress is short-term and temporary (acute stress), and your body usually recovers quickly from it.

↪ But if your stress system stays activated over a long period of time (chronic stress), it can lead to or aggravate more serious health problems. The constant rush of stress hormones can put a lot of wear and tear on your body, causing it to age more quickly and making it more prone to illness.

↪ If you’ve been stressed out for a short period of time, you may start to notice some of these physical signs:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Difficulty sleeping
• Difficulty concentrating
• Upset stomach
• Irritability

↪ When stress becomes long-term and is not properly addressed, it can lead to a number of more serious health conditions, including:

• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Abnormal heartbeat
• Hardening of the arteries
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Heartburn, ulcers
• Upset stomach — cramps, constipation, and diarrhea
• Weight gain or loss
• Flare-ups of asthma or arthritis
• Skin problems such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis

↪ Managing your stress can make a real difference to your health. One study showed that women with heart disease lived longer if they underwent a stress management program.

● What Are Stress Management Techniques?

You can take steps to prevent stress in your life.

• Set realistic goals and limits for yourself.
• Put things into perspective and try not to get upset about insignificant or relatively unimportant matters.
• Take stress-management, time-management, or anger-management classes.
• Find activities that you enjoy and set aside time to participate in them on a regular basis.
• Participate in regular physical exercise.
• Consume a healthy diet.
• Avoid or reducing alcohol and caffeine intake.
• Maintain a positive outlook.
• Set goals and break them into easily achievable tasks.
• Reward yourself for the good things that you do each day

● Conflict Management

· Kenneth Kaye once said, “Conflict is neither good nor bad. Properly managed, it is absolutely vital.”

· Highly effective leaders identify, understand and develop swift and smart resolutions to workplace conflicts, most of which demand some level of confrontation. Yet I’ve found many coaching clients dread confrontation, shifting the focus toward diversionary topics or simply turning a blind eye to avoid tough conversations. But running from conflict will not serve anyone well. Ultimately, the elephant in the room only grows or becomes much more unwieldy.

· The implications of shunning confrontation range from a breakdown of communication and damaged relationships to lowered organizational productivity and morale. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating your ability to effectively confront employees during times of conflict. Be sure to write down your answers:

· • On a scale of 1–5, how comfortable are you with having tough conversations?

· • What is your go-to method for handling conflict with employees? E-mail, phone, face-to-face or other?

• Is it hard for you to manage your emotions effectively when talking about a challenging or fear-inducing situation?

• How do you create an open dialogue with your team, regardless of difficult circumstances?

• How do you exhibit poise and self-control in the presence of confrontations?

• How comfortable are you with giving what might be perceived as negative feedback?

•If your answers to the above are less than appealing, the following tips can guide you to build a healthy workplace culture that faces confrontation at the right time with courage and confidence:

1. Identify the opportunity. Shift the lens through which you view conflict. By adopting a positive outlook on confrontation, you’ll discover that every conflict is a new opportunity for both the other party and you to grow, develop and learn. After all, if you have tended to avoid conflict, the underlying topics and details are likely things that you have rarely, if ever, discussed, representing growth opportunities and innovative approaches you have yet to uncover.

2. Build a culture that encourages giving and receiving feedback. Ask your team for their frequent, healthy feedback, and you will begin to show boldness and encourage transparency through your example. Allowing unpleasant truths to trickle out gradually fosters a sense of camaraderie and understanding within your organization, in turn reducing the risk of future conflict. What’s more, creating honest dialogue lets your employees know their opinions are valued, raising their level of engagement. Finally, when confrontations do arise, they will feel far more inclined to receive your concerns with an open mind and an appreciation of your opinion instead of reflexively thinking the sky is falling.

3. Be proactive, but resist jumping to conclusions. Prevent problematic behavior from escalating beyond repair by taking swift action, but do not jump to conclusions before reaching a full understanding of the situation. Assume positive intent to immediately activate a spirit that diffuses the situation. Another way to be proactive is to measure your words to avoid being the source of conflict in the first place. Saying, “I need to see you in my office at 3 p.m.” has the potential to spiral reactions that “Can we prioritize the risks on your project in my office at 3 p.m.?” would otherwise sidestep.

4. Do not use e-mail for conflict. If e-mail is your go-to to manage conflict, it is time to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. Let your level of fear be your compass. The more emotion you are feeling, the more the situation is likely to be faced in person. If you don’t, you are subjecting yourself to the gravitational forces that pull these types of situations southward. Effective conflict management will require real-time awareness of the facts and your undivided attention.

