Professional Development
Nov 3, 2026
What Are Interpersonal Skills and How Do You Build Them at Work?
What Are Interpersonal Skills and How Do You Build Them at Work?
Interpersonal skills are the behaviors you use to work with other people: listening, communicating clearly, showing empathy, collaborating, resolving conflict and giving feedback. You build them the same way you build any skill. Practice specific behaviors, ask for honest feedback and get structured training. Employers notice the results. In the NACE Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update, 85% of employers said they look for teamwork skills on college students' resumes.
What Are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills, often called people skills or soft skills, shape how you interact with coworkers, managers and customers. They cover what you say, how you listen and how you respond when things get tense.
They differ from technical skills, which cover what you know how to do, such as building a spreadsheet or running a machine. They also differ from intrapersonal skills, which happen inside your own head, like self-awareness and managing stress.
Because interpersonal skills are behaviors, anyone can learn them. A quiet person can become an excellent listener. An outgoing one can learn to pause before jumping in.
Interpersonal Skills Examples at Work
These eight interpersonal skills examples show up in nearly every job. Each one includes what it looks like on the job.
Active Listening
Active listening means giving someone your full attention, then confirming you understood before you respond.
On the job: A team lead summarizes a coworker's concern ("So the vendor keeps missing Friday deliveries?") before suggesting a fix.
Build it: In your next conversation, ask one follow-up question before you share your own view.
Clear Communication
Clear communication means stating your point plainly and matching your tone and body language to your words.
On the job: An analyst opens a status email with the decision she needs, then adds the background.
Build it: Before you hit send, check that your first sentence states what you need.
Empathy
Empathy is understanding how someone else sees a situation, even when you disagree.
On the job: A manager notices an employee is quieter than usual and asks privately how things are going before assigning a rush project.
Build it: When someone pushes back, ask what worries them before you defend your position.
Teamwork and Collaboration
Teamwork means sharing information, credit and workload to reach a shared goal.
On the job: A sales rep brings in a support specialist early so a new customer's setup goes smoothly.
Build it: At the start of a project, agree on who owns each task and how you'll share updates.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution means addressing disagreements early and calmly, focusing on the problem instead of the person.
On the job: Two coworkers disagree about project priorities, so they meet with their manager and agree on a ranked list.
Build it: Raise small disagreements within a day, while they're still small. Pryor Learning's Confronting Workplace Conflict webinar covers how to deal with difficult coworkers and restore team collaboration.
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Feedback skills cover delivering specific, useful comments and hearing criticism without getting defensive.
On the job: After a presentation, a coworker says, "The data slide was strong. The opening ran long." The presenter thanks her and trims the intro.
Build it: When you get criticism, say thank you and ask one clarifying question before you respond.
Dependability
Dependability means doing what you said you would, when you said you would.
On the job: An employee who can't make a deadline tells the team two days early instead of two hours late.
Build it: Keep your commitments in one list and flag risks as soon as you see them.
Adaptability
Adaptability means adjusting your approach to different people and situations.
On the job: A project manager gives a detail-focused engineer a full written brief and gives a busy executive a three-line summary.
Build it: Ask new teammates how they prefer to get information, then match it.
How Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace Affect Results
Interpersonal skills in the workplace show up in everyday outcomes.
- Handoffs: Clear communication and active listening cut rework when a project passes from one person or team to another.
- Customers: A support rep who listens and shows empathy can calm a frustrated customer faster than one who reads from a script.
- Hybrid teams: With fewer face-to-face moments, people rely more on listening and clear writing to avoid misunderstandings.
- Managers: A manager's interpersonal skills shape whether employees raise problems early or hide them until they grow.
- Meetings: People who listen and summarize keep meetings shorter and decisions clearer.
Interpersonal Skills Examples for a Resume or Interview
Writing "strong interpersonal skills" on a resume tells a hiring manager very little. Show the skill through what you did and what changed. Replace the bracketed placeholders with your own numbers.
| Skill | Weak resume line | Strong resume line |
|---|---|---|
| Teamwork | Team player | Worked with sales and support to cut new-customer setup time by [X]% |
| Conflict resolution | Good at resolving conflict | Mediated a scheduling dispute between two shifts and set a rotation both teams adopted |
| Communication | Excellent communicator | Wrote weekly project updates for [X] stakeholders across three departments |
| Active listening | Strong listener | Gathered feedback from [X] customers and turned it into three process fixes |
Use the same approach in interviews. Describe the situation, what you did and the result. A short, specific story proves interpersonal skills better than any adjective.
Is Problem-Solving an Interpersonal Skill?
Problem-solving is usually classed as a thinking skill, not an interpersonal one. It becomes interpersonal the moment you solve a problem with other people. Gathering input, weighing competing ideas and getting buy-in for a solution all depend on listening, empathy and clear communication. That overlap is why many lists of interpersonal skills include problem-solving.
How to Build Interpersonal Skills
You can strengthen interpersonal skills with small, repeatable habits.
- Ask for specific feedback. Ask two coworkers: "What's one thing I do that helps our work together, and one thing that gets in the way?"
- Summarize before you respond. In your next three meetings, restate the other person's point before adding your own.
- Watch someone who does it well. Notice how a respected colleague opens tough conversations or runs a meeting, then borrow one habit.
- Volunteer for cross-team work. Working with people outside your group stretches your listening and adaptability.
- Rehearse hard conversations. Write your opening line before a difficult talk and practice it out loud.
- Take structured training. A course gives you frameworks, practice and feedback you won't get on your own.
Pick one or two habits at a time. Interpersonal skills improve through repetition.
Interpersonal Skills Training for Your Team
Pryor's interpersonal skills training course, Interpersonal Communication Skills, teaches you how to project a confident, professional image, get your ideas accepted, send clearer messages, read different personality types and handle difficult people. For more options, browse Pryor's communication training courses, or take unlimited in-person and virtual seminars with PryorPlus.
