Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior

Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
What is Interpersonal Communication?
Interpersonal communication is the exchange of information among people. Information can include
thoughts, ideas, feelings, and more.
This communication occurs both verbally — with words — and non-verbally, encompassing facial
expressions, gestures, body language, and tone of voice.
In the workplace, interpersonal communication occurs in a variety of forms: in team meetings, on client
calls, in memos and emails, during performance reviews, while giving employee feedback, and even
casually over lunch or during watercooler chats.
Our individual interpersonal communication abilities are soft skills that have been in development since
we began communicating as children, and these skills vary from person to person. However, we can
take steps to improve our ability to communicate, and we’ll explore various techniques to do this later in
the article.
In the workplace, hiring managers often look for employees with strong interpersonal skills who will
collaborate and communicate well with their colleagues.
What are interpersonal skills?
Interpersonal skills—also known as people skills—are the soft skills you use to communicate with and
understand others. You use these skills daily when interacting with people face-to-face. Examples of
interpersonal skills include:
 Active listening
 Teamwork
 Responsibility
 Dependability
 Leadership
 Motivation
 Flexibility
 Patience
 Empathy
 Conflict resolution
 Negotiation
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

Why interpersonal skills are important

Interpersonal skills are important for communicating and working with groups and individuals in your
personal and professional life. People with strong interpersonal skills tend to build good relationships
and can work well with others. They understand family, friends, coworkers and clients well. People
often enjoy working with colleagues who have good interpersonal skills. Other benefits of interpersonal
skills include the ability to solve problems and make good decisions. You can use
interpersonal communication skills and the ability to understand others to come to the best solution or
make the best decision for everyone involved. Many employers try to hire staff with strong interpersonal
skills because these individuals often work well on teams and collaborate with their colleagues
effectively. People with interpersonal skills also tend to make good leaders because of their ability to
communicate with and motivate those around them.
Interpersonal skills are important at work
While all interpersonal skills can benefit people in the workplace, interpersonal communication is key to
working as a team and reaching shared goals.

Types of Interpersonal Communication

There are four types of interpersonal communication — oral, verbal, nonverbal, and listening — and
mastering each of these is key to success in the modern workplace
1. Oral communication
This refers to any form of spoken communication, such as public speaking, phone calls,
podcasting, or speaking up during a staff meeting.
It involves your word choice, tone and pitch of your voice, talking speed, and even your use —
or lack thereof — of filler words like “uh, “um,” and “like.”
Research shows our ability to communicate orally is even more important to helping us land a
job than we may realize.
A 2015 study published in the Association for Psychological Science found that candidates
were rated as more competent and intelligent — and were ranked as more hireable — when
evaluators heard the candidates make their pitch instead of simply reading their written
statements.
2. Verbal communication
This encompasses all types of written communication, including emails, reports, texts,
presentation slides, and more.
But it isn’t just words alone — it also entails the various methods that we use to enhance verbal
communication and make our meaning clear, such as employing GIFs and emojis.
With today’s increasingly remote workforce, it’s more important than ever for employees to
possess strong verbal communication skills.
The ability to write clearly can even help us land a job more easily and get promoted faster. In
fact, a Grammarly study that analyzed 100 LinkedIn profiles found that professionals with fewer
grammatical errors achieved higher positions and were more likely to be promoted.
3. Nonverbal communication
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

This is any type of communication that doesn’t involve words. It encompasses everything from
body language and hand gestures to eye contact and even what you’re wearing and what’s
visible in the background of your Zoom call.
To get a sense of just how important nonverbal communication is, consider how easily you can
change the meaning of a message by using air quotes or even simply saying “Have a nice
day!” in a friendly way versus with a sarcastic tone.
Communicating with a visual component, such as in a video call, is a great way to ensure that
nonverbal communication cues aren’t lost during transmission.
4. Listening
Listening is a key part of communication that doesn’t involve just hearing what someone says,
but also actively understanding what they say.
You’ll often hear people tout the importance of “active listening” or showing a speaker that they
have your attention and you’re interested in what they have to say.
Aspects of active listening involve making eye contact, nodding your head, taking notes, and
saying things like “mm-hmm” to indicate understanding.
Why Is Interpersonal Communication Important?
People with strong interpersonal communication skills
 have higher emotional intelligence
 make connections easily
 maintain relationships
 understand how to motivate people
 know how to “read a room”
 make effective leaders
In other words, mastering these skills makes you more likable — and more hireable.
Workplaces that hire people with excellent interpersonal communication abilities and that work to
nurture these skills in their employees also reap numerous benefits, including the following:
 They’re more productive.
 They have higher morale.
 They experience fewer conflicts among workers.
 They have higher employe engagement.
 They have less employee churn.

Interpersonal Communication Statistics

 Communication inefficiencies consume an average of 13% of an employee’s day globally.
 On a scale from 1 to 5, managers rate the importance of excellent interpersonal skills at 4.37.
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

 High performing teams that communicate increase productivity by as much as 25%.

 Companies with effective communication strategies in place are 3.5 times more likely to
outperform competitors.
 97% of employees believe communication has an impact on their task efficacy.
 Communication inefficiencies consume an average of 13% of an employee’s day globally
 80% of employees say that employee communication is crucial to their success.
Clearly, interpersonal communication skills have far-reaching effects throughout an organization, so
let’s take a look at some powerful ways you can enhance your own.

