Everything You Need To Know About Soft Skills In 2021

Corporates are witnessing the lacuna of soft skill expanding each day as generations stray more and more away from social interaction and emotional connection. A study held in 2018 found as many as 40% of new hires lacked the soft skills demanded by high-level jobs. In fact, a large chunk of the student population in India, even those about to graduate, have a highly distorted perception of soft skills that do not go beyond “good communication skills”.

This has really made us question, “Are we failing at raising good leaders for the future?” As technology and science trots forward, will we have the right leaders and employees to drive the wave in the right direction? Well, as the adage goes “it is never too late”. So, let’s dive straight into everything you need to know about soft-skills.

 Definition

Simply put, Soft-Skills are the personality traits and interpersonal skills that help individuals to form valuable connections and wholesome relationships, especially in the workspace, that adds to the growth of the individual as well as the organization. Soft-skills focus on improving one emotional quotient instead of intelligence quotient.

In contrast, hard skills are the technical skills that you are valued for as an employee. These are the skill you learn from your education. But contrary to popular beliefs, soft skills can be easily inculcated and polished with awareness and the right soft skills training.

Today, most hiring managers look for individuals who have a balanced set of hard and soft skills that not only makes them an efficient employee but also a fantastic team player and leader.

Most important soft skill to acquire in 2021

Building the right set of soft skills helps you interact with people and situations with high efficiency. We are here with a list of skills that are absolutely essential for the modern employee to succeed at work and in life. We hope this list will give some structure to your soft-skill building journey.

1. Communication

We can’t start a list of soft-skill without mentioning the most obvious and arguably the most important of all soft skills – communication skills! Imagine having a head full of brilliant ideas but not being able to convey them effectively to your team to work on. Not having good communication skills paralyzes you in a job environment.

Tips to improve your communication skills –

• Maintain good body language. As much as 93% of the communication we do is non-verbal. Keep your tone in mind too.
• Build your vocabulary so you can speak less and still convey a lot more without fumbling. Reading and even watching movies can help you build your vocabulary.
• Engage your audience with questions. Instead of saying “this is a good idea because…” Ask “why do you think it’s a good idea?”

2. Creative thinking

Creative thinking is the rare ability to think of new ways to tackle a situation. It is the root that grows into the tree of innovation if nurtured well.

Tips to improve creative thinking skills –

• Think of different ways to solve a problem.
• Brainstorm ideas or role-play a situation in your head to think of new ways you could have solved it.
• Stay open-minded to new ideas from colleagues.

3. Problem Solving

Problem-solving is the use of your intellect, knowledge, and emotional quotient to react to a problem effectively to solve it.

There are few key steps to problem-solving –

• Identify the problem
• Research
• Analyze
• Evaluate option
• Make a sound decision and pick the best option.

Problem-solving is a skill that is best inculcated very early on in life to help the young mind build the attitude it takes to solve a problem. If you are a student looking to build problem-solving abilities then indulge in a lot of puzzles and group games.

4. Work Motivation

Work motivation is simply the desire that fuels us to perform well at work. There are multiple factors that impact work motivation, namely, –

• Salary and benefits
• Management
• Challenges and goals
• Reward and recognition
• Status

5. Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think with clarity and backing that thought with rationale and logic. It is essential for making sound business decisions and goes up the ladder in a corporate hierarchy.

You have to focus on the following 5 areas to improve your critical thinking skills –

• Sharp observation
• Interpretation and evaluation
• Mindful analysis
• Reflection
• Explanation

6. Conflict resolution

A leader or a manager is incomplete without great conflict resolution skills. If you want to have good conflict resolution skills then you have to focus on the following –

• Stress management
• Empathy towards others
• Impartiality
• Negotiation
• Patience
• Open dialogue
• Positive and uplifting attitude

3 reasons to get soft-skills training

Whether you are looking for a new job or waiting on a promotion or just want your child to build leadership skills from a young age, soft-training skills are an investment you will never regret.

1. Stay ahead of the competition

With the growing competition in the job market, an impeccable set of soft skills leave a lasting impression and sets you apart from the crowd of CV. Hiring managers have shifted a lot of their focus on hiring people with soft-skills having witnessed it’s multiple benefits.

2. Network better

About 60% of jobs are found through networking. With improved personality traits, especially, communication skills you can network effectively to land better jobs and even gather a team in case you want to build your own start-up.

3. Top performer

Your technical skill-set can only take you so far. When you have impeccable problem-solving skills, the ability to think critically and creatively, you automatically become a valued employee. So, before you ask for that pay hike, have you considered taking soft skills and personality development course?

If you are a manager or employer looking to improve the overall productivity of your team and drive higher ROI then our Corporate Training Solutions is your best bet. Our team of seasoned experts has trained over 1800000 People across more than 21 sectors. Ready to make a team of leaders for tomorrow?