My strong technical background (Mathematics), my natural intuition about people, and my graduate degree in organizational psychology give me a special insight into the people skills (also known as soft skills or interpersonal skills) of technical professionals. It is a myth that technical professionals are incapable of adequate to high people skills.
As with any population, there is a range of abilities which can depend on interest level and background. Many technical professionals seem to enjoy the technical/occupational skills over the people skills. Yet I see in them a wealth of knowledge and a very deep commitment to helping others.
So this post is dedicated to you, technical professionals, and to your people skills development, so that all can benefit from your intelligence, knowledge, and deep commitment to help others.
People Skills Tips for Techies By:@J#@
People Skills Tips
#1 Collaborate vs. Control Instead of speaking through your entire thought or solution and then asking for their input, stop along the way and welcome input, collaboration, and discussion. Else you risk alienating people who are not technical and may not understand what you are saying.
#2 Dedication vs. Arrogance In any profession, you can choose to share your dedication to your profession with others. This choice creates powerful people skills and influence with others. Conversely, you can choose arrogance and look down on those who do not have your knowledge. This choice alienates people and reduces your influence. Dedication or arrogance — it’s your choice.
#3 Feelings Lead to Facts Most technical professionals are comfortable with facts and many are uncomfortable with feelings. Non-technical people are loaded with facts that you need in order to apply your knowledge to their business or scientific needs. In order to discover those critical facts, listen to feelings and then ask questions. Otherwise your discomfort and impatience with feelings, will come across as insensitive and arrogant. Bonus tip: To discover what they truly want, try a simple empathetic phrase: I see this is important, or frustrating … for you. People open up when they feel empathy, validation, and support.
#4 Willingness to Learn is NOT Weakness. My sister is a Ph.D. research scientist. She is a very bright creative problem solver with decent people skills. She is the first person I call when I have a scientific or medical question. Yet when she faces a new situation about dealing with people in difficult moments, she calls me. Her willingness to learn and improve her people skills is NOT a weakness. Rather, people skills have increased her influence not lessened it.
From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
Related Post:
Leadership: 8 Common Causes of People Skills Mistakes #LeadMorale
©2025 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email [email protected] for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.
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