While many people do not really think about it at first, there are actually a lot of different skills that are useful when you find yourself in an office environment, or in any working situation where you have to work with a team of people.

Of course, the most common skills that you will need range from time management to any skills related to the work that you do. However, there are many skills that people do not think about. For example, both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are not commonly thought of when you are working in an office. They are both incredibly important if you want to keep cooperation and communication at their peaks, though.

While most people have a grasp on what interpersonal skills can include, many people often confuse that with intrapersonal skills. Despite their very similar names, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are two very different areas to work on. With the right intrapersonal skills, not only will you be able to work with others better, but you will also have a stronger grasp on what your strengths are and what your ambitions in the work environment are. 

Before you can begin to develop your own intrapersonal skills, you will first have to have a solid understanding of what they really are and how they differ from interpersonal skills. This will help you have a better understanding of what you need to work on. Once you understand what intrapersonal skills can do for you, it will also help you out tremendously when you can use this to your advantage in the workplace by better understanding yourself. First things first, you will need to learn about what defines an intrapersonal skill.

What Are Intrapersonal Skills?

The meaning of an intrapersonal skill is right there in the word itself. “Intra” is a prefix that refers to something on the inside, something coming from within. When in conjunction with “personal,” this means that the word intrapersonal refers to something that comes from within you, as a person.

At its core, intrapersonal skills are skills that you can develop to help you have a better relationship with yourself. For example, intuition, introspection, and self-reflection are all considered intrapersonal skills because they are skills that come from within you. Intuition is often called a “gut feeling” for a reason, and that reason is because it is a feeling that comes from deep within you. Likewise, introspection and self-reflection are skills that help you look at yourself and reflect on who you are.

While these aren’t necessarily skills, other core concepts of intrapersonal features include having a strong sense of who you are, firm values and beliefs, and thinking independently. In a sense, intrapersonal skills are skills that define who you are, what your personality is like, and how your relationship with yourself is. You may not realize it, but having strong intrapersonal skills can help you immensely in the workplace.

With this being said, intrapersonal skills are commonly confused with interpersonal skills, despite the fact that these are both very different aspects. To better understand what intrapersonal skills are and how they affect you, you should understand how they differ from interpersonal skills.

How Do They Differ From Interpersonal Skills?

Just as the definition of an intrapersonal skill is right there within the word, the same applies to the word “interpersonal.” Rather than having a prefix of “intra,” interpersonal has the prefix of “inter,” which usually relates to being between something.

When combined with the word “personal,” interpersonal skills refer to skills that you develop to help your interactions between other people, rather than skills that you develop to help yourself. Examples of interpersonal skills include active and responsive listening, having a positive attitude, and having clear communication. All of these skills directly benefit the people you are interacting with. On the other hand, intrapersonal skills directly benefit you, and only you.

You should remember that interpersonal skills refer to skills that relate to other people while intrapersonal skills refer to skills that relate only to you. This will help you focus more on developing yourself and your intrapersonal skills without worrying about what other people might think or say. After all, intrapersonal skills can go a long way in the workplace.

What Types of Intrapersonal Skills Are There?

Another way to think about intrapersonal skills is to think of them as skills that relate to your emotional intelligence. There are many different skills out there that relate to this area. Some of these skills focus more on bettering yourself and your capabilities, while other areas focus more on doing the best that you can do.

The first category of skills will include ones that will help you become better at what you do and better as a person. These can include self-confidence, self-discipline, persistence, and time management. These are all skills that, once mastered, will allow you to have more potential in what you do. When you are confident in yourself, you will not hold yourself back as much. When you have good time management and you know how to discipline yourself, there’s less of a chance that you will get caught up in distractions, allowing you to better focus on the work at hand. When you are persistent, there’s a good chance that you will pursue your end goal for your project until it is achieved, no matter how tiresome it may be. As you can probably imagine, these are all good skills to have in the workplace.

The other category of intrapersonal skills focuses more on increasing your capabilities and helping yourself become more open to change, which can be incredibly helpful in a tumultuous work environment. These skills include being open to new ideas, being able to adjust to changes in situations, and ignoring distractions as best as you can. These skills will help you block out problems that are outside of your control and allow you to focus on what you are doing, which will ultimately help you out with any project, both long-term and short-term.

How Can Intrapersonal Skills Affect the Workplace?

Now that you know a little bit more about intrapersonal skills and how they can affect your abilities and your potential, you may begin to realize just how important they can become in the workplace.

As a bottom line, good intrapersonal skills will help you improve what you are capable of doing, which is something that just about any employer wants to be able to see. Intrapersonal skills can help you focus on whatever project you are working on as well as allowing you to have an open mind to new solutions as problems may occur.

If a problem does occur, you will have the resources necessary to either handle the problem or find an alternative direction to take your project in. Having a solid set of intrapersonal skills can increase your versatility and your potential in any job. If you want to better yourself as an employee, one of the best things that you can do for yourself is to take some time to improve your intrapersonal skills.

While this might take some time and energy, it will be well worth it in the end. Before you know it you will become a valuable employee, no matter where you are working, when you have a solid background of intrapersonal skills to rely on when things get tough.