Every team has different personalities, from extroverted chatterboxes to introverted loners. However, when an employee with poor social skills comes into play, it can challenge the dynamics and teamwork in an interesting way. But don't worry, all hope is not lost!

This blog post is designed to help you overcome the hurdles and discover the talent in such employees.

An employee with poor interpersonal skills can present various difficulties and challenges. Here are some of the most common issues that can arise:

Limited communication skills

Employees with poor interpersonal skills may have difficulty expressing themselves effectively and communicating their thoughts and ideas appropriately. They may prefer to work in private and sometimes seem impersonal or distant.

Problems with teamwork and cooperation

Working with other team members can be a challenge for employees with poor social skills. They often withdraw and tend to distance themselves from group activities or discussions, which affects the team dynamic. They also often don't like conflict and prefer to avoid it… which sometimes makes the conflict worse. Because

Lack of sensitivity for interpersonal issues

Employees with poor social skills may find it difficult to perceive and respond appropriately to the feelings and needs of their colleagues. This can lead to conflicts and discomfort in the team.
It is important for the other members of the team to understand that in some cases it is not a lack of sensitivity, but a different perception. Because such nerds and geeks perceive a lot, but sometimes so much unfiltered that they can't distinguish the important from the unimportant and reading the feelings of others is sometimes too stressful.

How can an employee learn social skills?

But don't panic! There are ways in which employees with poor social skills can improve their interpersonal skills and contribute to a positive team dynamic. The important thing to remember here is that it's not just people with limited social skills who can learn social skills! The people around them can also learn to better understand these "different" people and therefore no longer feel so easily offended.

Training and further education

We offer training courses to enable nerds, geeks and their team colleagues to communicate better and more empathetically.
In these trainings, nerds and geeks learn techniques that help them improve their social skills. Communication techniques, conflict resolution and empathy are important aspects covered in our trainings.

Mentorship and collaboration with other team members

Ensure that the collaborator works with experienced colleagues who have strong interpersonal skills. A mentor can give the nerd person valuable advice and helpful feedback to improve their interactions with others. In our seminars, we describe in more detail what such a mentoring program can look like and what it brings.

Positive reinforcement and recognition

Give the nerd person positive feedback when they make an effort to improve their social skills. Acknowledge their progress and encourage them to work on their weaknesses. Positive reinforcement can work wonders!

Encourage constructive teamwork

But how can you promote constructive teamwork and even make the team more innovative thanks to this striking person and their difference?

Clear communication and expectations

Make sure that all team members are informed about the expectations and goals for the team. After meetings, it makes sense to interactively ask again what has actually been agreed. Geeks also get bored quickly in meetings and then switch off, but forget to retain the most important information.
Clear communication is the key to a smooth workflow and can reduce uncertainty.

Team tasks and cooperation

Give team projects and tasks where team members can work together and contribute their strengths. But also give geeks the opportunity to work for themselves; teamwork is twice as hard for geeks. In such projects, employees with few social skills can benefit from the skills and ideas of other team members and get to know new perspectives.

Celebrating diversity and being different

Not every person on the team has to be the same! See the stand-out person in your team as an opportunity to incorporate new ways of thinking and make the team more innovative.
In their book "5-Second Model", the Bremen Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra described very well that high performance requires dissonance. And dissonance will occur above all in heterogeneous teams. We may often perceive dissonance as unpleasant, but what if we imagine classical music without dissonance? That would be really boring!
So be happy about every difference in your team and appreciate diversity!

We are happy to support you and your team in doing everything, but everything but ordinary!
Because everyone is already ordinary! 😉

If you have questions to this topic, write us a mail: kontakt@alice-moustier.com