Importance of soft skills

Updated on: Thursday, July 07, 2011

When setting out to get a job or seeking a boost in one’s career, many people consider social skills to be an added extra to their qualifications. However, in today’s competitive times, a good set of social skills isn’t just merely an additional qualification to your CV, but something that is mandatory for your growth.

Madhulika Gupta, CEO, Repute Public Affairs and CSR Solutions, says, “Many recruiters say that good soft or social skills is a rare commodity, hence its importance shouldn’t be underestimated. Soft skills are critical for being perceived well by our seniors, peers and team, thus allowing a person long term career success.”

Importance

Often, CEOs and HR personnel say that they prefer hiring people who demonstrate a high level of soft skills as such people can always be trained for the technical skills a job requires. Elaborating the importance of social skills, Jayesh Mehta, CEO, Esbeda says, “Social skills are imperative to initiate conversations with people one may have to interact with in the course of networking as a corporate necessity. Such skills help in dealing with situations effectively as well as in amassing the approval and appreciation of all those interacted with.”

Team building

Companies need people who can work in teams, who can communicate well, have strong interpersonal skills and have a knack of problem solving, delegating work, motivating and team building. A positive attitude along with the ability to get along with people can help you go a long way.

Gupta says, “In the corporate world, soft skills is often explained as the nature of the individual and is about looking at things with the right perspective. In high performance companies, soft skills include their readiness to solve problems proactively and create win-win situations.”

Effective communication

In a bid to make interactions effective, it is important that you hones your communication skills. “Co-worker interactions, professionalism, work ethics and critical thinking or problem solving abilities are all highly pivotal soft skills one has to reflect in the working world,” adds Mehta.

It helps in building good relationships and getting your point across effectively. But effective communication doesn’t mean only using the right words, it also means observing. You need to observe the people around you, introspect the situation and understand what would keep the person you are dealing with interested and what would turn them off.

Speaking about effective communication Gupta says, “In these days of globalised functioning, cross-cultural competence is a valued trait. Often we note that some people, friends or colleagues, are socially skilful people. We perceive them as affable and amiable people. Even if provoked, they are able to respond in a way that will not aggravate a situation, yet they clearly make their wishes known, they correctly assess and interpret verbal or non-verbal messages and in the generally understood meaning of the term, 'social' they enjoy meeting and interacting with people.”

Body language

It’s not just the way you communicate but how you communicate in conjunction with your body language, facial expressions and gestures, which is an essential part of good social skills. Your body language speaks volumes about your attitude to the subject of discussion, your confidence levels and your knowledge about the subject.

“Interacting with people is an unavoidable facet in a career and in life in general. Shyness is a blockade that needs to be overcome as each career sphere would require an assertive approach in body language,” asserts Mehta.

Honing soft skills

It is generally understood that soft skills are not always taught through traditional education and are competencies that you learns from family members or by observing other people. Fortunately, the good news is that in this day and age, there are several options available for people to get professional guidance and trainings. So how do we go about polishing our soft skills?

• One should start by asking - which skills do I have and which ones do I need to develop?
• Do not be disheartened if you possess only a handful of soft skills, because you can always acquire more. It might feel like a tedious process, but honing soft skills is certainly possible. However, they are not easy to learn through merely reading some do-it-yourself books.
• Also as we acquire one skill, it helps us to learn another as they often overlap. For example, verbal communication includes positive and amiable interaction with others, to discuss plans and strategies, to make decisions and convey these to others. This in itself involves multiple methods which could be deployed to communicate.

Tips to keep in mind

1) Be a proactive listener and attentive.
2) Dress code should be appropriate for your work environment.
3) Avoid political and religious comments in the workplace.
4) Your communication should not provoke others.
5) Find opportunities to communicate with others.
6) Do not speak ill of colleagues or customers.

Importance of soft skills

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