Skillon - Develop your interpersonal skills

Develop your interpersonal skills

We have identified 6 interpersonal skills that are particularly useful for entrepreneurship. Discover and develop them with challenges and resources that we’ve created just for you.

Leadership: making others identify with your vision and want to collaborate; knowing how to delegate.
Communication: feeling comfortable communicating clearly and exceling at communicating with different types of people (team, clients, mentors, investors...).
Listening: practicing active listening with empathy.
Negotiation: knowing how to achieve positive negotiations that benefit both parties.
Emotional Intelligence: recognizing, understanding, and controlling your emotions; responding well to others' emotions.
Ethics: acting with respect, integrity, justice, and honesty.

Put yourself to the test and develop new super powers 🚀

Challenge

Active Listening

Develop your listening

After a long day, try to listen to someone without entering into a monologue of thoughts or thinking about how you want to respond. Ari Kruglanski, psychologist at the University of Maryland, has demonstrated the benefits of this exercise.

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Resource

Ted Talk by D. Dudley

Develop your leadership

Each of us has changed the life of someone; sometimes without knowing it. In this talk, Drew Dudley invites us to better the lives of those around us and celebrates everyday leadership with humor.

Click to watch the video!

Challenge

Change your provider

Develop your negotiation

Call your internet or phone service provider to tell them that you want to change companies because you've found better services. Ask for a promotion or discount - It will surprise you to see how they won't want to let you go. Results: you'll save some money and will develop your negotiation abilities. It's the perfect practice exercise!

Resource

TED Talk by J. Treasure

Develop your communication

Have you ever found yourself talking and felt like no one was listening to you? In "How to speak so that people want to listen", J. Treasure explains how to improve your communication by using some easy vocal tricks and practicing empathy.

Click to watch the video!

Challenge

Anticipate problems

Develop your ethics

Take 30 minutes to analyze the 3 most ethically complicated problems that you could face in the next month. (Example: one of your laziest friends asks you for a recommendation to work at your company.) Thinking about your answers is an excellent way to anticipate and reflect on ethical problems in the long term.

Challenge

Transform a conflict

Develop your negotiation

If you are in conflict with someone, try something... propose that you sit together to talk about how you each feel (not about who is right) with these rules: Take turns speaking. Use sentences that start with I, not "you". Do not interrupt. Ask each other what you need, and listen to the answers. Finally, each person makes one final request to the other.

Challenge

Eat without technology

Develop your listening

The next time you eat with friends, suggest that everyone put away their phones and not touch them during the meal. Take advantage of that moment without distractions to listen and be present. Using our phones too much causes us to miss opportunities to connect and gives a bad impression to those around.

Resource

TED Talk by T. Ferriss

Develop your leadership

Difficult decisions -the scariest ones- are precisely those that we should face. How can you overcome your fears and take action? Tim Ferris, author of "The 4 Hour Work Week", encourages us to detail our deepest fears & stresses in order to address them.

Click to watch the video!

Challenge

"It's not my fault"

Develop your leadership

The next time you make a mistake, assume responsibility. "It's not my fault" is a defense mechanism that inhibits us from being authentic and moving forward. Learn to accept failure in this small way and note what you learn. Knowing how to take responsibility is an important quality for true leaders.