What are soft skills?
Soft skills or interpersonal skills are the set of characteristics that make us stand out as professionals and that are transversal to any professional career. They are skills that are only acquired in daily life and that allow people to successfully integrate into working environments. These transversal competencies include personal attributes, personality traits and communication skills necessary for success in the workplace.
Unlike the hard skills that are learned, soft skills are similar to the emotions or perceptions that allow people to “read” others. They are much harder to learn, at least in a traditional classroom. They are also much more difficult to measure and evaluate.
They are the talents that make us know how to communicate correctly, manage a group of people, solve a conflict between colleagues or know how to motivate and perform an active listening, thus making the professional a point of integration in the company by adding value to it.
Each of these skills go hand in hand with others, such as stress management, motivation, change management, delegation capacity and the ability to interact personally and with the public.
Among other transversal competences we can find
- Teamwork
- Negotiation skills
- Communication skills
- Decision-making and conflict resolution skills
- Time management (planning, organization and prioritization of work)
- The professional’s ability to acquire, process and develop information
The importance of soft skills. Why are they necessary?
Most interactions with other people require some level of soft skills. In a company, you may be negotiating to win a new contract, presenting a new idea to your colleagues, networking for a new job, etc.
Moreover, lack of such skills can limit your potential, or even be the downfall of your business. By developing strong leadership, delegation, teamwork and communication skills, you can carry out projects more smoothly, deliver results that satisfy everyone and even positively influence your personal life by improving the way you interact with others.
Outside the office, social skills such as communication are used to create friendship groups and meet potential partners. They are useful in both our professional and personal lives.
Soft skills are starting to become really important in the recruitment process. The study ‘Soft skills 4 talent 2016’, by the company specialized in talent strategy, Manpower Group, in which 3,791 companies from 8 European countries participated, concludes that these skills “are useful to face the competitive challenges presented by the various sectors and markets”. According to the study, the profile of the ideal candidate should be diverse and have skills such as: “problem solving, goal orientation and collaboration”.
How to get them and train them?
The development of soft skills is sometimes an uncomfortable process due to the internal reflection that is necessary before knowing what training is needed. This can be hard, but also rewarding.
You cannot know how to improve soft skills in the workplace until you know wich ones need to be improved. So, before we start, it is important to find out what training for the development of soft skills best suits your personality.
Think about the interpersonal skills you are already good at, and be honest with yourself about the ones that might be useful in some jobs. Often, a combination of self-evaluation and 360-degree feedback is the best way to identify gaps in soft skills.
There is no reason to leave home when you can learn from anywhere. With the help of powerful Learning Management Software, soft skills training courses are accessible, engaging and fun, no matter where the learner is or what device they are using.
eLearning has proven to be one of the most effective options for developing soft skills in the workplace, and has helped countless companies to build busy and dispersed teams. All you need is the right LMS (Learning Management Software).
How can Digital Latam help improve your Soft Skills?
At Digital Latam, an agency specializing in digital learning and training for companies, we have all the specialized means and professionals to help you train your employees so that they can perform the same activities from home without having to leave their homes. We have coaches who can guide and support you during the training of both employees and employers.
Because of the great benefits of an adapted and interactive training, in our agency we defend the learning from a practical point of view where the employees, now students, feel at all times part of the process and participate actively in its adaptation with utilities such as explanatory videos, real situations in movies and a learning platform so that you can see the progress, adapt the level of difficulty and even give feedback through chat. Do not hesitate to contact us and we will solve all your doubts and start this path towards training together.
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