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Regardless of your political leanings, many people would have been saddened by the news of the death of Charles Kennedy. If you look at the tributes paid by many other political leaders and comments from political journalists, he certainly made his mark as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and as a ‘lovely, genuine and deeply committed public servant’ by the likes of Tony Blair.
Reading some of the comments that people have made had me thinking about how we might all be able to increase our ‘likeability’ ratings in the workplace.
Imagine this: you walk into work and you’re greeted with smiles and enthusiastic ‘hello’s’ from all of your colleagues. You shake hands, get pats on the back and your being there leaves the entire place feeling more uplifted. You’re friends with everyone and even your boss loves you!
If this seems like something that could never possibly happen to you, remember that social skills, like any skills, are completely learn-able.
Here are 5 top tips to increase your likeability rating:-
1. Be secure
Likeable people don’t come from a place of insecurity. They go into every action thinking, “I bet me and this other person would get on great, I should really get to know them better.” And then the likeable person moves on from there,
Start from a positive place and others will notice. If you’re not there yet, faking your confidence will help put your insecurities at ease.
2. Be positive
Likeable people are positive and upbeat.
Don’t judge people. Negativity abounds in our world. We have negativity in the news, in the press and it regularly appears in Facebook and Twitter feeds from our friends. Be a positive voice in a world where everyone sounds pessimistic. Being positive will make you a refreshing pleasure to talk to and move people to want to be with you.
3. Be helpful
Likeable people provide value.
When you’re in a conversation with someone and they complain they don’t know how to solve a problem in their life, do you lament how awful that must be before going into a story of your own? Or do you recognise that they have a problem they may need help solving?
People everywhere have problems they wouldn’t mind help solving. But as people, we tend to be self-involved and not notice. If you take notice and help people to solve their problems, you’ll create friends for life.
4. Be interested
Likeable people don’t settle for small talk.
Small talk and idle chitchat doesn’t develop long lasting friendships and won’t make you a more likeable person. Likeable people avoid small talk by transforming it into deep conversation.
They do this by being genuinely interested in others, by asking honest questions to help further their understanding and relating to what they’re told, before gathering more from the person with whom they are taking.
Don’t settle for small talk – do everything in your power to move the conversation forward to more personal subjects.
5. Be outgoing
Likeable people don’t shy away.
They have tons of friends – because they intentionally befriend tons of people! They meet people, they get those peoples’ contact information, they befriend those people and spend time with them; they then go and meet more people never losing contact with anyone they’ve got to know.
You can’t be more likeable and not meet new people. You have to get out of your comfort zone and build lots of relationships if you want to become more likeable.
Want to read the rest of the Top Tips for a brilliant team member?
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