Skills is the most talked about word in the current environment. Enrolling into different courses for upgrading ones knowledge, learning through various channels of areas of interests and many others skills largely technology and no-technology stuffs.
Soft skills are personality traits, behaviours and interpersonal skills that are used by individuals to interact with other people to get the job done effectively and in a harmonious way.
According to the Society of Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) 2021-22 State of the Workplace report, 77% of HR professionals said that improving employees’ soft skills was key to their organisations’ future plans.
Soft skills are not about the knowledge you possess but bahaviour that you display during different situations. Soft skills are transferable in nature across careers and industries and this can be learned. Soft skills are tied to any particular profession. As a layman if I would like to explain where it is used maximum. Example can be Call Centre, Vehicle Service centers or sales centers, which all of us can relate to.
Of many skills Soft Skills is something that one must have if one wants to be successful in his career. For readers benefit on my blog posts I am listing them down. They are not rocket science but have been in existence since ages. What I am doing is reiterating them once again for your benefit.
As job market is becoming more and more competitive soft skills give you an advantage and allows you to stand out in the crowd. So lets list them out for everyone’s benefit. I am listing down broad categories
- Communication Skills: We all communicate with others. In simple language I will call it as talking to others. We communicate our thoughts, views and desires with people across. How many people understand what you want to communicate. Do they understand? Or they do not understand. Effectiveness of communication is determined by whether the other person listening to you understand what you want to communicate. And it can be understood by others if you have clarity on what you want to say. So for me “Communication is the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with Others”
- Interpersonal Skills: How do you interact with people is important. Your acceptance by people plays an important role. It depends upon you ability to collaborate, negotiate and handle conflicts in personal manner.
- Problem Solving Ability: This is also one of the critical skill that one has to posses. It’s no brainer. We all are problem solvers and handle problems in our own way. But important part is to identify the problem and resolve the issues that may arise in work.
- Time management: We all have heard a lot about Time Management. Completing tasks within the time line is what is desired. In simple way time management can be explained as the ability to prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively.
- Critical Thinking: This is a key soft skill in the workplace. It helps employees to solve problems and build strategies that make them better at their jobs. People who engage in critical thinking are reflective, independent and competent. They not only accumulate information well, but they also know how to use the information to deduce facts and determine outcomes.
There are ways you can improve your soft skills.
- Practice: Identify missing soft skill and start practicing.
- Set Goals to learn soft skills;: Set measurable goals and take feedback from your trusted friends.
- Mimic soft skills: There are professionals having soft skill strength. You need to observe them and start practicing them in your daily routine.
- Find resources: There are many professionals / institutes who help you learn tricks for improving soft skills.