https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_36.

htm

How Good Are Your People

Skills?

© Veer
Andresr
Do your people skills get the thumbs up?

In almost all jobs, your people skills – also

known as "soft skills" – have as much of an
impact on your success as your technical skills.
That's especially true when you're in a management or leadership role.

The importance of having solid people skills transcends industry and

profession; so, whether you lead people, aspire to lead people, or work
within a team of professionals, you need to apply people skills to achieve
your objectives.

So, how good are your people skills? Take this short quiz to assess your
current skill levels.
Once you've answered these questions, we can then point you toward
specific tools and resources that you can use to develop and improve this
important area of competency.

How Good Are Your People Skills?

Take the online test below, and click the "Calculate my total" button at the
foot of the test to assess your people skills.

Instructions
For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you.
Please answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you
should be), and don't worry if some questions seem to score in the 'wrong
direction'. When you are finished, please click the 'Calculate My Total'
button at the bottom of the test.

Not
Very
16 Statements to Answer at Rarely Sometimes Often
Often
All

1I make sure that I display the

same standards of behavior that I
expect from other people.

2When providing feedback, I wait

until I've observed enough
incidents of a behavior to make a
generalized statement that is
accurate.

3I go along with others' decisions

rather than inject my ideas into the
mix.

4I say "thank you" to the people I

work with.
 Not
Very
16 Statements to Answer at Rarely Sometimes Often
Often
All

5During times of conflict I think

about how to preserve the
relationship and still get my needs
met.

6While actively talking with

someone, I have composed my
answer before they have finished
speaking.

7I look out for myself at work and

do what is necessary to get ahead.

8I think about how others perceive

a problem or issue.

9I speak first, and think later.

10I collaborate with others to solve

problems using a variety of
problem solving tools and
techniques.

11I cause more harm than good

when trying to resolve a conflict.

12When someone gives me

feedback, I ask him or her to
provide examples so that I can
better understand the issue.

13I pay attention to other people's

body language.

14Where team agreement is

necessary, I figure out the best
 Not
Very
16 Statements to Answer at Rarely Sometimes Often
Often
All

solution to a problem and then

explain why it's the right decision.

15I study my audiences' needs,

decide what I want to say and then
figure out the best way to say it.

16I make sure everyone knows

about my contribution to a positive
outcome.
Calculate My Total

Total = 0

Score Interpretation

Score Comment

Your technical skills may have taken precedence over your people skills in your
career to date. You aren't making the most of the relationships you have at work,
and this may be limiting your career growth. It's time to assess how you can work
better with others in the workplace and develop a more collaborative,
understanding, and open approach to getting your needs met – while still
16-36 achieving team and organizational objectives. (Read below to start.)

You recognize that working well with others in the workplace is important; and
you are trying to work collaboratively while still making sure your needs are met.
There is room for improvement, however, as old habits may creep in during times
of stress and pressure. Make a plan to work actively on your people skills so that
they form the natural basis for how you approach workplace relationships.
37-58 (Readbelow to start.)
 Score Comment

Your people skills are good. You understand the give and take involved in
complex issues involving people. You might not always approach situations
perfectly, however you have a sufficiently good understanding to know when and
where you need to take steps to rectify things. Keep working on your people
skills, and set an example for the rest of your team. And take some time to work
59-80 on the specific areas below where you lost points.

The quiz assesses your skills according to the four main themes below.
Review your scores for each theme, and read more where you need to.

Interpersonal Communication Skills

(Questions 6, 9, 13, 15)

Many people spend more time working with other people than they do
with processes or products. This means that they need to communicate
well with others, and this makes communication skills some of the most
important skills in the workplace.

Some of the key communication stumbling block to be aware of include:

 Message barriers: These occur when the person communicating fails to

communicate clearly.
If you find that you often confuse people, then a good starting point for
fixing this is to figure out what you want to say. Do you want to
persuade? Are you trying to motivate? Are you simply informing? Or
are you attempting to build a relationship? The purpose of your
communication will largely determine what you say and how you say it,
and our article on Communications Planning shows you how to
prepare for a variety of communication exchanges.
 Receiving barriers: These barriers occur on the receiver's end of the
communication, and they typically result from ineffective listening. We
hear and understand faster than we speak, and this can lead to boredom
and a wandering mind when on the listening end of communication.
 To combat this you should try to listen actively to what the speaker is
saying. When you engage active listening you respond in a way that
makes it clear that you understand the feelings and intent of the speaker.
In our article Active Listening , you'll find some useful guidelines to
follow when you are on the receiving end of communication.
 Decoding barriers: Here the real message is not fully grasped or
translated because of misperceptions, misinterpretations or missing
information.
The most common problem here is with mismatched non-verbal
communication. A lot of non-verbal communication is unconscious –
meaning that the sender isn't aware of the messages he or she is sending,
yet these messages can reveal a great deal of someone's true thoughts.

If you can learn to understand people's non-verbal communication, you

can improve your people skills significantly. Our article on Body
Language will show you how to understand other people's non-verbal
communication – and manage your own.
For more on improving your communication skills see the Communicate!
Learning Stream, and visit our main Communication Skills page.

