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Humans are not born with excellent social skills despite being social beings. They are influenced by many factors as we grow older. Possessing good social skills is often the goal since these skills help you navigate through life easily. Nonetheless, the lack thereof doesn’t necessarily mean a person is terrible – people just have different social skills.
If you are in college, your academic life will become much easier if you have excellent social skills. College life is built around human interaction, collaboration, and relationship-building, where your social skills are highly important. But how to develop social skills during this time of your life? In this blog, learn how to improve social skills through 10 practical steps.
What are Social Skills?
Social skills are our abilities to interact and communicate effectively with others. They include different behaviours such as verbal communication, listening, empathy, and nonverbal communication, just to name a few. Social skills are important for building and maintaining healthy relationships with the people around you.
Having great social skills is particularly important during college. In school, you are required to communicate with professors, work or collaborate with other students on course-required projects, and be involved in social activities for extracurricular activities.
Example of Social Skills:
- Active listening
- Effective communication
- Empathy
- Non-verbal communication
- Cooperation
- Conflict resolution
- Respect towards others
- Adaptability
- Assertiveness
- Relationship building
Why is There a Need to Improve Social Skills?
Excellent social skills help you earn better personal and academic experiences. For this reason alone, social skills are essential for college students. These skills help you form relationships inside and outside the classroom. These relationships often lead to friendship and source of support, which are essential for building a balanced emotional well-being.
Also, social skills improve how you communicate and collaborate with your instructors and classmates. Interaction with these people can never be avoided in college. That is what college or higher education is about – to interact and collaborate with your peers and become a better version of yourself through these interactions. Social skills help you get through these times.
Lastly, having excellent social skills allows you to network with other people. This often opens doors to internships, mentorships, and future job opportunities.
10 Tips on How to Improve Social Skills
The thought of socialising with new people or your peers can be scary at times, especially if you like keeping to yourself and are an introvert. However, that should not discourage you. Having great social skills can benefit you in different aspects of your life. When you can master these skills to your advantage, it will be easier for you to navigate different relationships, situations, and even professional opportunities. Learn how to get better social skills with these 10 easy and practical tips.
Tip #1: Work on your emotional intelligence.
The first tip on how to improve social skills is to look at the people you interact with regularly. Put yourself in their place and imagine how they’re feeling. Think about what they might be going through. Doing this allows you to better understand their perspective, which in turn will prompt you to respond appropriately.
Tip #2: Reflect inwards
When interacting with others, you pay attention to your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and triggers. This will help you control them. As a result, you become mindful of how you act and get more comfortable socialising.
Tip #3: Practice Active Listening
Practising active listening is one of the easiest ways to learn how to improve social skills. Good communication goes both ways. You must listen as much as you talk. Pay attention to what the other person is telling you. Asking follow-up questions will also signal that you are engaged and listening.
Tip #4: Join Clubs and Organisations at School
The next step on how to improve social skills is by joining campus clubs, organisations, and academic groups will help you interact with new people. That’s a quick way to start a conversation that eventually leads to friendships. Start by checking your university’s student affairs centre and look for groups or organisations whose core values resonate with you. Then, pledge memberships to these groups and regularly attend meetings. Do not be afraid to participate in these meetings. Most of these gatherings are held in a closed space, so you will not be around many people. This should make you feel less overwhelmed. To challenge yourself, try to introduce yourself first to other members.
Tip #5: Attend Social Events
The main purpose of social events is to meet and interact with other people. Start with small events like poetry or quiz nights. If you are an introvert, starting with small events will allow you to control your emotions. You can gradually move to bigger events like school parties, music festivals, and sports games. Make it a goal to speak with at least 3 to 5 people in each of these events. And that is how to improve social skills.
Tip #6: Attend Public Speaking Classes
Attending public speaking courses or classes is an excellent way to learn how to improve social skills. Look for and take a public speaking class. Public speaking classes will help you get over your fear of speaking in front of an audience or at least be better at controlling it. Moreover, public speaking classes will teach you how to express your ideas more confidently and effectively. Check with your university’s student affairs department. Find out if your school has organisations that offer free public speaking classes or courses. These are also available on online learning platforms like YouTube, Coursera, and more.
Tip #7: Improve Your Non-Verbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is as important as verbal communication. Some messages aren’t spoken but are louder when you pay attention to them. Pay close attention to non-verbal cues like facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, body posture, proxemics, and more. That is how to improve social skills easily. When you learn how to read nonverbal cues, you will also learn how to respond or handle interactions.
Tip #8: Be Active in Group Projects
Learn how to improve social skills by being active in group projects. Group projects are more intimate than joining bigger events on campus. A smaller crowd helps you feel less nervous and overwhelmed. Working in group projects will not be avoided when you are in college. Many academic projects and requirements let you interact with other students. Thus, take advantage of these opportunities to improve your social skills. Be sure to engage actively with your peers and deliver your messages across by collaborating.
Tip #9: Compliment As Often As You Can
Compliments are an excellent icebreaker, especially with strangers. Don’t hesitate to compliment someone. Pay attention to the person; ensure they are not busy or in a hurry. When they are not, that is the perfect time to say hello and share your compliments. This may sound nerve-racking, especially if you are not used to doing it. However, everyone loves a compliment, so don’t be afraid to give one. This is how to improve social skills simply. Most importantly, always remember to be sincere. Nothing is more uncomfortable than offering an insincere compliment.
Tip #10: Remain Positive
The last step on how to improve social skills is remaining positive, especially when surrounded by people you just met, be it at a party or your part-time internship. You can make a more likeable impression when you choose to discuss a more cheerful topic with strangers. They will likely loosen up more with you, and you will win their favor. Talking about negative things isn’t entirely wrong. However, part of having excellent social skills is also realising that there is a perfect time to discuss a more serious and sensitive matter.
To enhance your social skills, one effective approach is to seek guidance from professionals who understand the importance of well-rounded development, both academically and socially. AdmissionSight is the world’s leading college admissions consulting company that provides personalised assistance to students throughout the college admissions process.
Their professional consultants can assist with identifying schools that are a good fit for your academic, extracurricular, and personal goals, and help you plan and prioritise your application strategy. With a high success rate of over 75%, they have built a strong network in the past decade.