Interpersonal Skills
Practicum in LPSCS
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Positive Personal Traits
• Good relationships at work can help you enjoy
your work and do it more effectively
• Assess your own traits as a starting point to
developing good work relationships
• Self-awareness means that you are aware of your
strengths and your weaknesses, which will help you
develop the personal traits that need improvement
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Positive Personal Traits (continued)
• Important personal qualities
– Responsibility – dependability, punctuality, and positive motivation
– Self-esteem – confidence
– Sociability
•
•
•
•
Be friendly and enthusiastic
Respect others
Have a sense of humor and be able to laugh at yourself
Be courteous
– Greet coworkers
– Address people by their names when possible
– Be aware of your surroundings so you don’t talk so loudly that you
disturb others
– Self-management – self-control and tact
– Integrity and honesty – loyalty and trustworthiness
– Appropriate dress
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Being An Effective Coworker
• Working effectively with others is part of doing
your job well
• Essential traits for being an effective coworker:
– Respect others (tolerate differences, respect privacy)
– Understand others (show interest in your coworkers,
empathize, be open to suggestions, pay attention to
body language)
– Communication skills (listen well, be clear, speak up)
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Negative Traits and Habits To Avoid
• Arrogance – conveys that you feel superior to
others
• Prejudice – a negative attitude toward a certain
group of people
• Jealousy – can be damaging in the workplace
• Negative attitude and complaining
• Revealing too much about your private life
• Gossiping – wastes time and can result in rumors
• Interrupting private conversations
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Valuing Diversity
• Today’s workforce is becoming more diverse,
with people from different countries, cultures,
backgrounds, and generations
• The workplace can benefit from the ideas and
perspectives of many different people
– Working with people who are different from us makes
us less likely to rely on old assumptions that might be
wrong
– Opens us up to considering new ideas and points of
view
– Leads to new discoveries
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Valuing Diversity (continued)
• Respecting differences (culture, religion, age,
gender, viewpoint)
– Aids in communication
– Shows that you are part of a community of
workers with common needs and goals
– Helps employees relate to each other and be more
accommodating to others; this spills over to the
people they serve
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Valuing Diversity (continued)
• To take advantage of a diverse workforce, look
beyond stereotypes
– Cultural differences
– Gender distinctions
– Generational distinctions
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Resources
• 9780078748288, Succeeding in the World of
Work, Kimbrell, McGraw-Hill, 2008.
• 9780538444026, Working, Bailey, SouthWestern, 2007.
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