Interpersonal InteractionDR ARIF ISMAIL

DEPARTMENT OF ORTHODONTICS

CONTENTS

• Understand the nature of relationships. • Understand how strong interpersonal skills will

magnify your personal power • Explore your interpersonal behaviours• Analyse various communication styles and

recognizing your own • Provide strategies for effectively interacting with

communication styles different from yours • Build skills in conflict prevention and

management, and • Consider behavioural standards that guide

relationships

HOW TO.....

Interpersonal Interaction

Interpersonal interaction is a communication process that involves the exchange of information, feelings and meaning by means of verbal and non-verbal messages, between two or more persons.

DEFINITION

• Dealing with interpersonal relationships is a

complex subject • The interpersonal relationships between students

and teachers, teachers and other teachers, teachers and administrators, school staff personnel, parents, and community members are vital for creating a positive successful learning environment for all students.

• No matter how hard you work or how

many brilliant ideas you may have, if you can’t connect with the people who work around you, your professional life will suffer.

TEAM WORKCooperative or Coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.

What makes a GOOD TEAM

THERE IS NO “I” IN A “TEAM”

Research indicates skills essential for effective teamwork are:• communicating and relating effectively,• empathy and respect for the feelings and views of

others, • accurate self-evaluation of performance and

relationships, and• conflict management using active listening skills

and empathy.

How To Improve Teamwork• Pre-planning of Goals and Objectives.• Dividing the work among Team members.• Ensuring Free Flow of Communication.• Maintaining Cordial Relationship between Team

Members.• Avoiding Intragroup Competition.

Interpersonal Relationship

Affiliations Social Association

Connection

Between Two or More People

Six success elements in Relationships

It takes a combination of • Self-awareness,• Self confidence, • Positive personal impact, • Outstanding performance, • Communication skills and • Interpersonal competence

to succeed in your career and life.

SELF-AWARENESS• Becoming self-aware is the first step to improving

our interpersonal effectiveness.

• Most of our behaviours are natural for us.

• We aren't aware of the impact these behaviours have on others. That leaves us with "blind spots" that others don't want to mention to us because they don't want to hurt our feelings, they are afraid of a reaction from us, or they just don't care.

• Through self-awareness we learn what impact our

behaviours - both positive and negative - have on others.  That knowledge helps us become more effective in our interactions with others.

SELF CONFIDENCE Sureness about one’s self-worth and capabilities

Positive Personal Impact

• We impact on others through our opinions, the amount we contribute, the sound of our voice, the effect of our silence, the expressions we use.

• Personal impact is about other things apart from your looks of course. Improving your posture, knowing how to shake hands properly, having good manners, not fidgeting and controlling your nerves in meetings, looking friendly and confident.

Outstanding performance

• Outstanding performance is an important key to career and life success

• What ever you do it to the best of your ability.

• “DO it with thy MIGHT!”

Communication skills• Active listening, • Giving and receiving criticism• Dealing with different personality types,

and • Non-verbal communication.

Interpersonal Competence

Interpersonally competent people:• are self aware. They use this awareness to better

understand others and to adapt their behaviour accordingly.

• build and nurture strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

• resolve conflict in a positive manner.

What are Interpersonal Skills?

• A set of behaviours which allow you to communicate effectively and unambiguously in a face-to- face setting

• They can also be thought of as behaviours which assist progress towards achieving an objective

There are just six interpersonal skills which form a process that is applicable to all situations:

• Analysing the situation • Establishing a realistic objective • Selecting appropriate ways of behaving • Controlling your behaviour • Shaping other people's behaviour • Monitoring our own and others' behaviour

Interpersonal Communications

• Most people want to be understood and accepted more than anything else in the world.

• Knowing this is the first step toward good communication. Good communication has two basic components:

a) You listen to and acknowledge other people's thoughts and feelings.

b) You express your own thoughts and feelings openly and directly

Communication Styles

The four styles of communication are:• passive• aggressive • passive-aggressive• assertive

• Passive communication involves the inability or unwillingness to express thoughts and feelings. Passive people will do something they don't want to do or make up an excuse rather than say how they feel.

• The aggressive style of communication involves overreaction, blaming and criticizing. Aggressive people try to get their way through bullying, intimidating or even physical violence. They do not or will not consider the rights of others.

• Passive-aggressive is a combination of the first two styles - they avoid confrontations (passive), but will be manipulative to get what they want (aggressive). Passive-aggressive people will sometimes use facial expressions that don't match how they feel, i.e. smiling when angry.

• Assertive behaviour involves standing up for oneself. Assertive people will say what they think and stand up for their beliefs without hurting others.

What is Conflict?• Conflict occurs in situations in which there is

opposition. Opposition occurs when a solution cannot be found in a disagreement.

• Conflict is a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, well-being, interests or concerns.

• Many causes of conflict arise due to miscommunication.

• Conflict is healthy and a normal part of any human relationship.

Conflict Resolution• Conflict resolution involves

identifying areas of agreement and areas of compromise so that a solution to the disagreement or conflict occurs.

How do I handle/prevent/reduce

conflicts?

Always Remember “Aggression breeds Aggression”!

There are five methods to handle

conflict :

• Running away • Being obliging to the other

party • Defeating the other party • Winning a little/ losing a little • Co-operating

Tips for resolving conflicts

• Make sure that you remain calm at all times. • Speak with a non-provoking tone of voice;

quietly, slowly, and calmly. • Listen to the other person carefully without

interrupting them. • Respect the other person when voicing your

own opinion or point of view. • Let the other person know that you

understand them fully by asking questions pertaining to his or her understanding and repeating what the person is saying.

• Use humour if possible.

• Make sure that what you say is simple, clear and

direct. • Do not take anything the other person says

personally when he or she is angry, because they probably do not mean it.

• Make sure that you are not alone just in case the other person becomes very hostile.

• If you are having a heated argument with another person, save your feelings and opinions for another time and place.

• Let the other person know that you do not want to fight, but that you want to resolve the situation in a friendly manner.

• Make sure that you apologize for anything you may have said or done to offend them

CONCLUSION• Its time you become aware of your

communication style• Improve your Interpersonal competence • Always try to reduced conflict in the

workplace• Increase productivity!