Topic: What are ‘soft skills’? Why are they important in business?
Many people wonder what soft skills are and whether they have these unique skills (Hordijk 2014). The answer to that question is that every single person in the world today has a set of soft skills that is unique to only them (Skills You Need 2016). Soft skills are somebodies personal character traits, attitude, personal habits, friendliness, communication skills and social graces that allows a person to portray what relations they have with other people (Han 2016). There are numerous different types of soft skills, but the top five most important skills that employers look for when hiring are:
- Communication Skills (Cenre, Gill, Lawson & Lewis 2015) ;
- Adaptability Skills (Cenre, Gill, Lawson & Lewis 2015);
- Problem Solving Skills (Cenre, Gill, Lawson & Lewis 2015);
- Management Skills (Cenre, Gill, Lawson & Lewis 2015);
- Team Work Skills (Cenre, Gill, Lawson & Lewis 2015).
Communication Skills
Communication skills allows for an individual to exchange information with another person through written or verbal (Grimsley 2016).
Adaptability Skills
Adaptability is the skill to be able to adapt to any situation that has presented itself in front of the person being challenged or set with a task (Bader, P & Calarco, A 2003). This situation could be as simple as a software change or a position change in a workplace (Bader, P & Calarco, A 2003).
Problem Solving Skills
Problem solving is the ability to discover a problem within a business or in any situation, then identify why it has arisen and then finally find a solution to fix the issue (Hordijk 2014).
Management Skills
Management skills is the ability to be able to be organised through quality management of time, people and of situations that need managed (Tracy 2012).
Team Work Skills
Team skills is the aptitude to be able to work with fellow employees to complete a set of task to the greatest possible standard (The Happy Manager 2016).
Soft skills are important in business because they help us complete our jobs and remain on task (McKay 2016). They help us communicate with the boss, employees and customers (McKay 2016). Without soft skills in a business, nothing would be completed to a respectable standard and the business therefore would not be profitable (McKay 2016).
Soft skills however are not hard to learn (McKay 2016). Just like any skill, it takes persistence to be able to master the skill being pursued (Skills You Need 2016). Once the skill is learned it must be constantly used to maintain full control over it (McKay 2016).
References
Bader, P & Calarco, A 2003, ‘Adaptability: What it takes to be a quick-change artist’, Leadership in Action, Vol. 22 no. 6, pp3-6.
Cenere, P, Gill, R, Lawson, C & Lewis, M 2015, Communication skills for business professionals, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, Vic.
Grimsley, G 2016, What is communication? – definition & importance, ‘Study.com’ viewed 28 April 2016, http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-communication-definition-importance.html
Han, L 2016, Soft skills definition: what are soft skills, ‘Soft Skills – Ask a Wharton MBA’, viewed 26 April 2016, https://bemycareercoach.com/softskills/what-are-soft-skills
Hordijk, W 2014, ‘The algorithmic mind and what it means to solve a problem’, Emergence: Complexity & Organization, Vol. 16, no. 4, pp 1-6.
Iyengar, RV 2015, MBA: the soft and hard skills that matter, IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 7-14.
McKay, DR 2015, Soft skills, what are they and why we need them, ‘About Careers’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://careerplanning.about.com/od/importantskills/a/soft-skills.htm
Skills You Need, 2016, Soft skills, ‘Skills You Need, Helping You Develop Life Skills, viewed 26 April 2016, http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/soft-skills.html
The Happy Manager, 2016, Define teamwork, ‘The Happy Manager, a better Way to Manage’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://the-happy-manager.com/articles/define-teamwork/
Tracy, B 2012, What makes a good leader? Simple ways to improve your management skills, ‘Brian Tracy International’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://www.briantracy.com/blog/business-success/management-skills-what-makes-a-good-leader/
For Pictures
Davis, A N.d, Career tips: what are soft skills and how do I use them?, ‘MAU Workforce Solutions, Consider it Done’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://www.mau.com/career-tips/career-tips-what-are-soft-skills-and-how-do-i-use-them
Louis, S 2015, Soft Skill Matter, ‘Polished Communications’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://stlpolished.com/soft-skills-matter/
Siva, 2016, What are soft skill? 10 benefits of soft skill training in today life, ‘EWriticle’, viewed 28 April 2016, http://ewriticle.com/what
Patrick Hay 