What are Soft Skills?
Soft Skills are a combination of several skills, including:
People skills
Social skills
Communication skills
Life skills
Character traits
Attitudes
Career attributes
Social intelligence, and
Emotional intelligence
All the above fusions succour in carving a successful career.
Soft skills make you a hard candidate for a job.
Additionally, they also include skills that enable people to identify their environment, work together, improve, and achieve their goals.
Harvard University research says that your school or college education accounts for just 15 – 20% in attaining success. In comparison, 80 – 85% is shared by your abilities and skills which you gradually learn with age, experience, and struggle. Neither can they be inherited by any training, nor can be taught in any school.
Prudence and perseverance are mastered by experience, and these important soft skills make you unique from the crowd and determine the extent of progress in your life.
Many people gain important soft skills in the early-stages as they begin to work on them prematurely. Just a little diligence would position them ahead of others. Soft skills, when developed with care and confidence can place you at the pinnacle of success – be it life, job, or business!
You must have read about many people who did not even get an opportunity to go to college. Yet, their hard work coupled with soft skills elevated them and thus their success was glorified, spreading their fame all across the globe.
Soft skills make you an efficient leader; some of the skills like problem-solving, delegation, motivation, and team building assist you in every walk of your career.
The importance of soft skills is usually undervalued, and there is far less training provided to implement soft skills than hard skills. However, soft skills can take its place when exhibited in a proper manner at the right time.
For a few reasons, organisations seem to expect people skills to behave on the work. Employers often presume that people, in general, understand the importance of timekeeping, possessing initiative, friendliness, and delivering high-quality work, and so expect the same from the employees.
Soft skills are generally correlated with only communication skills. However, the fact is that communication skill is just a part of soft skills. A person should imbibe many other soft skills to accomplish a successful career.
So, now let’s deal with the top 10 skills, extensively:
1. Communication Skill
There is no doubt that better communication skill is the foundation for various important soft skills and is a sine-qua-non for a person.
Gifted speakers instinctively own the ability to please the audience with their powerful communication skills. They stand out the best in comprehending and implementing the instructions.
Able communicators can explain intricate issues comfortably, even to a novice.
When we accentuate the importance of great communication skills, we must take note that it comprises both verbal and non-verbal communication skills and is also applicable to written communication skills.
Strong communication skills are essential to foster respectful and collaborative relationships with clients.
2. Self-motivation
Self-motivation is one of the important soft skills, and it means that you do not need an external stimulus to work well. You are self-sufficient in working around the clock without supervision and instruction.
It demonstrates that you have the commitment, reliability, and positive outlook towards your goals.
If you are self-motivated, you do not need a push. You become responsible and execute the task sincerely and independently.
A self-motivated person should be:
- Ambitious
- Committed
- Positive
- Capable
3. Leadership
This is one of the most crucial soft skills in our list. It is not only vital for a victorious profession but also for a healthy personal life.
An unbeatable leadership skill offers success in all situations. It is the best way of inspiring others and directing your organisation in the path of success.
A focused leader needs:
- A positive attitude and an optimistic mental outlook
- Great problem-solving capability
- Quick decision-making ability
- Outstanding communication skills
Be reminded that you highlight your leadership skills while applying for a job or during an interview that provides a cutting edge over the others.
4. Responsibility
Responsibility, though seldom a highly valued soft skill benefits people who accept it as they tend to be more generative and are likely to be successful on a high scale.
A must-have skill to acquire a better level of output.
Being responsible paves the way for a fortunate career, but with certain attributes:
- Discipline
- Trustworthiness
- Motivation
- Accountability
- Conscientiousness
Taking responsibility resembles that you are aware of your ambitions or organisational goals and striving towards reaching them. Accepting responsibility for your failure signifies that you are committed to learning.
5. Teamwork
Just like leadership skills, teamwork also demands other soft skills. It requires a group or a team to realise a common organisational goal. It calls for a decent intuition and listening skills besides superior communication and leadership skills.
A quality listener can comprehend the team targets and goals better. A logical team worker is receptive and perceptive towards the responsibility and needs of others.
Teamwork is all about mutual co-operation!
6. Problem Solving Skill
Problem-solving skills, one of the most important soft skills, is an analytical skill that requires a highly sophisticated mind. It also compels creative and critical mindsets.
An innovative mind is highly welcomed at all times.
Teamwork, leadership, and other soft skills empower you to climb up to new heights in problem-solving practices.
Problems need not be necessarily addressed; can also be imperative for problem-solving through the available resources.
7. Decisiveness
The term decisiveness means the ability to make equitable and significant decisions in no time.
Decision making is crucial as it has a direct effect on the several stakeholders of a company. A wise decision, particularly under pressure has to be pensive.
Decisiveness includes various abilities. It is recommended to put several things into perspective while taking any decision.
To make structured decisions, one must be:
- a holistic thinker
- able to assess the relevant information before arriving at a conclusion
- prepared to greet success or failure from the decision made
8. Ability to meet deadlines
It can alternatively be said as time management. For instance, you might come across a condition where you are forced to complete your assignment within a short deadline. Your ability to work under pressure will be proved if you are capable of performing it well in the given time frame.
You should be potential enough to constantly adapt yourselves as your work demands, thus managing your time. How can this be done? Well, you should know how to prioritise your tasks and organise them on par with the other responsibilities.
9. Flexibility
Flexibility is an essential and extremely desired skill inside a person. It shows the faculty of a person to embrace new responsibilities and challenges swiftly without any conflict.
Flexibility means adaptability and is one of the most important soft skills an individual should hold.
A flexible person is:
- easily compliant
- one who can take extra responsibilities
- quickly adaptative to untoward changes in the routine plan.
Every employer looks for a flexible candidate who can be assigned to different roles without any confusion.
10. Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Negotiation, one of the most demanding soft skills, is the method of settling differences between people (two parties in a business with different goals and ideas) to circumvent a conflict or an argument.
This soft skill includes abilities such as:
Communication
Persuasion
Planning
Strategising
Co-operating
A person with exceptional leadership skills is looked upon when he owns the power of Negotiation.
What makes an outstanding leader?
A potential leader must be:
- a well-versed negotiator
- possessing a higher degree of persuasion and influence.
- able to find a possible solution favouring all the stakeholders, at the same time benefiting the company.
In addition to the negotiation skill, conflict resolution skill is a critical soft skill for every leader.
What is Conflict Resolution?
Conflict resolution is a process where two parties discover a pleasant solution to their dispute.
Some signs of a triumphant peacemaker:
- Handle stressful scenarios, keeping calm.
- Pay heed to the feelings of the speaker.
- Esteem difference of opinions.
Adequate negotiation and conflict resolution skills assist in managing organisational goals.
To excel in the skills broached, it is a pre-requisite to have a commanding interpersonal skill and self-confidence.
Soft skills always have an edge over hard skills. It is much easier to gain success in life by adopting soft skills.
Knowing the way to get alongside people and displaying a positive attitude is pivotal to fulfil a goal that cannot be done with hard skills.
