Interpersonal skills are crucial when it comes to working in the industry. We all work as teams and sometimes your peers will not agree with on another. That is why interpersonal skill are really important. In my opinion verbal communication and listening is the most important. As a team, coworkers need to have a strong ability to listen and communicate with one another. For example, in the industry we are constantly interacting with other people from different other departments for information or assistance. If we can’t communicate or work together the job will not get done. In my opinion I don’t believe interpersonal skills are not just people skills but more life skills that help us communicate and relate to one another. At my previous job we use to have team building seminars and that constantly taught us about interpersonal skills. We were taught why interpersonal skills were so important not just for our team but for the overall company and the work environment.

Parth brings up a very good point. Interpersonal skills are not just people skills, they are crucial communication skills that allow you to convey effective ideas to the people that you work with. In an office setting, this can be done face to face. However, if you work at a larger company or a worldwide corporation, then you may not get the opportunity to meet these people if they work at another site or in another country. I work on an international team and communicate with team members in Europe on a daily basis via email, conference calls, and Skype calls. The main challenges with this is language barriers and schedule overlap. We operate in English, but it is not that native language of my European colleagues, so it is very important to communicate clearly and concisely especially over the phone. A good way to make sure all ideas were understood is to have a designated scribe take minutes and to distribute them to all participants after the meeting, so there is a record of what was agreed upon. The other challenge is the schedule. With most of Europe six to seven hours ahead of the east coast, our schedules only overlap for half of the day (their afternoon and our morning). For this reason good interpersonal skills are important to make sure we stay productive and are not wasting time in order to keep the project moving along the projected timeline. When somebody is not communicating well with the team, it causes delays and frustration.

As someone who works in industry, interpersonal skills are very important in order to be successful. Interpersonal skills include verbal communication, listening skills, problem-solving, decision-making, and ect. These are extremely important because a successful engineer is able to listen and get every detail of an issue. They are then able to figure out ways to solve the problem and make a decision as to what the solution may be. Finally, a successful engineer is able to communicate this solution to his or her team members. Most of the time, the task and projects done are a group effort and to insure that it goes smoothly, communication is key. It is vital that you are able to communicate with your group members to get this project or task done. I have worked in retail, in the medical field as a MA, and now as an engineer. And I cannot stress enough that aside from working hard, interpersonal skills have always been the key to success.

Interpersonal skills are an extremely important set of skills that I believe every individual needs to possess to be successful. Some individuals have better interpersonal skills than others but I believe that every individual has the opportunity to work on and improve their interpersonal skills. Going off of as934, interpersonal skills are crucial to the success of a project. Without proper communication a project group can not interact effectively and they can take an extended period of time to complete a project that should have been done awhile ago. With good social skills an individual will be able to keep a discussion going and will be productive in moving the discussion along rather than halting the progress. In addition without empathy a group can have recurring conflicts that will impede the group and will pin group members against each other rather than working with each other. Being able to relate and talk to your coworkers on a daily basis will make for a better, more comfortable working environment where no one will feel scared to share their opinions for fear of being ridiculed. Although a group can succeed on overall individual input, individuals working alone will take longer to complete a project, which will cost the company more money and time that they can be spending on other projects. A future question I would like to ask is, what do you believe is the most important trait an individual can possess that relates to interpersonal skills?

Addressing the last question asked: "What do you believe is the most important trait an individual can possess that relates to interpersonal skills?"

I believe that the ability to make someone feel important when you talk to them is very important to the success of that person. I believe it is a learned trait, but also must be genuine and wholesome. Kevin Lobo, CEO of Stryker once said, "When you talk to someone, treat them like they are the most important person in the world." This quote has stuck with me, and has improved many of my relationships. No matter who you are speaking to, I believe that they should always have your undivided attention. This is especially important for millennials that will be constantly checking their phones or I-watch, and unaware of how the other person is feeling. I believe that this trait of making others feel important has greatly contributed to his success of becoming CEO and Chairman.

I agree with the posts thus far that interpersonal skills are crucial to succeeding. As Ken Blanchard states" None of us is as smart as all of us". When working at a company you are going to interact with other people, offices, and in order to be successful you have work with them in order to have the project/program/portfolio be successful. When you're working you'll encounter people, groups, and departments can be extremely difficult to work with and that's when your interpersonal skills will come into play because you will need them in order to work with others to achieve the project. As Parth mentions, communication is key. You need to be able to listen and communicate with other groups in order to meet your goals/timeline for a project.

Addressing the last question asked: “What do you believe is the most important trait an individual can possess that relates to interpersonal skills?”

I think the most important trait is composure- the ability to know when to speak, when to listen, and not react in an emotional manner when dealing with others. I am constantly in awe with the head of our department, he encounters problems from very vocal/prestigious clinicians, scientists, board members, and business leaders and he is able to keep calm under pressure and make decisions effectively. I personally when dealing with difficult people, want to react emotionally because they are being unreasonable and making things more complicated. However I've learned by observing leaders at MSK, that you cannot reason with unreasonable people and there is no point in exerting energy for something unproductive. Rather you should listen, understand where the other person is coming from and propose a solution and make decisions that benefit the institution. Overall, I cannot stress enough the importance of interpersonal skills in being successful.

