A number of basic workplace competencies involve working effectively with other people. These skills, sometimes referred to as soft skills, include communication, customer relations, selling, and teamwork. All can be improved through training. A movement by organizations toward team-based approaches to accomplishing work, which usually involve team training with a strong interpersonal component has increased the need for interpersonal skills training.

More and more organizations are developing cultural diversity programs, which are intended to change some of the incorrect assumptions people have about other cultures and help them become more effective across difference. Traditional sales techniques are increasingly being abandoned for more consultative approaches that build trust, solve customers’ problems, provide product and service options, and admit limitations. The increased emphasis on quality has led organizations to emphasize customer relations and customer service. And includes training for skills like interpersonal relations, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork.

Another development is the increasing emphasis on the use of teams as a basic organizational unit. Team-based structures require that workers be adaptable and able to form and reform relationships with coworkers quickly and smoothly. Team building can be viewed as a collection of techniques that are designed to build the trust, cohesiveness, and mutual sense of responsibility that make for an effective team. Most team-building interventions are led by a facilitator whose role is to help the team improve its ability to work together.