Intrapersonal Skills Development

Intrapersonal skills are one of the most important aspects of leadership in the development of skills and therefore you cannot overlook the importance of Intrapersonal skills.

In this article, we will look at what it is and how you can develop these skills and build true leadership qualities.

Index for Intrapersonal Skills

  • Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal Skills
  • What is the basis of Intrapersonal Skills
  • Intrapersonal Skills List
  • What is an example of Intrapersonal Skills?
  • Why are Intrapersonal Skills important?
  • How to develop Intrapersonal Skills
  • Intrapersonal Skills Summary

Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal Skills

There is often confusion when it comes to describing interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and that is why you will find a lot of similarities. 

The only way I can describe it is in the way I understand it without getting complicated.

Interpersonal skills are the way you interact and behave in relation to other people.

Intrapersonal skills have more to do with your own characteristics, mental state, and your personal intelligence.

Intrapersonal skills are the manner in which you present yourself to the outside world and also how you handle specific situations.

It is about how you are applying your mind in order to build your own inner strengths and how you interpret your own emotions when things happen.


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What is the basis of Intrapersonal skills?

Intrapersonal skills are not present in most individuals and those who have them do not make correct use of them. 

Most of the time if you have good intrapersonal skills you would have never thought of developing them further as part of a skill set that can be life-changing.

The basis of developing your intrapersonal skills rests on three pillars as a good foundation.
  • Self Awareness
  • Self Motivation
  • Self Control

Self - Awareness

Self-awareness is a state where you analyze and reflect on your own abilities. You have to be fully aware of what your strengths are when it comes to your emotions and analytical thinking.

By being able to make an accurate assessment of your state of self-awareness you can change your life by looking and reacting to daily events differently.

Self Motivation

Self Motivation, not only in your career, is what drives us to maintain a positive outlook on life and the situations we find ourselves in.

Self Motivation is the building of inner strength to help you make positive decisions in life that will change your outlook on life and the people you encounter on your path.

In order to have a successful career and become a leader of people, self-motivation is very important.

Self Control

Self-control is the ability to be aware of your limitations and to manage your skills, emotions, and mental state in such a fashion that those surrounding you can trust and mimic your actions.

Becoming a role model for others requires a level of self-control that will enable logical and socially acceptable decision-making. 

Without self-control, leaders can make irrational and selfish decisions that can affect the morale and success of the organization.

Intrapersonal Skills list

To understand intrapersonal skills better I have made a list that should explain what we are talking about. 

Once again there might be some points on the list that are related but the purpose of the list is to give you an idea of how complex intrapersonal skillsets can be.

* Self-awareness * Self-confidence * Self-control * Self-esteem * Self-motivation * Self-discipline * Being optimistic * Innovative * Resilience * Being a self-starter * Analytical thinking * Verbal Communication * Active listening * Responsibility * Dependability * Flexibility * Patience * Persistence * Time management * Trustworthiness


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What is an example of intrapersonal skills?

Intrapersonal skills come into play where your own internal skills and the application of your train of thought can have an impact on decision-making.

A good example will be in the case of conflict resolution where you as the facilitator will have to analyze and judge sensitive issues. 

How you perceive the problem on hand will directly impact the outcome.

This is where your skill level has a huge impact and with the incorrect intrapersonal skills applied to the situation matters cannot be resolved.

Other examples of areas that will require good intrapersonal skills will be:
  • Decision making
  • Daily communication
  • Building internal and external relationships
  • Problem Solving
  • Business negotiations
  • Collaboration and Project management

There are many more areas and all you have to look at are areas where your personal input can chance a final outcome. These are areas that cannot be finalized on a whim but will need actual skills to be applied.

Why are intrapersonal skills important?

Developing the correct intrapersonal skills is very important because of how it will affect important business decisions you will have to make and personal opinion is not always the right way to go.

Developing a good intrapersonal skillset will enable you to acknowledge your own shortcomings and apply what is good for business without your own sentiment.

This is important because businesses cannot operate successfully based on the personal feelings of one or more individuals who are core decision-makers. 

Applying the proper skillset will ensure efficiency and fairness.


Read More: This article from LinkedIn will give you more on the assessment of Intra Personal traits

How to develop intrapersonal skills

If you look at my list of intrapersonal skills you will notice that many of them are skills that can be developed by means of experience only. 

However, most of it can only be developed through self-analysis and acceptance of weaknesses from you as a person.

Intrapersonal skills are not like other skills that can be applied as some type of best practice formula because these skills apply to working with people and their feelings. 

Applying a “formula” will make you predictive and won’t be someone to take seriously.

In order to develop these skills, you will have to analyze the following 3 areas of interest
  • Self Awareness
  • Situational Awareness
  • People Awareness

Self Awareness

During this session, it is important to make a self-analysis on how you place yourself in the organizational value chain. Do you have the motivation, discipline, and other traits that will enable you to make decisions that will be true and fair or not?

If not then list your shortcomings and set your own personal goals to develop yourself in those areas.

Situational Awareness

Once again you will have to look at specific situations that you have to deal with on a daily basis and do an assessment of how you have handled them. 

The key is then to look at other ways you could’ve handled it to achieve a positive outcome.

By doing it in this manner you will be able to test your outcomes and with experience learn how to analyze the various situations you find yourself in quickly.

People Awareness

It is all well to analyze yourself in order to improve your intrapersonal skills but it is also important to create a good sense of people awareness.

This will help you to determine how people's actions affect your own decisions when it comes to leadership. By managing these outside influences you will be able to make the correct decisions in different situations but still, have a consistency about it.


Read More: From Walmart comes this brilliant book on Emotional Engineering

Intrapersonal Skills Summary

Intrapersonal Skills are much-needed skills to develop as they make you understand the way your feelings and actions can affect your decision-making. 

Being in a leadership role it is important to be consistent, fair, and logical no matter what situation you find yourself in.

The way you manage and conduct yourself will determine how your team will follow you to success.