What Even Are Soft Skills Anyway?
If you really want to thrive and be successful in any work environment, there is a rule of 7 that -- when flexed and practiced regularly -- will lead you to a fuller, more sculpted, and defined “You” in the workforce fitness. It’s a way of categorizing what are known as “Soft Skills.”
What are these elusive soft skills that everyone keeps griping about? They’re how we talk about those aspects of a person—coworker, employee, boss… spouse—that can’t be quantified or explained with an equation.
Think of these like your doctor’s bedside manner. The skill with the scalpel and years of education would be the surgeon’s “hard skills,” their ability to explain clearly to you why they had to amputate your leg when they were doing heart surgery would be an example of many soft skills including Communication, Diplomacy, Empathy, and Conflict Resolution, among others.
Or, you could think of your husband. Maybe he’s an accountant—technically, he’s a highly skilled person and makes good money doing what he does professionally, and yet he has a high rate of turnover for his office receptionist because he lacks communication and empathy skills. This would also translate into your home life where you sometimes are left feeling like you have to justify every emotion with an equation for him to take you seriously.
Soft Skills define you and your work as collaborative, communicative, and ethical, and are the mainframe essentials that need tending if you want to grow or maintain a reputation as a leader in your field.
Soft Skills Themes
Included here with the Soft Skill “Themes” are some examples of skills that are encompassed by them.
Personal (e.g. Self-Awareness, Confidence, Integrity) - Change always starts within ourselves. If you find yourself lacking across the board in Soft Skills, starting with an internal one like Self-Awareness or Integrity will help you start to lay a foundation you can build on for the rest of your life.
Interpersonal (e.g. Communication, Humor, Empathy) - We mean much more than what we say, and our bodies are a dead give-away of our true intent and willingness to communicate effectively. We have verbal, non-verbal, written, visual, and active listening -- all in service to our communicative needs. From our posture, our vocal tone, our eye contact, our email style, and ability to take in and process these communications from others, these skills are dependable tools in our toolkit when we use them effectively—and one of the number one reasons for discipline and termination when we don’t.
Teamwork (e.g. Diplomacy, Collaboration, Dependability) - The ability to give up your particular and personal style, or “need to be first,” in favor of the “goal for the whole” is a necessary part of most working environments and all families. It’s a focus on the team as a unified entity, on getting everyone across the finish line with successful results. Remembering the old adage: “There is no ‘I’ in Team?” It’s all about the collective “We.”
Leadership (e.g. Delegation, Humility, Conflict Resolution) - As you move through your life and your soft skill muscles grow, you will find yourself regularly in situations of increased responsibility. Your bosses—and partners and team members—will look to you to lead by example, supervise and direct, show growth in production, undertake mentorships, participate in structure-building and training programs, and take personal responsibility for the work and employees in your charge.
Action (e.g. Work Ethic, Persistence, Observation) - Can you get things done? Are you the person others turn to to make something “go?” Action Soft Skills require Drive but also Persistence. They are the levers that turn the cogs in production.
Reaction (e.g. Problem Solving, Innovation, Negotiation) - Life will never stop throwing new challenges our way. The difference between a successful person and someone trapped on a hamster wheel is often the ability to roll with the punches, “float like a butterfly,” without losing momentum.
Adaptation (e.g. Adaptability, Growth Mindset, Resilience) - Finally, it’s not enough to “float” if you can’t “sting like a bee.” Adaption Skills are centered on applying the other soft skills toward bigger and better things. This set is all about Continuous Improvement and will help you keep your Personal Growth supercharged.
Remember that, as with all of life, Personal Development is a marathon, not a sprint. Start by identifying your weakest points in Personal Soft Skills and develop a plan to challenge and stretch those. Reach out to us if you need an Accountability buddy.
Next week, though, we’re going to be diving into Interpersonal Soft Skills and one of our favorite topics: Communication.