Interpersonal Communication Required for Developing Professionalism
In a corporate setup, people communicate and interact with each other every second.
Each time, the communication is not only restricted to a formal setup but trickles down to other situations as well. Let's look at a situation that recently occurred between an employee and his manager. The manager observes delayed attendance in meetings and a slip in recent reports of the employee. The employee has been down with fever and unable to recover. The manager is unaware of this. How do you think the manager could go about this situation?
This is where interpersonal communication comes into the picture. In this segment, our subject-matter expert Rakesh will walk you through the topic of interpersonal communication and its theories. So, let’s get started.
As Rakesh mentioned in the video, interpersonal communication refers to maintaining an appropriate balance between words, gestures and behaviour when interacting with others at your workplace. This can also be called as an interaction or an engagement or a conversation.
As discussed earlier, there are two theories of interpersonal communication. The first theory addresses the objective and why we communicate in an interpersonal setting. The main objective of communication is social acceptance. Therefore, to be accepted in a society, one needs to be courteous, a good conversationalist and a good listener.
The second theory of interpersonal communication addresses the nature of the relationship between two individuals. Interpersonal communication generally occurs between people who have some level of similarity, for example, communication between colleagues.
Interpersonal communication broadly relies on parameters such as dependency and closeness. For example, in a meeting room, colleagues who are also friends would sit together and listen attentively to their seniors because that is important and required of them.
In an interpersonal setting, communication is at the heart of an individual’s behaviour. The elements of verbal and non-verbal communication apply here as well. Being courteous is key in an interpersonal communication setting. You must be courteous with every individual you talk to, be it your boss or the security personnel at your workplace.
In the upcoming sessions, you will further the concepts of interpersonal communication. You will cover the following:
- Becoming a good conversationalist
- Becoming an empathetic listener
- Overcoming social anxiety
- Becoming an effective team player
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