10 SOFT SKILLS YOU NEED TO GET AHEAD IN YOUR CAREER, BUSINESS AND LIFE

There are four key components to Emotional Intelligence. When these are taken together, they are referred to as Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQI). Emotional Intelligence is our ability to recognize and manage our feelings so that they are expressed appropriately. Exercising emotional intelligence help us create harmonious and productive relationships at work or in life. 

 Soft skills are largely accepted as personality traits, interpersonal skills, social skills, emotional intelligence (EQ), and more that drive people to operate. They typically compliment hard skills to help people accomplish goals and/or objectives. People who possess a high level of soft skills are more successful. They sell better, get promotions, handle people well, communicate effectively, and are just overall more important than those that lack soft skills.
The famous adage goes, “You get hired for hard skills, but get fired for soft skills.” Businesses are stuck in a soft skills dilemma. They want their employees to possess these skills, but are reluctant to train or develop them in their employees. A person with soft skills is more likely to rise above the rest. Businesses want talent that rises to the top. With our 10 Soft Skills You Need To Get Ahead course, you will begin to see how important it is to develop a core set of soft skills, and set your career, business or life on a solid path of growth and personal achievement.

There are several soft skills, but in this post, we shall discuss 10 of the most important skills that professional and career people require for success in the career, business or life. They are:
Emotional Intelligence

• Self-awareness: The ability to recognize our own feelings and motivations
• Self-management: The ability to appropriate express (or not express) feelings
• Social awareness: Our ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others, and the norms of a given situation
• Relationship management: Our ability to relate effectively to others.

Communication
Communication is a very important soft skill since all other soft skills are built on our ability to communicate clearly, appropriately and professionally. Communication is more than just sending a message – it is also the ability to receive messages, listen actively, and “hear” what isn’t being said. Many times, we focus on learning to speak or write clearly, but this is only one aspect of communication. Other aspects of human communication include:

• Nonverbal communication: Communication without words, such as eye contact or posture
• Verbal communication: Communication with words, both written and spoken
• Body language: Communication through gestures, personal space, and touching
• Artistic communication: Communication through images and other creative media like art, film, or poem
• Musical communication: Communication through music, whether with lyrics or without.

Team Work

Finding ways to build teams to accomplish what needs to be done in the most efficient and accurate manner is often challenging, especially when we bring together team members with diverse sets of hard and soft skills. There are some basic techniques we can use when building, or working with a team to help create a cohesive unit that leverages everyone’s talents, and ensures that each person

contributes. They include:

• Identify the capabilities of each team member
• Get into your own role, and help outline what other team members are (or is not)
• Learn the whole process to ensure that you know your role and accountabilities
• Get into Your Flow. Psychologists define “flow” as a mental state that occurs when we are fully immersed in an activity.

Problem Solving
Learning how to apply problem-solving skills helps not only to enhance your productivity, but also helps you to cultivate relationships by focusing on shared goals and solutions. It is a great skill to learn to be methodical about solving problems. The following are the ways to solve problems:

• Define the problem to understand accurately what the problem is
• Generate alternative solutions with others
• Evaluate the plans to determine those that present the best benefits and least drawbacks
• Implementation and Re-evaluation. Once the most workable plan is chosen. Implement it.

Time Management
We all have the same number of hours in the day, so why is it that some people manage to get so much more done? The ability to effectively manage your time is key to productivity. You may not be able to create more time in your day, but applying time management skills can help you make the most of the time you do have!

• The Art of Scheduling. Scheduling tasks makes them a priority.
• Prioritize. Managing your priorities is key to managing your time.
• Manage Distractions. A major key to productivity if you want to find your flow state is to manage your distractions.
• The Multi-tasking Myth. Studies show that 30-40% more time is spent when you multitask rather than when you mono-task (work on one thing at a time).

Attitude and Work Ethic
Creating a positive attitude is one of the best things you can do for your productivity and your workplace happiness. A solid work ethic also helps you find reward in the work you do, and shows a dedication not just to goals and outcomes but to your overall professional development.

• What are you working for? A key part of building a positive attitude and strong work ethic is to be clear about what you’re working for.
• Caring for others Vs Caring for Self. When we come to the realization that we have shared goals with those that we work with, we can find a way to both care for ourselves and care for others.
• Building Trust. Nothing undermines productivity and morale in a workplace like lack of trust.
• Work is its own Reward. One result of adopting a positive attitude and strong work ethic is that you begin to see work as its own reward.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Some people mistakenly think that the ability to change according to the needs of a situation or a willingness to compromise show weakness of a lack of conviction. In reality, the ability to compromise, change in response to changing situations and changing needs, and thrive are key to

success in the fast-pace workplaces most of us find ourselves in.

• Getting over the’ Good Old Days Syndrome’.
• Change to manage process. One of the most common situations in which we will need to change, flex, and adapt is when processes change
• Change to manage people. Managing people is not a one-size-fit-all ability. People need different things from a manager.
• Show that you are worth Your Weight in Adaptability.

Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is not egotistic or acting like you are better than others. Self-confidence is simply the belief that you know what to do and how to do it, that you are good at what you do, and that you can handle whatever comes your way.

• Confident traits
• Self-Questionnaire
• Sure-fire self-confidence building tactics
• Build up others.

Ability to learn

No one likes criticism, but the ability to learn from it is key to professional and personal development. Learning to accept and learn from criticism is a valuable investment in you. The ability to listen to and accept criticism is a key component of self-confidence.

• Wow, you mean I am not perfect? One of the hallmarks of a confident person is the willingness to recognize mistakes, and accept that sometimes we are wrong.
• Listen with an open mind. Your active listening skills come in very hand when you’re learning to accept and learn from criticism.
• Analyze and Learn. After someone has given you feedback or criticism, it is fine to ask for time to consider what he or she has said.
• Clear the Air and do not hold any Grudges. When someone gives you feedback, it’s important to clear the air and not hold onto any bad feelings or grudges.

Networking
Networking helps you to create connections with others, which expands your circle of learning and support. Networking is more than meeting people or connecting with them on the Internet. It involves building mutually beneficial links where you can learn from and benefit from each other and the relationship.

• Redefine Need. Networking can be more beneficial if we instead think of what we can give in our networking relationships.
• Identify other’s interests. When you network with others, it’s key to identify others’ interests.
• Reach Out. To be able to network, you have to reach out.
• Know when to Back Off. As important as knowing how and when to reach out is knowing when to back off.

Conclusion

In a new world where AIs, Chatbots, Robots and Humanoids are gradually replacing people in jobs that used to be reserved for people,  what we need to be relevant in the future job market is to become masters at Soft Skills – the human touch and connections which is the basis of all human interactions Emotional Intelligence, Team work, Inter-personal skills, Adaptability, Flexibility, Ability to Learn from Criticisms and so on. As the renowned James Tweedle puts it"One of the biggest challenges for any artificial intelligence is the idea of ‘bottom up’ learning - the ability for a machine mind to react in a situational manner rather than simply following algorithms. “It is this lack of emotional intelligence within AI that gives humans the edge over robots. However, we must ensure that our skill set remains up to date if we are to compete going forward.”
and cooperation. We should leave no stones unturned to go back to the basics and gain mastery of important skills such as
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