In the 20th century, the United States commanding soldiers realized that the success of a military troop went beyond the dexterity of soldiers, but was also based on how well individuals cooperated and worked together, in other words, their level of soft skills.
Several years later and more employers are looking beyond expertise, they look for ways in which individuals can function as part of a team and this applies to leadership and followership positions.
Soft skills are embedded in the concept of emotional intelligence which has been found to be a better predictor for both personal and organizational success than Intelligence Quotient (IQ).
An emotionally intelligent person will be disciplined, self-motivated, soft-spoken, a good communicator, and in other words, possess a high soft skill set.
Soft skills are a mix. They consist of personality traits, social skills, and attitudes.
Every employee needs to acquire soft skills for 2023’s work in order to stay valuable.
In this article, you would learn what these soft skills are and how to acquire them.
The most common soft skills employers seek
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Effective communication
This goes beyond just talking. It is the process of conveying ideas and information to a recipient in a manner that makes the message understood.
Communication facilitates employee engagement and productivity. It provides information that enables employees to contribute to the success of the company.
It entails;
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Being able to decode what the sender is trying to say.
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Sending out the right body language cues to present yourself in the manner you want to be perceived
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The ability to read body language cues in others and give them meaning
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Being careful of voice tonal inflections. Sometimes it’s not what you say but how you say it.
Self-help books to improve communication skills
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“The science of effective communication: Improve Your Social Skills and Small Talk Develop Charisma and Learn how to Talk to Anyone” by Ian Tuhovsky
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“The definitive book of body language” by Babara Pease. This book highlights the gestures, facial expressions and movement that reveal the true state of mind and attitudes toward others.
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Leadership skills
Leadership is the ability to influence and motivate others to work towards a goal.
A leader points the arrow and guides the path. Now more than ever, with the rise of vices and non-challance in the workplace especially among Gen Z-ers, leaders are treasures every employer wants on their team in order to drive efficiency. Leadership entails;
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The ability to take initiative
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Being self-motivated or self-driven
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The ability to persuade and influence (not coerce or force) others into working towards company goals
Self-help books to improve your leadership skills
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How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. This book contains compliance strategies to get others on board and facilitate efficiency among teams.
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“The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership” by John C. Maxwell. In this book, you would find the laws and inner workings of leadership, how leadership is born, and how its power can be harnessed to drive people into action.
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Critical thinking and problem-solving skills
This refers to the ability to make assessments of situations using available data and information. Challenges are a regular part of the daily affairs of the workplace and will impede efficiency if not addressed.
Employees that can therefore assess situations, make sound judgments and propose solutions are highly valued and consequently sought after by employers.
To put things in context, let’s paint a scenario;
Miss A works in a Digital Marketing Agency. She led a campaign that failed despite the amount of hard work that was put into it.
As an employee who possesses good levels of critical thinking and problem-solving skills, she has blocked out time to confront her failure, brainstorm and find out why the marketing campaign failed as opposed to closing the case and writing it off as a loss.
Due to her skills, she has learned from her failure and will then apply the information to obtain success in future projects. She has proved herself as an invaluable asset to the company.
Self-help books to improve critical thinking skills
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“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. This book walks you through the two major lenses of viewing problems and how to take the power out of biases and prejudices that cloud judgment.
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“Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam M. Grant. This book emphasizes the intricacies of critical thinking skills that enable employees to adapt to the rudiments of a fast-changing world and in turn, expedite progress.
Final note
Developing soft skills can be difficult (that’s why they’re scarce) but if you pay the price of time and resources to master them, you would become indispensable – the kind of employee every employer wants.