Seven Essential Soft Skills to Foster Professional Success.

Making a meaningful connection with the other individual is the root of any successful communication.

Over the past few years, I have heard the term “Soft Skills” used frequently amongst business leaders when professionalism concerns our learners arise in conversations, meetings, interviews and especially in business conferences. These experiences led me to ask few questions:

- What exactly are soft skills?

- Why do we need to continue developing soft skills in the era of highly competitive business world?

- What are the attributes of next-generation business professionals need to cope up with an increasingly high demand for global human-centered needs?

- Can we teach and develop soft skills?

Soft skills are vital in today’s era of rapidly growing technology, where developing a human connection is the most essential soft skill required. As per my point of view, soft skills are innate personal traits and interpersonal skills that directly affects your relationships with others. Honestly, I have worked hard to develop certain soft skills throughout my career. In fact, I strive as a leader, teacher, mentor to many of the characteristics I will discuss below. In my opinion, at the core of these abilities is having a sense of self-consciousness and empathy. Some will assert this is embedded into the professionalism components of creative business leader. However, I question if we are being explicit enough to develop in a future generation?

As a creative business professional, you are required to have an extensive toolbox of hard skills, specifically having the knowledge to identify the business need to boost ROI.

While this is vital to sustain the business, just as important is to have the emotional stability, etiquette, and acumen to build and develop relationships and communicate effectively with your client and team. You have to make connections and build rapport to provide a sense of trust for your client. Thus, in doing so, you are likely to be regarded as a more holistic trustworthy business leader. Or as Teddy Roosevelt ( 26th U.S.President) famously said, “ People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

While I recognize the challenges we all face in the current business environment (project deadlines, pressure to achieve more in less time, spend less time in our encounters, meet certain metrics, yadda, yadda, yadda), I think we have a responsibility to do better with the “soft skills” we all need to be successful in our professional and personal goals.

Below I list 7 soft skills* I believe are critical to develop and model in people.
Additionally, I also list some questions/prompts to facilitate discussion or reflection with your learners or employees.

1. Self-Awareness — Having a keen sense of self-awareness helps you understand who you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and what you bring to others. Also, having awareness of certain limitations in your knowledge and the ability to admit you do not know every answer is imperative. Do you know when to ask for help? Admitting mistakes and accepting blame while offering an apology signifies a high level of professional behavior and earns the gratitude of those around you.

2. Empathy — Empathy helps you understand who you are in relation to other people around you. Are you truly listening to others? Can you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? Are you treating others the way you would want your family to be treated? Are you culturally aware and respectful of your client population? Are you speaking with compassion?

3. Interpersonal Communication (Oral/Written) — The ability to communicate is important in any profession, but in any business it is vital! Not only do we have to actively listen, but we must speak clearly and at a level our client understand. Can you communicate concisely with colleagues and other members of the team? Can you establish and manage relationships, while also negotiating conflict with challenging people?

4. Critical Thinking — Can you actively and skillfully conceptualize, apply, analyze, synthesize information gathered through research, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication?

5. Teamwork — Business environment has moved towards delivery through global teams. Thus, the ability to effectively collaborate, particularly with colleagues of different experience levels and with cross culture environment or opinions is important. As a leader are you implementing and fostering inter-professional education opportunities?

6. Accepting Constructive Criticism — Criticism is part of life, so deal with it. Yet, in a positive spin, feedback is important to attain continued growth. Do you have the attitude to accept feedback from others? Can you absorb criticism and direction without feeling defeated, resentful or insulted? Not only from a “superior”, but colleagues, and even clients? Can you maintain composure during difficult interactions? Moreover, do you have an appropriate level of humility when interacting with others?

7. Flexibility — Change happens fast in tech-savvy business environments. Whether it is evidence-based guidelines, new software or hardware update or the rapid development of new technology, the ability to stay current and be adaptable is important. Factor in the ever-evolving global business landscape with the advent of information technology, change is indeed inevitable.

Not in business management or creative marketing? Many of these skills are certainly translatable to other fields and professions. For this purpose, improving soft skills can be incorporated into many training and development plans for your employees/students. Perhaps it can give you that edge during an interview to land a great job!

Above all, I choose to work in creative marketing field with the hope that I can deliver positive communication which can make the difference to improve my client’s goals.

In the end, it is simple, I want to create leaders who are competent, compassionate and can critically think. Likewise, as you gain success, don’t let it inflate your ego. Be grounded and humble. Don’t forget the reasons why you were given the tremendous privilege to take care of people.

What are the other soft skills students or employees need to be equipped for the workplace? Share your comments below.

-AD
“Inspire. Perform. Endure.”

References:

Peabody, F. W. (1927). The care of the patient. JAMA, 88: pp.877–882
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