Must Know! Here are 5 Ways to Improve Social Skills When WFH

Did you know, more than half of the world's people have adapted to work-from-home or Work From Home (WFH) since the corona pandemic hit. Even though you are working from home, it is important for you to maintain communication with co-workers. For that, you need a way to improve your social skills during WFH.

Actually, WFH is not an easy thing to do. Especially if you are married and have small children who will distract your parents when taking care of their family. There may also be other distractions at home which will certainly make your productivity decrease.

Working from home is arguably more comfortable. How could I not, you don't have to get up early and get in traffic jams on the street, save pocket money and transport money. However, if you work from home, you tend to find it difficult to separate your work life from your personal life. However, it should be remembered that communication with colleagues is very important to support work productivity .

Definition of Social Skills

The term social skills or social skills are skills used in interacting and communicating with other people. Someone with good social skills will be able to interact appropriately, according to existing values ​​and norms. Someone who has good social skills will also know what is good, what is reasonable and what is considered inappropriate in social situations.

Thus, the ability of this social skill will be able to prevent misunderstandings, conflicts, or things that are not desirable in social situations. You will better understand how to express, when to issue it, and you will also know what to talk about and how to talk when you are in the midst of other people. Quoted from Glassdoor, social skills will actually be more important when you are WFH compared to working in an office, because there are no greetings that can be made directly.

Why is it Important to Develop Social Skills?

Basically social skills can help you communicate more effectively and efficiently because they can help us build, maintain and grow relationships with colleagues, clients and new contacts. These skills are essential to maintain and improve regardless of your position, industry or level of experience.

Some people are often afraid of social interactions, because they don't want to spend time with people who don't share their interests and viewpoints. Sometimes, it's much easier to attend meetings or meetings at work or parties, when you know at least some of the people who are there, and so on.

Good social skills, of course, will enable you to convey things politely to others. In the world of work, social skills are no less important. Moreover, almost all jobs require us to interact with many people, whether it's fellow employees, superiors or colleagues.

Most companies are definitely looking for individuals with certain qualified skills. In this case the ability to work well in teams and to influence and motivate others to complete a task.

For a worker, developing social skills is important, because it can be career beneficial. Where these social skills give you the opportunity for many things. For this reason, you must know how to improve good and appropriate social skills so that you can build and develop yourself into someone who is able to communicate properly and appropriately.

5 Ways to Improve Social Skills During WFH

Then, how do you stay productive and communicate with co-workers while working from home ? Check it out, the following tips!

Improve Communication Skills

Whatever your current job and position, the ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally is very important to have, especially during WFH. To be able to improve your communication skills , you can try to participate in discussions, as well as make presentations in front of colleagues, both informally and formally. And don't forget to ask them for feedback, so you can find out your weaknesses and improve further in the future.

Learn to Train Empathy

Empathy is the skill of understanding and understanding from another person's point of view. When doing WFH, the biggest challenge to practicing empathy is because you can't see co-workers directly. However, by taking a proactive approach to communication, it will be a good thing to develop your sense of empathy. For example, if a co-worker is having a problem, then you can immediately ask what can be helped and find a solution.

Keep Up To Date With Jobs

The easiest way to build relationships with office colleagues during WFH is to talk about the latest things in work activities. Starting from talking about office events, the latest news about the office, to the latest office benefits that can be done. If you want to talk about other things outside of work, such as hobbies, music shows, or the latest movies, this is also highly recommended because this is one way to improve your social skills .

Maintain Communication With Colleagues

The way to improve social skills during the next WFH is by maintaining communication with fellow co-workers. You can do small things every day, for example by greeting colleagues via chat or by holding meetingsshort. This can be useful for being able to maintain communication with each other, especially if you have members of the same team or department. When communicating, you can talk about plans to be carried out, as well as what work to be done, so that the work plans to be carried out every day can be discussed clearly.

Train and Implement Active Listening

The last way to improve social skills when doing WFH is to train and apply active listening . Active listening is not only listening to co-workers who are talking, but also taking notes on the important points that are being said. Even if you work from your home, you can still practice active listening This is by writing notes of what colleagues say or do. This is very necessary, because it will show that you pay attention and are directly involved with the speaker