Elements of interpersonal communication

So, what does it mean to be an effective communicator? In theory, there are a few elements of
interpersonal communication that help ensure this:
People
There needs to be at least two people to have effective communication - the communicator and the
receiver of the message. Knowing how many people will be receiving the message can help the
communicator create a message that reaches everyone.
Message
Regardless of how you communicate your message, whether verbally, in an email, or through body
language and gestures, there needs to be something you’re trying to communicate.
Noise
Noise is anything that interferes with this message, keeping it from being understood by the receiver or
causing it to be inaccurate. It could be physical, such as music or a TV, or psychological, like the
receiver being distracted. It could also be something the sender does, including too much jargon or
language barriers. The communicator should try to eliminate as much noise as possible.
Channel
This is how the communication actually occurs. It’s important to communicate on a channel that will
resonate with or reach your audience. Examples include face-to-face, emails, social media, internet
web pages, smartphones, newspapers, or others.
Context
Have you ever read an email or text message and misunderstood what the person was saying or how
they were saying it? Context is how the message is interpreted, and strong interpersonal
communication skills can help ensure the message is interpreted the way you intended, especially if
sent via written channels.
Feedback
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

This is the response to the message. If there is none, the communication was not effective. If the
receiver gets the message, that’s positive feedback. Most communications should be open to receiving
feedback, either in the form of a brainstorm, answers to questions, or conversation.

Interpersonal Communication Examples

Here are some interpersonal communication examples in the workplace that address the various types
of interpersonal communication we use on a daily basis.
Face-to-face communication
Despite all the office tech available today, speaking with someone face-to-face remains important
because it’s quick, efficient, reduces misunderstandings, and boosts engagement. Even remote
workplaces can take advantage of this form of interpersonal communication via conferencing software
like Zoom.
Email
Email and messaging tools like Microsoft Teams are common in modern workplaces. The have
numerous advantages because they allow us to communicate conveniently and efficiently. However,
they don’t always communicate nuance and tone, which can lead to misunderstandings. Plus, they
require strong written communication skills.
Phone calls
Despite our numerous messaging tools — and the fact that most of us are far more likely to use our
smartphones for texting — phone calls are still an important type of interpersonal communication. They
allow us to more effectively communicate tone, but they do require strong verbal communication skills.
Presentations
You’ve no doubt attended — and likely given — numerous lectures, seminars, and presentations in
your career. These involve several types of interpersonal communication. Plus, the speaker can use
not only their words, but also tone, expressions, and gestures. And the addition of written text and
visual aids can increase understanding among the audience.

Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal barriers of communication can be detrimental to workplace relationships and the
organization as a whole.
Physical barriers
Accessibility can create interpersonal communication barriers. These can be especially challenging for
remote employees who aren’t in the same office and can’t physically meet in person.
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

But physical barriers also include connection issues, disruptive environments, acoustic interference,
weather conditions, and more.
Language barriers
When we speak different languages, communication is understandably more challenging.
But even if both parties do speak the same language, they may have different levels of mastery or they
may speak various dialects.
Emotional barriers
These interpersonal barriers of communication relate to how we process information and the
impressions and emotions we attach to communications.
All of our communications — whether we’re the sender or receiver — are filtered through our personal
experiences and the emotions tied to them, and this open us up to differences in understanding.

5 Simple Tips to Improve Interpersonal Communication Skills

Interpersonal communication is essential to both your personal and professional endeavors. After all,
we all have relationships and virtually every job involves interacting with teammates, bosses, or
customers.
Everyone can benefit from learning how to communicate better, so here are easy-to-implement
strategies to help you do just that.

1. Consider these questions first:

 Who’s your audience? We communicate differently to different audiences. Consider how you’d
address your manager vs. an intern, a new hire vs. a seasoned employee, or a native English
speaker vs. someone who doesn’t speak the language as well.
 What’s your goal? Are you informing, persuading, asking for something, etc.?
 What do you want the message recipient to do? Consider the action you want the receiver to
take as a result of your communication
 What’s the best way to accomplish this? Should you send an email or a Slack message? Make
a request in passing or set up a formal discussion?

2. Recap key points.

At the conclusion of a call, presentation, or lengthy email, provide a quick summary of what you’ve
discussed. You may also want to include action points that detail specifically what you need from the
recipient.
3. Practice active listening.
Subject: Group and Interpersonal Behavior ǀ Interpersonal Communication ǀ Organizational Behavior
Prepared by: Jefferson R. Acosta, RN and Fatima Adoh, RN

When someone is communicating with you, give them your full attention. Avoid looking at your phone,
try not to interrupt, and resist the temptation to think about your own response. Instead, listen closely,
maintain eye contact, and nod to indicate you understand.
4. Be curious.
It’s easy to make assumptions or jump to conclusions when someone is conveying information to us.
This can be problematic because it can lead to confusion and mistakes down the road. Plus, it can
make the speaker feel misunderstood. So try to avoid this by practicing curiosity and asking open-
ended questions when necessary.
5. Check for understanding.
When you’re communicating, what’s the easiest way to ensure your message was received effectively?
Asking. This can be as simple as inquiring, “Did that make sense?” or having the recipient summarize
what you’ve covered.
6. Give acknowledgement.
Listening is an essential component of communication, so show that you’re listening or that the
message has been received. You can do this by nodding, asking a follow-up question, or even
“clicking” like or using an emoji if you’re communicating online. A Burt Reynolds 10-4 acknowledgement
works too.
7. Ask for feedback.
The best way to ensure you continually improve your interpersonal communication skills is to ask
people to share feedback with you on a regular basis.

References:
Abood, Y. (2021). Why interpersonal communication is important in the workplace?
Moss, L. (2023). Interpersonal Communication: What it is, Why it Matters, and How to Improve It
Indeed editorial team (2023): Interpersonal Communication and Its Importance at Work