What do you think of as interpersonal communication? Really, it’s quite easy. Face-to-face communication is the most simple, fundamental definition of interpersonal communication. But good interpersonal communication involves so much more.

In truth, there are many different interpersonal communication skills, and we’re about to go into great detail on this subject. You’ll discover how important interpersonal and communication skills are to professional success, particularly for jobs like project manager. When addressing the question “what is interpersonal communication?” we’ll even provide you a few instances.

Interpersonal Communication: What Is It?

Interpersonal communication is the verbal and nonverbal exchange of information, meaning, emotions, and opinions between two or more individuals. Despite the fact that we previously discussed “face-to-face” communication, modern technology forces us to broaden its definition to encompass channels like phone calls and online chat.

How Does Intrapersonal Communication Affect You?

The phrase “intrapersonal communication” may have caught your attention, and you may have questioned how it relates to interpersonal communication. Actually, the words are antithetical. Dealings between individuals, teams, or other entities are referred to as “inter” (e.g., intercontinental, international). Contrarily, “intra” refers to behaviour occurring within an individual or a group. An intranet, for instance, is a private digital network that only exists inside of a business or organisation.

Intrapersonal communication is the process of talking to oneself, and it includes a clear understanding of our perceptions, expectations, and concepts.

Interpersonal Communication Elements

After defining the many forms of interpersonal communication, we can move on to comprehending this idea by decomposing it into six distinct components. This will help us to answer the question, “What is interpersonal communication?”

The Communicating Parties: Without a sender and a receiver, communication is impossible. However, a common error is to limit a dialogue to a single speaker and listener. All sides must play both roles in order for communication to be effective, sending and receiving messages at the proper times.
The Actual Message Speech and non-verbal communication are included in the information covered by this component.

Anything that disrupts, distorts, or overwhelms the message is referred to as noise. This component includes everything from audible distractions (such as road noises or a crying baby at the table across from you) to more abstract issues like cultural misunderstandings, overused business jargon, seeming uninterested, or poor body language.

Feedback: Although this component blurs the “sender and receiver” distinction, it is different enough to be treated as a separate entity. Only instant responses to a message sent constitute feedback. Feedback can take many different forms, including vocal (such as “I agree” or “I’m perplexed; what do you mean?”) and nonverbal (such as changes in posture or body language).

Have you ever heard the term “Read the room!” in this context? This means that the speaker should be aware of the listeners’ environment and general mood as well as where they are. Physical location, audience mood/emotional climate, and social environment are all examples of context.
The Channel: This component deals with conveying the message from the sender to the recipient and mentions both spoken and visual communication.

Interpersonal Communication: Its Value

In many job descriptions, interpersonal communication is listed as a crucial “soft skill.” Strong interpersonal communication abilities enable individuals to more effectively express their feelings and thoughts as well as to develop a greater capacity for empathy.

Being a team player or a group leader, which are qualities that recruiters are always searching for, also requires effective interpersonal communication.

Strong interpersonal communication abilities allow you to express yourself clearly and enhance both your personal and professional connections.

So many disputes are caused by uncomplicated misconceptions. The likelihood of these misunderstandings is decreased by having effective interpersonal communication skills, which also reduces the possibility of conflicts, hurt feelings, resentments, and morale issues.