How to improve your social skills

by Jay H. IT technician, Network Admin

The need to improve your social skills comes from the fact that the world has become a very collaborative environment; almost all jobs call for partnerships between various professional cadres and as a result possessing highly developed social skills is becoming a major differentiator in the search for opportunities. Outside of work, people have developed a stronger sense of achieving work life balance and hence they participate in other activities to ensure that they remain effective and well balanced in their life. If for nothing else, there is a strong case to improve your social skills in order to be happy in life.

What things can you do to improve your social skills? This is a valid question considering that it is possible to have a secluded lifestyle where you only interact with other people through electronic media. It is even possible to run an entire business operation from home without contact with other people. The way to improve your social skills relies on your ability to increase the chances of meaningful encounter with other human beings. Two main ways of achieving this apart from work is by volunteering in organizations that do what you like, and by pursuing a hobby that requires you to collaborate with other people.

In the first case, you stand a good chance to improve your social skills if you volunteer in organizations such as the Red Cross. Their training sessions and team building events will provide you with many opportunities to interact uninhibited. Volunteers tend to be open people with a need to interact with others.

The second way to improve your social skills is by taking on a hobby that will require you to collaborate with others, such as singing in a choir, joining a book club or a sports team. It is likely that by interacting with people with a common interest, there will be more opportunities for collaboration and growth.