What are soft skills?
Soft skills are social, emotional, and mental skills that are linked to interaction and relationships with others. Nowadays, these skills are not taught in standard educational institutions, and people must try to improve them on their own. They are becoming more sought-after in the job market every day, precisely because they guarantee a greater ability to relate to others and therefore do a better job in a world made up of connections.
Also known as personal skills, soft skills need to be developed in the same way as other areas of your life, such as professional, academic and love skills. They even help you in all these areas. They are considered to be the necessary characteristics for a person to achieve success in their personal and professional goals, and success here means the personal satisfaction of having achieved your own goals.
If the explanation of soft skills is still a little unclear, let's look at some examples:
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Emotional intelligence: considered one of the main and most basic soft skills, it is the ability to recognize and deal with your emotions, as well as control your reactions to the external environment. When well-developed, it helps you to act consciously and assertively, thus improving your entire behavior. It is essential for everyone, regardless of age or career. Dealing with life's unforeseen events, with the pressures of modern society and even with other people, are examples of the use of emotional intelligence.
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Communication: it's not an easy task to listen carefully to others and express yourself clearly. It may seem like a common trait, but assertive communication involves knowing when to speak, choosing the right words, opting for intonations that help convey the message, using good arguments and, of course, knowing the receiver. Developing this skill is a great asset to your life, as it guarantees excellent sharing of information, eliminating communication noises and avoiding misinterpretations and misunderstandings.
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Empathy: it's much more than just putting yourself in the other person's shoes. To develop empathy, you need to learn to see the world from another perspective, getting rid of your personal judgments. This requires active listening, as well as a curiosity to understand the other person. The result is a genuine connection, including sharing emotions. In this way, we relate more deeply and respond in a way that makes sense to the other person, in a conscious and responsible way. We don't do or stop doing something because we'd like them to do it or not do it to us, but because the other person wants us to do it or stop doing it to them.
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Leadership: often associated with management positions, but the truth is that we all need this skill, it's what allows us to overcome our own internal barriers and dedicate ourselves to a goal. It's related to knowing how to motivate and engage, whether it's a team or yourself. A leader is someone who is able to understand their entire team well, and empathy comes into play here too, in order to delegate tasks appropriately while valuing each person's qualities. Being a leader is also about organizing a plan to achieve a goal, encouraging everyone while setting an example and reconciling differences in order to ensure a pleasant environment for mutual development.
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Flexibility: there is no better example of this than the adaptation of the entire structure of society to the Covid-19 pandemic. Flexibility is the ability to adapt to different environments and situations, to be prepared for changes and to see that they bring lessons and are positive for your development. In a world that is constantly evolving, faster and faster every day, anyone who doesn't know how to be flexible simply won't be able to keep up. It ties in well with various other soft skills, such as emotional intelligence when deciding how to react and communication when reaching a consensus with another person.
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Collaboration: this is much broader than the famous teamwork. It's not just about doing things together, but being aware of what the general and particular objectives are and acting in such a way as to maximize the gains for all parties. As we are surrounded by people all our lives, it is a characteristic that will guarantee your success or failure in everyday relationships. In the professional sphere, it's one of the most sought-after skills in candidates. After all, a company can easily teach you the technical side of the job, but it's almost impossible to teach someone to be collaborative.
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Problem-solving: this is another skill that you can be sure will be present everywhere. In addition to the fact that each human being is different, which in itself leads to differences in coexistence, each and every activity performed will encounter a problem or at least an obstacle. At this point, you need a lot of self-knowledge and various other soft skills to analyze the situation safely and calmly as a whole and look for solutions. In addition, of course, to the experience gained through continuous practice, another way to hone this skill is to try to foresee possible mishaps and barriers and find a way out of each one.
There are many other soft skills, there isn't even a definitive list of all of them, but you can understand a little more about them and their enormous importance for modern life. The intention here on the site is to go into more detail about each of them, along with tips on how to develop them, especially with practical and simple tools. It's better to prepare yourself beforehand than to have to learn the hard way, which could end up costing you relationships, jobs, and even personal happiness.
Let me know what you thought of the text, if you already knew about soft skills and if you're interested in learning more about them! There's a message box here, but you can also click on the social media icons to be redirected and post your comment.