The ability to get along with people and winning them over is one of the vital ingredients of success and happiness.

Interpersonal skills refer to the ability of an individual to establish and maintain mutually satisfying relationships that are characterised by intimacy and by the giving and receiving of affection. Mutual satisfaction includes meaningful social interchanges that are potentially rewarding, enjoyable, and characterised by give-and-take.

A human being is always associated with some society, however small, such as a group of people amongst whom one finds acceptance of one’s thoughts and actions.

Good, supportive friends are among life’s greatest rewards. They are the people whom we turn to in times of happiness and distress or simply to talk about one’s daily grind. The "give and take" of these vital relationships pays off in small, almost imperceptible ways in the short term; but fetches big dividends over time.

The ability to get along with people and winning them over to our way is the vital ingredient of success and happiness as everything that comes to us in life has to come through other people. Teamwork is imperative if one has to be successful in one’s higher pursuits of life. In today’s world, where professional competence is demanded to the fullest, where every graduate is technically well equipped, it could be an individual’s interpersonal skills that give him / her an edge over others.

Positive interpersonal relationship skills are characterised by sensitivity towards others. This is not only associated with the desire to cultivate friendly relations with others, but also with the ability to feel at ease in such relations and to possess positive expectations concerning social intercourses.

Moreover, a feeling of give-and-take must be involved while building such relations. Individuals, who only give, are often seen by others as lacking self–esteem and as being too compliant. Such people may have difficulty being assertive, which fuels their over-giving. Individuals who only take in a relationship are seen by others as selfish or bullying by nature. They too have difficulties with assertiveness, and confuse it with aggression. Therefore, individuals who give too much and who take too much are generally unsuccessful in building sound interpersonal relationships.

The key to building successful relationships lies in being able to get in step with people and tune our thinking to their wavelengths. One must be able to think in terms of other person’s wants and interests, learn about their yearnings, ambitions, needs and hobbies, and swap some of these for the things one wants in exchange. The more we offer, the more they will be attracted to our ways of thinking. One must be able to change the ‘I’ and ‘YOU’ to ‘WE’.

Dedicate this beautiful poem by Nicholas Gordon to all my lovely friends here at IBIBO…

May our friendship last forever;

May I sail upon your sea.

May we go through life together;

May there always be a "we."

May I be your endless sky;

May you breathe my gentle air.

May you never wonder why

Each time you look for me, I’m there.

May we be for each a smile

Like the warm, life-giving sun;

Yet when we’re in pain awhile,

May our suffering be one.

May we share our special days,

The happiness of one for two;

And if we must go separate ways,

Let my love remain with you.