The 5 essential people skills teaches you how to assert yourself, listen to others and resolve conflicts.

Rapport Building: Developing a personal rapport will not only makes business dealings more fun but can also serve as the foundation for mutually beneficial interactions. The way people behave toward one another can be categorized in three ways: passive, aggressive and assertive. The choice is always yours. Building rapport with other human beings, whether they are difficult people or not, is not so different from any other endeavor. A certain amount of planning and foresight goes a long way.

Curiosity: This has special relevance in a corporate setting. Curiosity can be of tremendous benefit to any manager who knows how to ignite the inborn curiosity of his or her team. Curiosity is asking the right questions, showing genuine interest in other person’s life events, evaluating your own progress and making necessary adjustments, and feeling real excitement for and caring what you really want to learn.

Communication: It is no secret that the ability to communicate well is an essential people skill. Technologies might differ but the gist of assertive communication remains the same. Great communicators always plan how to express themselves and they take time to do that which pays them back in leaps and bounds. You need to help your listeners by giving them a complete picture in language that does not confuse or mislead them. Listening is an important element, it’s an art and a skill that demands self-control.

Ambition: Ambition can be defined as wanting to achieve something that is desired or planned. Fear on the other hand stops us from achieving that desire or plan. Assertive ambition is all about recognizing ones talents and strengths early on and become specialists. Their ambition asserts itself in a way that’s congruent with their essential nature.

Conflict Resolution: Conflict is a reality in the workplace and it’s essential that leaders learn tools to effectively deal with and resolve issues before they escalate. Resolving a conflict assertively starts with making an honest assessment. Conflict resolution is mostly based on intention, it means picking up on any positive sign and making the most of it. Commit to and hold a positive attitude about negotiating a conflict. It should be a strong foundation of your approach to conflict resolution.

I referred Dale Carnegie book as a reference to the above synopsis

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PS: In my next letter, I will be sharing the definition of SUCCESS.