The phrase ‘soft skills’ incorporates numerous personality traits like communication and people skills, social attitudes and skills, interpersonal skills, and emotional intelligence.
The beauty of these skills is that they are highly comprehensible. Soft skills, also known as human skills enable us to interact harmoniously and effectively amongst people and in society. They are significant, highly demanded by organisations and also impacts mindsets, leadership, attitudes, and behaviors.
These skills are more personality-based skills and go beyond your technical competence, educational qualification, or work experience. They are becoming increasingly important for succeeding in the working world – and not just for the employees but also people in leadership positions.
Technical skills not enough
Given the need for soft skills now and in the future, training employees or people is not enough. It is important to ensure that young and fresh graduates are also ready with these skills.
For example, some might be better at communicating with others than taking up leadership roles and vice versa. A common mistake in soft skill development is solely focusing on skills like communication and excluding management and leadership.
A company’s shift to progress starts with consistency from leadership.
There have been hundreds of research into the importance of soft skills and their positive impact on companies. But unfortunately, soft skill development is often underestimated and not given much importance.
Research and soft skills
LinkedIn in their recent study published a list of the most in-demand soft skills. Leadership, communication, collaboration, and time management came out as the ones employers were actively seeking. In 2019 LinkedIn conducted a Global Talent Trends survey of over 5,100 hiring and talent professionals in 35 countries and identified training for soft skills as the number one priority. The World Economic Forum’s 2016 “Future of Jobs” research and report suggested that skills like complex problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, time management, and emotional intelligence would be a few of the most essential skills in the workplace that employers look for. According to the Harvard Business Review, over 65% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with their team members. The breakdown of this report showed that communication is one of the many skills that was lacking within the management.Work on your soft skills
With soft skills now becoming one of the highly desirable traits, developing them in your workplace will help build a culture of continuous improvement and enable you to interact better in both personal and professional world.
Soft skills that you need in your office and life as well aren’t offered as a lecture or subject at your college and if you recognise you are weak in them, look into some of the many resources available to assist you to improve your soft skills.
Consider taking on a real leadership position in college to enhance your leadership, which in turn would improve your soft skills. Make use of the opportunity you have and develop relationships with people around you.
A simple answer for how to increase soft skills is to start by communicating frequently. Talk to people lot more, be assertive and learn to say no. Doing so will improve your confidence as well.
Enrol in soft skills courses
You can also benefit from training and courses to help you realise your full potential.
With the courses offered by the School of Meaningful Experiences (SoME), you can enhance your soft skills. These courses will help you recognise and realise the importance of these skills through their interesting concepts, work experience appropriate courses and personalised feedback sessions with the instructors.
Their unique Six Cs philosophy - communication, creativity, collaboration, competence, curiosity, confidence – will enable you to be better at critical thinking, decision making, public speaking, and many more.
These courses will also help you make a big impression if you are starting your career. From giving good presentations to equipping you with problem solving skills to learning how to manage team conflicts, the courses are tailor made to excel in today’s unpredictable professional environment.
These are open to young professionals, associates, mid-managers, entrepreneurs, and others. If you are interested in improving your existing communication skills and become more confident and assertive, then these courses are perfect for you.
This festive season, take time to invest in bettering your soft skills and grow both personally and professionally.
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