5. Engage productively using storytelling. Before any confrontation, consider that the other person may be right from the beginning and question your own opinion. When you do present your concerns, start with storytelling if you can, rather than headlining with any abrupt, premature summaries of your stance on the matter(s) at hand. We experience our lives through stories, which are entertaining and engaging. Make your case and then create space for the other person to process and respond to you, and truly listen to them.

· By being fully accountable to the demands of leadership, and committing yourself to the above steps, almost every confrontation you have can be redirected toward a productive outcome. Those former self-doubts and insecurities that hindered your ability to face conflict will be replaced with confident, courageous resolve and an understanding of the healthy dynamics that can move your business forward faster than you ever thought possible.

● Time Management

↪ It is rightly said “Time and Tide wait for none”. An individual should understand the value of time for him to succeed in all aspects of life. People who waste time are the ones who fail to create an identity of their own.

Concept: Time management is commonly defined as the various means by which people effectively use their time and other closely related resources in order to make the most out of it. It is essential to do the right thing at the right time to earn respect at work. People who do not value time fail to make a mark and are never taken seriously.

● What is Time Management?

• Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity.
• Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance.
• Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is always limited.

↪ Time Management plays a very important role not only in organizations but also in our personal lives.

●Time Management skill includes:

1. Effective Planning
2. Setting goals and objectives
3. Setting deadlines
4. Delegation of responsibilities
5. Prioritizing activities as per their importance
6. Spending the right time on the right activity
7. Effective Planning

↪ Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a To Do List or a “TASK PLAN”. Note down the important activities that need to be done in a single day. High Priority work should come on top followed by those which do not need much of your importance. Complete pending tasks one by one. Do not begin fresh work unless you have finished your previous task. Tick the ones you have already completed.

1. Setting Goals and Objectives

Working without goals and targets in an organization would be similar to a situation where the captain of the ship loses his way in the sea. Set targets for yourself and make sure they are realistic ones and achievable.

2 Setting Deadlines

Set deadlines for yourself and strive hard to complete tasks ahead of the deadlines. Do not wait for your superiors to ask you every time. Learn to take ownership of work. Only you can set your deadlines in a best manner. Ask yourself how much time needs to be devoted to a particular task and for how many days.’

3 Delegation of Responsibilities

Learn to say “NO” at workplace. Don’t do everything on your own. There are other people as well. One should not accept something which he knows is difficult for him. The roles and responsibilities must be delegated as per interest and specialization of employees for them to finish tasks within deadlines. A person who does not have knowledge about something needs more time than someone who knows the work well.

4 Prioritizing Tasks

Prioritize the tasks as per their importance and urgency. Know the difference between important and urgent work. Identify which tasks should be done within a day, which all should be done within a month and so on. Tasks which are most important should be done earlier.

5 Spending the right time on right activity

Develop the habit of doing the right thing at the right time. Work done at the wrong time is not of much use. Don’t waste a complete day on something which can be done in an hour or so.

Develop the habit of using planners, organizers, table top calendars for better time management. Set reminders on phones or your personal computers.

Needs/ Importance/ Benifits of Time Management:

1. Makes an individual punctual and disciplined: One learns to work when it is actually required as a result of effective time management. To make the proper use of time, individuals should prepare a “TASK PLAN“ or a “TO DO“ List at the start of the day to note down activities which need to be done in a particular day as per their importance and urgency. A Task Plan gives individuals a sense of direction at the workplace.
2. Becomes more organized: Keeping the things at their proper places minimizes the time which goes on unnecessary searching of documents, important files, folders, and stationery items and so on. For better time management, individuals keep their workstations, study zones, cubicles, meeting areas clean and organized. People learn to manage things well as a result of Time Management.
3. Boosts an individual’s morale and makes confident: As a result of Time Management, individuals complete tasks within the specified time frame. This makes them popular in their organization as well as amongst their superiors. People who understand the value of time stands apart from the crowd and becomes the center of attraction.
4. Completion of tasks and goals within time: Managing time effectively helps employees to meet targets way ahead of deadlines and finish off task just when it is required.Effective Time Management helps an employee to reach the pinnacle of success quickly and stay firm at the top for a longer duration. Effective time management increases an individual’s productivity.
5. Less chances of stress and anxiety: Research says that individuals who accomplish tasks on time are less prone to stress and anxiety. Finish off pending work on time and then you would have ample time for your friends, relatives and family members. Time Management helps an individual to adopt a planned approach in life.