The IPS-EQ model was originally developed by Ph.D. student Susanne Wiatr Borg and Professor Wesley J. Johnston. The idea behind the model is to create an understanding of interpersonal skills in a business-to-business (B2B) sales process. This is relevant because, researchers around the world have suggested that “interpersonal skills” are valuable for a salesperson in a selling context.
However, the meaning of “interpersonal skills” is not easily captured because it is defined in many different ways, and therefore it means different things to different people. As we are investigating the effect of NLP on a person’s interpersonal skills it is essential that we have the same idea about what we mean when we say "interpersonal skills". Therefore we have developed a definition we would like to use.
Our definition emerges from the IPS-EQ model to explain what we mean by interpersonal skills, and it is illustrated in the below figure.
The IPS-EQ model defines a person’s interpersonal skills as depends on his or hers “mental ability”, “behavioral response”, “mutual feeling sensitivity” and “interaction outcome achievability”. Each of the four elements is explained below.
The IPS-EQ model defines a person’s interpersonal skills as depends on his or hers “mental ability”, “behavioral response”, “mutual feeling sensitivity” and “interaction outcome achievability”. Each of the four elements is explained below.
1. A person’s "mental ability" is concerned with a person’s ability to perceive and express emotions accurately. This deals with the ability to read other people’s feelings, or discriminate between honest versus dishonest expressions of feelings. Also included in this mental ability is the gift to understand and analyse emotions and use this in a thinking process. For example it involves the ability to “mirror the emotions of another person” and thereby taking another person’s perspective. Finally, this layer involves the ability to manage emotions in oneself and others. An example of this level would be to know how to calm down after feeling angry or being able to alleviate the anxiety of another person.
2. A person’s "behavioral response" involves the “communication output” that a person is sending; including verbal response, non-verbal response, and tonality of voice. For example a person with high interpersonal skills would be characterized as “a good listener” and “a good communicator”.
3. The "mutual feeling sensitivity" is a person’s ability to sense the atmosphere of an interaction, for example between a buyer and a salesperson. By this we mean the ability of a person to assess if there is a good atmosphere when interacting with one or more people. For example, is there a sense of trust, or friendship between oneself and other participants in the relationship? Or an ability to assess what mutual feelings exist in the interaction? Also, a person with a high mutual feeling sensitivity has the ability to alter the atmosphere, this might be done via humour or another strategy that works to alter mutual feelings.
4. A person’s "interaction outcome achievability" is concerned with the ability to get the outcome that is desired from the interaction. This outcome might concern actions of a counterpart, for example being able to gain new information that is needed or getting the other party to do a specific task or to behave in a certain way.
The interpersonal skill elements explained above can be things that a person is conscious of, but these skills are also used unconsciously. For example, a person might not always be aware that he or she is in fact applying his or her mental ability skills as they work to alleviate the anxiety of another person. All people will to a certain degree, conscious or non-consciously, employ these four elements in human interaction as we all have a certain level of interpersonal skills. The important question (that is at the center of this research) is if it is possible to provide training that affects the level of a person’s interpersonal skill and what effect, if any, NLP training has had on a person's interpersonal skills...