Soft skills required in your business career

You may have a rich CV boasting of a long list of hard/technical skills. But organizations nowadays are searching for professionals with soft skills. They cannot be taught in a classroom and are more important for your career than you think.

What are soft skills

Soft skills are personal attributes that influence how well you interact with others. They help build relationships, create trust and dependability and enhance effective team-working. Examples include problem solving, communication and leadership. According to research by Society for Human Resource Management, technical skills like analysis are not as important as soft skills like people management. According to Google’s study, the top 7 out of 8 important qualities of their best employees were soft skills. Examples – listening, critical thinking, communication and networking.

Soft skills help facilitate human connections, social visibility and gathering more opportunities.

Importance of soft skills:

• Career progression
• Effective team management
• Hard to automate
• Customers and clients need them
• Recruiters need them
• Soft skills are the future!

5 crucial soft skills you need:

1. Emotional Intelligence (EI): Awareness of emotions and feelings of yourself and others while using this awareness to guide decisions and interactions for mutual benefit. In today’s dynamic and competitive work environment, it is imperative to have very high EI on board. Employers prefer people who can control their emotions and work effectively in teams. Also practice:

• Social intelligence (SI): Street-smartness is important along with hard-work. SI is the ability to get along with others, build relationships and work efficiently with people. Key elements of SI include conversational skills, listening skills, social self-efficacy, knowledge of social rules and impression management skills. Increase these by interacting with people.

• Active listening: Pay focused attention, ask clarifying questions, respond appropriately and take notes. To improve your listening skills – Practice.

• Adaptability: Having a positive attitude towards change is great. Nobody likes a cribber. Accept change and adapt. Learn to monitor and control your reactions.

2. Communication: Verbal and written communication is significant as it sets the tone of how people perceive you. It helps you build relationships, boosts your work performance and unlocks many opportunities. Enhance it by attending networking events, social gatherings, online public speaking courses. Also master:

Digital literacy: Today technology has taken over the workplace and is evolving. So, digital literacy is a must. Learn how to use digital tools to solve problems, be effective, work collaboratively and create content. You can advance these skills by online courses.

Virtual collaboration: With rising remote working, virtual collaboration skills are needed. To boost them, master virtual collaboration tools such as video conferencing software, project management software, instant messengers etc. Increase cross-cultural awareness to work well with global teams.

3. Teamwork: People are the backbone of any business. People work with cross-cultural, virtual, functional and immediate teams. So effective team-working and people management skills are imperative. Be a good team player. A positive, can-do-attitude with people will increase harmony.

As more businesses are moving to matrix organization hierarchy to capitalize on their existing workforce, soft skills are increasingly important. Employees are assigned to different managers and teams based on their abilities and skills. So, people need to be flexible, adaptable, good communicators and multi-tasking.

Amidst tight deadlines, work overload and resource limitations, an ability to work well under pressure is a must, especially when you have to rely on teammates for work.

Being open to receive feedback is a stepping stone to success. It will help you professionally and personally. To hone this skill, ask for feedback from peers regularly.

Self-awareness, time-management and stress-management are related key skills which aid in effective team working. A good team is more productive and achieves the organization’s goals.

4. Creative problem solving: When something falters, we either complain or act. Everyone likes a helping hand and positive soul around. This will make you valuable to your management and peers. In case of any issue, sit down and think before acting. Present a workable solution.

Conflict resolution or solving conflicts between teammates is also very important.

Learn to contextualize, see the bigger picture of how and what organizations are doing. Employers like people who can work for the larger goals of the company and make decisions that give results focused on broader company goals.

A strong work ethic will sail you through tough times and creativity will help you find solutions to problems.

5. Leadership: Leadership is about influencing others – employers, peers or outsiders. Employers need people who can influence and motivate others and persuade them to align with their ideas. Persuasive peer leadership is an admirable trait. It will make you vital among peers and the preferred choice for leadership roles.

Increase your observation, interpersonal and relationship-building skills. Curiosity and drive to learn are most sought-after skills. They keep you always on-the-go and improve yourself constantly. Apply your learning to your work and find creative solutions for yourself and others. Always be willing to ask questions and make adequate recommendations. 

Imbibe empathy and humility. Leaders make an impact not just with their knowledge and experience, but also by influencing and motivating.

Final Verdict 

Soft skills are imperative to climb up your career ladder. They help you succeed in all walks of life. Businesses value soft skills because they demonstrate the efficiency and abilities of a person. Master these skills to get an edge amongst your peers and take your career to the next level.