Managing Differences
(Questions 3, 5, 8, 11)

People can seem to disagree about almost anything – what caused a

problem, how to solve it, what values are right, what values are wrong,
what goals should be pursued; the list goes on! On top of this, you have the
personal, non-job-related differences between people that lead to obvious
differences in outlook and approach.

Because of this, respecting and managing the differences between people

can be one of the most important skills you can develop! Indeed, it can be
a huge advantage if you learn to celebrate and enjoy differences, and make
them work to your advantage.
Key to this is recognizing that, in many cases, conflict is not "bad". In fact,
conflict often causes significant, positive change. It spawns creative and
novel approaches to problem solving, and can actually improve
organizational performance if managed properly. In our article
on Resolving Team Conflict , we discuss how you can build stronger
teams by facing and embracing personal differences. And then, with
ourConflict Resolution tool, we outline how to use the Interest-Based
Relational (IBR) approach for solving interpersonal issues. Both of these
articles outline how you can emerge from conflict with strong and healthy
relationships.
When resolving conflict, it helps a lot if you can understand other people's
needs and points of view – this can often help you find solutions that may
otherwise not have occurred to you. And when you take the time to
understand another person's perspective, you are demonstrating your
willingness to work together to find a solution. Our articles on Empathy at
Work and Perceptual Positions can help you develop this aspect of
people skills. These help you to adopt different vantage points when
resolving differences.
Finally, you need to be appropriately assertive if you're going to manage
differences effectively. Aggression is clearly counter-productive if you're
trying to resolve conflict, but also, if you fail to recognize your own needs
in a situation, you run the risk of agreeing to a solution that works against
your own interests. Again, it's important to remember that differences
aren't necessarily negative, so suppressing your thoughts and ideas just to
come to an easy agreement isn't effective or efficient. You can read more
about assertiveness in our article here . And our piece Yes to the
Person, No to the Task is a useful approach to use in everyday
situations where you need to manage differences assertively and
effectively.

Managing Agreement
(Questions 2, 10, 12, 14)

While managing differences may be an obvious application of people

skills, managing agreement may not seem to be. However, helping people
come to an agreement with one-another is important, and requires a great
deal of skill!

"Synergy" is one of the most important things that you're looking for with
teamwork. This is where the team's output is better or greater than the sum
of each individual's input. To achieve synergy, you need to get people
working together collaboratively.

If you've ever participated in a team decision-making process, you

probably realize that reaching a decision by yourself can be much more
straightforward. The problem with individual decision-making, though, is
that you miss out on all of the insights that other people can give. With
strong people skills, you don't need to back away from collaborative
situations: you can approach team meetings with a genuinely positive
attitude!

Tip:
When you're engaging in group decision-making, make sure you avoid the
common pitfalls. See our article on Groupthink for more.
Part of this involves feeling comfortable with different kinds of questions,
and with when to use them, and how. In our article on Questioning
Techniques , we look at open and closed questions, as well as other
common types of question that you can use to keep conversation flowing
and get the specific information you need.
As well as this, it's useful to have a good selection of problem solving
tools in your arsenal. When you are confident in your ability to find
solutions you will be more likely to participate in these conversations and
add value to your team. In our articleOpening Closed Minds , we show
you how to get your point across effectively, so that you can reach the
agreement you are seeking. These types of tools will give you the
confidence you need to confront differences, knowing that you can also
manage the agreement side of the equation.
Another aspect of managing agreement relates to feedback. When given
poorly, people reject feedback: it's viewed as destructive criticism, and it
can damage relationships. Delivered well, however, feedback can lead to
an improved understanding of one another's needs and perspectives, as
well as improving performance and productivity. We look at this in detail
in our article, Giving and Receiving Feedback . Also, in our article
looking at the Johari Window we outline a great technique for
increasing interpersonal understanding through self-disclosure.
The bottom line is that, to develop strong people skills, you need to be able
to accept what others are saying and learn from this. Not only will this help
you personally, it will help you relate openly and honestly with others.

Personal Integrity
(Questions 1, 4, 7, 16)

Integrity is the cornerstone of people skills. Integrity means basic honesty

and truthfulness when dealing with others. It also means working with
people openly, and in such a way that people's interests aren't
compromised for the sake of the team or the organization.

Basic courtesies like saying “thank you" often, and giving credit where it is
due, are the types of people-oriented behaviors that can make all of the
difference to other people. Whether you are in a leadership position or not,
recognizing your teammates' contributions and acknowledging their efforts
will go a long way towards creating a positive, harmonious, and productive
team climate. Our articles on Rewarding Your Team , Leading by
Example , and Ethical Leadership are all great resources that help
you learn how to behave with integrity on a daily basis.
Key Points
With well-developed people skills, you can communicate effectively on an
interpersonal level; manage conflict positively; work productively with
others to find solutions and reach agreement; and work with integrity and
ethics to motivate and inspire others.

These are all skills that can be learned and developed. Even the most
technically-oriented worker can begin to incorporate people skills in his or
her work setting.
Best of all, people skills are not limited to the workplace. When worked on
actively, they will enrich all aspects of your professional and personal life.
This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career;
and this is just one of many tools and resources that you'll find here at
Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter, or join the Mind Tools
Club and really supercharge your career!