Compare and contrast intrapersonal skills with interpersonal skills essay
Intrapersonal and interpersonal skills are very important for the personal development as well as for the socialization and professional development of individuals. In spite of their intrinsic difference, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills are equally important and they have a mutual impact on the personality and one cannot ignore either of the aforementioned skills. Otherwise, the underestimation or under-development of either intrapersonal or interpersonal skills leads to the misbalanced personal and social development of an individual. Therefore, the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills is pivotal for anyone but to develop them successfully it is necessary to distinguish them clearly.
Intrapersonal skills are personal skills of the individual that refer to his/her personal life and identity only and do not involve social interactions of the individual (Gibson, 2006). For example, self-organization skills are intrapersonal skills because they refer to one’s ability to organize him/herself, schedule his/her workday or plan his/her life and activities. However, these skills do not interfere into social relations of the individual. For example, a person with well-developed self-organization skills may be incapable to manage other people, even though he/she manages his/her own activities perfectly. At this point, the distinct feature of intrapersonal skills becomes obvious since these skills are oriented on the internal world of the individual, on the individual’s self and how the individual positions and develops his/her self.
In stark contrast, interpersonal skills are skills that emerge in the course of interpersonal relations of individuals, i.e. in the course of social interactions of individuals (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy 2009). These skills are externally oriented and, unlike intrapersonal skills that are oriented on one’s self, interpersonal skills are oriented on the development of positive social relations of the individual (Dessler, 2004). For example, social interactions imply the development of communication skills, which are interpersonal skills because they are oriented on the interaction of the individual with other people and his/her social environment (Madsen & Shafritz, 2010). People need interpersonal skills to develop their social interactions and relations and to maintain them positively. Interpersonal skills do not interfere one’s self directly because one’s self is the domain of the intrapersonal skills.
However, in spite of the seeming difference of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, they are equally important for individuals because intrapersonal skills influence, if not to say determine one’s behavior, while interpersonal skills influence social interactions of the individual (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Beckhard, 2007). For example, if a person is punctual, he/she always arrives in time that is the intrapersonal skill of the individual but his/her social environment will appreciate such skills too. Similarly, communication skills, which a priori interpersonal skills, can help an individual to conduct the analysis of his/her behavior and personal problems and resolve them.
Thus, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills represent different vectors of the personal development of the individual but still they tend to the mutual impact on one’s personality and affect the behavior of the individual consistently. As a result, one cannot develop a balanced personality, unless he/she has well developed intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.
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