As stated in Dr. Simon's lecture, leadership is 30% academic and intelligence based and 70% interpersonal skills based. While I do not have experience in industry, I spent this entire past fall interviewing with medical device and pharmaceutical companies. I was pre-medicine all the way up until the end of my junior year when I realized my passion was actually in biomedical engineering. While I had experience in research labs and extra-curricular activities, I had no internship experience because as a pre-medicine this was not something that was beneficial to my end-goal at the time. I thought I was not going to get any interviews because of my lack of internship experience but I did and even got some full-time offers by placing a large emphasis on my interpersonal skills. This was not hard considering most of the questions were interpersonal skills based and they constantly placed me in situations where I had to socialize with other managers, employees, and interviewees, and I also had to do some presentations. I wanted to share this because I think it is a good example of how much companies value someone that can work well with a team, get along with others easily, and communicate effectively.

These skills are important because if you are not able to communicate with others, how is it possible to get work done? At a job, you need to keep everyone posted about what you are doing and if you need help, you should be able to ask. If you keep to yourself and not talk to anyone else, it may cost you your job no matter how qualified you are. Socializing is not important to get work done but also for networking. Networking is key in a company because it will help you connect to more people and possibly help you in the future when you are looking for another job. You need to be able to communicate with your colleagues and manager to get the project you are part of, moving forward.

Interpersonal skills are the skills that we use daily to communicate and interact with other people. It helps employees to develop and foster strong working relationships. Communication is an important part in business relationship. It makes a big difference between success and failure. Having a clear communication is important. Being respectful of other employees fosters positive relationships and work environment. Being respectful contributes to the employee job satisfaction.

I am a firm believer that interpersonal skills are crucial in order to succeed in a professional setting. I think that one of the easiest ways to develop these interpersonal skills is by using social media, specifically, linkedin. While a lot of people might not realize, social media and the internet are very present in todays society. This includes in the professional field. When applying to a job any employer can type your name in on google and what most likely will come up first is your facebook, followed by your linkedin, instagram, twitter, etc. No matter how private you keep your social medias someone, somewhere on the internet will be able to access them. While this is a scary thought, it should not be. A great way to show a company who you are is through these platforms. Therefore, as linkedin is a professional platform it is important to keep it updated and solely professional at all times. In regards to the social media platforms, it is imperative to keep these healthy as well. What I mean is that while you do not want to put out fake content, it is important to keep in mind that what you post will be there for the entire world to see at all times. Therefore, keep all posts respectful and clean. That way, you will set yourself up for success when you are networking online.

If you look at every person that works their way up in the company, there's one thing they always have: strong interpersonal skills (or are at least improving those skills constantly). There's a saying at Merck: "When you think of the patients first, the profits follow, and when done so they have never failed to follow". It also applies to those working with/for you. When you work with people and care about their opinions, treat them appropriately, etc. then the hard work and dedication you want from them will follow. If you know how to interact with people in a positive manner, then you will do well in industry.

As many others have stated in this thread, good interpersonal skills are an extremely beneficial trait to possess. However, I do not agree with the statement that it is 70% interpersonal, and 30% knowledge. Interpersonal skills are important because having an idea, but no good way to convey it is comparable to that of having a beautiful voice, but no audience to sing too. However, in order to have an idea worthy of sharing, a person must possess a specific level of intellect. Therefore, I believe that this ratio is a bit skewed, and actually varies dependent on which field it is applied too, in order to be successful. For example, business based careers would most likely be 80% interpersonal, and 20% knowledge. Where as, I believe, research based would likely be 60% interpersonal.

Interpersonal skill is important for every job. It assist in creating connection with customers, researchers, employees, etc. These connections are important because they keep people focused and drawn to the product or idea you are trying to sell out to them. Everyone needs to be able to socialize because it is form to establish a friendly environment between people to clear communicate their thoughts and interest. Industries need people that have technical and interpersonal skills because they need people to be able to do research solution and explain it clearly to another person.

Interpersonal skills are the most important qualification an employee can have in my opinion. We all came from an academic background and have certainly encountered many individuals whos interpersonal skills have inspired us. For example, I remember as a freshman in my undergrad, a professor's response to my question about losing some points in an exam for a simple long division was a rude question by him; where are you from? clearly being an international student and away from home and family, a rude questioning of my intelligence based on the country of origin that I came from was unnecessary and disappointing that a professor would do that. It didn't matter how knowledgable that professor was if he/she doesn't have the decency to be polite and respectful of other people's culture. He would fail at his profession.
I would emphasize that interpersonal skills are not only important in a job or in a research lab, but it is also essential for building mutual respect between people in their everyday activities.