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How Do Your Soft Skills Measure Up?

Guest post by: Danielle Miller

Article Overview: An introduction of the concept of soft skills, what they are, why they are important, and how to start figuring out yours.

How Do Your Soft Skills Measure Up?

There is much written today about developing your soft skills; also known as people skills or your EQ (emotional quotient or intelligence), but what exactly are soft skills and how do you know where you measure up with yours?

Let’s start with a definition of soft skills: Soft skills can be defined as the traits and qualities that enhance a person’s job performance, career options, interactions with others, and leadership potential. These are qualities that are difficult to measure and quantify as opposed to hard skills, which refer to an individual’s skill set and more technical abilities.

What do soft skills look like? Some of the more widely traits used to describe soft skills include things like: effective communication, active listening, empathy, manage time effectively, flexibility, courteousness, adaptability, ability to manage emotions, problem solving, teamwork, conflict negotiation and resolution, motivating others, willingness to learn, and conscientiousness (this is by no means a complete list, but it starts to give you an idea about the types of qualities that are considered soft skills.

Why are soft skills important? Well interestingly enough, as we are conducting more business and personal functions online, we are also becoming more social (hence the term social media). The world literally is at our fingertips now more than ever and we have more choices than ever. Clients, customers and people want to feel valued, respected, and have their problems solved and they will take their business and relationships elsewhere if those needs are not met.

Soft skills are also important because of their portability. What I mean by this is that you could change your career 20 times and the time you have invested in developing your soft skills will always be transferable to any career you choose. Not only will soft skills serve you professionally, but they will also enhance your personal relationships, attract like minded people to you, and empower you to make choices that are best for you.

We all have soft skills that can be cultivated whether you consider yourself to be a left brain or right brain person; you may not be the best organizer, but are excellent at motivating others to perform at their best.

One of the most important things you can do is to know what your strengths and natural personality traits are so you can emphasize the ones that come naturally to you. There are any number of self assessments that can help you identify your strengths so you can capitalize on them. Another great way to start pinpointing your soft skills is to make a list of soft skills and ask friends to pick five that represent you the best.

Knowing which soft skills you already possess and which ones you’d like to develop will be invaluable to your career success.

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Article Tags: business, career, leaderships, left brain, social media, soft skills, strengths, success



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