Social skills aren\u2019t just important after work hours. These skills \u2013 which are often characterized as \u201csoft skills\u201d \u2013 are a key to your success at work, even if you work remotely or from home, says recruitment specialist, Glassdoor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s reading a colleague\u2019s visual cues or responding to a leader\u2019s request, it\u2019s essential that social skills are at the forefront,\u201d explains career and executive coach Adriana Llames Cowdin, adding, \u201cthe better you communicate and engage, the greater your success will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Social skills can be even more important as a remote worker than if you’re based at an office. Why? Because you can miss out on casual, everyday conversations with your coworkers that can lead to more effortless relationship building and the chance to show off key social skills such as communication, active listening, empathy, and respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that remote workers usually have to work twice as hard to form the connections [that are] needed to work together on projects, provide great customer service, communicate effectively \u2026 and fulfill their responsibilities,\u201d explains leadership coach Nicole A. Bryan.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s impossible to hone your social skills when you work from home. But it will take more thought and effort. Here are six ways<\/a> to help you sharpen your social skills when working remotely.<\/p>\n 1. Stretch Your Communication Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n No matter your industry or position, the ability to communicate effectively \u2014 both verbally and non-verbally \u2014 is very important. Easy-to-understand and direct communication helps make it easier for others to understand your thoughts and ideas.<\/p>\n To sharpen your communication skills when you work from home, try taking opportunities to present your work, both formally and informally, even if it is a simple show-and-tell with your coworkers.<\/p>\n Then, ask for feedback: Did your peers or manager understand your ideas? Because you can’t see your fellow team members’ body language, it’s important to ask them if they understand what was being shared. In other words, prioritize communication.<\/p>\n Career coach Sally Anne Carroll suggests learning how communication happens within your company and looking for ways to be an active participant. For example, if your company favors Slack over email, make sure to log on, send, and respond to messages throughout the day.<\/p>\n 2. Practice Empathy<\/strong><\/p>\n If empathy sounds like a social skill that should be reserved for friends and family, then think again. Empathy is \u201cthe ability to understand, relate, and identify with the feelings of someone else,\u201d says Cowdin, and \u201cwhen working in any environment, it\u2019s important to \u2018put yourself in the other person\u2019s shoes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Adds Carroll: \u201cCultivating empathy and being professionally transparent with others goes a long way towards building strong, trusting work relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, cultivating empathy can be tough to do when you work remotely and don\u2019t have a line-of-sight into what\u2019s happening with co-workers. \u201cIt used to be the case that smiling or nodding hello when passing someone in the hallway was enough to build that connection,\u201d<\/p>\n Says Inna Post, founder of Inna Post & Associates. \u201cNow, we need to be more proactive.\u201d<\/p>\n To sharpen your empathy skills, Cowdin recommends looking for opportunities in which you can \u201capproach issues from the other person\u2019s point of view.\u201d You can do that by \u201casking clarifying questions,\u201d she suggests.<\/p>\n And Carroll agrees: She recommends that you \u201cpractice the art of never assuming you know someone else\u2019s context \u2014 asking questions instead of making statements and extending grace to colleagues in all situations,\u201d even when you don\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n Additionally, you can write down opportunities to show empathy. For instance, if a coworker mentions on a Zoom call that her dog is having surgery on Wednesday, take note \u2013 literally \u2013 to follow up on Thursday and ask how the surgery went.<\/p>\n \u201cA single genuine question about someone\u2019s child, parent, or pet can create a deeper connection than seeing someone\u2019s face on hours and hours of impersonal meetings,\u201d Post points out.<\/p>\n 3. Practice Active Listening<\/strong><\/p>\n Active listening goes beyond simply hearing what someone says. It\u2019s actively engaging with the speaker. One way to do that is by paraphrasing and reflecting back what he or she says. Here\u2019s how: Take notes while coworkers are talking and write down any specific key phrases.<\/p>\n Every now and then, repeat back what you have written down to ensure you are understanding them. At the end of each conversation, reiterate the key points and the key takeaways.<\/p>\n Active listening can be a bit trickier on Zoom or other video calls, on which most employees put themselves on mute when others speak. \u201cHowever, it\u2019s essential for people to know that they are being heard,\u201d even on video calls, says Post.<\/p>\n She recommends turning your camera on and \u201cnodding and smiling while your colleagues are speaking\u201d so they know you\u2019re really listening.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t turn on your camera, then Post suggests you keep your microphone on. Take care not to interrupt the speaker \u2013 and to keep background noise to a minimum.<\/p>\n But keeping your speaker on will allow you to \u201ccontribute to the conversation and give positive affirmations,\u201d when possible, \u201cso the other people don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re speaking into a vacuum,\u201d Post says.<\/p>\n 4. Stay Accountable and Visible<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere is an even greater need for workers whose home is their primary work location to take responsibility for their work and deliverables because the constant oversight of a co-located boss and team no longer exists,\u201d says Bryan. Sometimes it\u2019s easier to \u201chide out\u201d behind a screen rather than make an extra effort to be visible when working remotely.<\/p>\n Accountability is such an important social skill to hone from home. To increase your accountability, keep a list of your goals, projects, and deliverables front-and-center. Share the goals during regular check-ins with your manager, and ask for feedback to help you stay on track.<\/p>\n In addition to accountability, visibility \u2014 literally, being seen \u2014 is also important for work-from-home employees. You can build up your visibility by virtually \u201craising your hand for assignments, special projects, and opportunities to share knowledge with your team,\u201d Carroll says.<\/p>\n That might look like volunteering to lend a hand to a coworker, scheduling regular face-time meetings with your manager, or regularly contributing at team meetings and on projects. You can also \u201creach out to introduce yourself across functional lines, to new staff and congratulate others on wins,\u201d she says. \u201cNever forget that as a remote worker, you are still part of a team \u2013 you\u2019re not an island.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. Set Realistic Boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though you need to remain accountable and visible, you must also have boundaries.<\/p>\n It may sound anti-social, but setting boundaries is actually the opposite: \u201cThe ability to set healthy professional boundaries is key to healthy professional relationships, manageable workloads, effective and trustworthy teams and work-life balance in a remote, tech-enabled environment,\u201d Carroll says. After all, if you\u2019re burned out, you can\u2019t give your best self to work.<\/p>\n You can sharpen your boundaries by \u201ctaking time to understand what boundaries need to be set and practicing making simple requests,\u201d says Carroll, such as \u201cfair distribution of workload, communicating email boundaries, or setting clear work hours or deliverable times.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. Learn to Navigate Conflicts Confidently<\/strong><\/p>\n Conflicts can arise at work, even for remote workers. And because conflict can be impossible to avoid, learning to navigate it professionally is an important social skill for all workers to hone.<\/p>\n Post\u2019s top piece of advice for navigating conflicts more effectively is to not \u201cput yourself against people,\u201d she advises. \u201cAlways place the problem on one side of the equation and your team on the other side\u201d by using words such as \u201cwe\u201d to \u201cshow camaraderie and empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n Doing this will not only help you resolve problems more quickly, but it will help you build stronger and more empathetic connections with co-workers.<\/p>\n For example, Post says, \u201cif you have to meet on Zoom to deal with a seemingly impossible problem, start the meeting by praising your colleagues for past success in dealing with a similar issue.<\/p>\n Try saying something like, \u2018This isn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve had to solve a problem like this. Kudos to Jane, who was able to find a workaround last week. Let\u2019s think together about how we can solve this issue.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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