SOFT SKILLS

SOFT SKILLS. BY DANISH MUNIR.

SOFT SKILLS:. Soft skills refer to a cluster a personal qualities, habits, attitudes and social graces that make someone a good employee and compatible to work with. Soft skills influence how we interact with others..

WHY SOFT SKILLS?. Soft skills are required by an individual not only to enter into workplace, but also to sustain oneself in the workplace as they helps in: Taking proper decision Handling interpersonal relationships Communicating with others properly and effectively Gaining professional development Having good impact or impression on others.

1. TIME MANAGEMENT. Do you ever feel like there's not enough time in the day? We all get the same 24 hours – so why do some people seem to achieve more with their time than others? The answer: good time management. Time management is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between different activities. Get it right, and you'll end up working smarter, not harder, to get more done in less time – even when time is tight and pressures are high. The highest achievers manage their time exceptionally well. And by using Mind Tools' time-management resources, you too can make the most of your time – starting right now!.

2. COMMUNICATION SKILLS. Communication skills are the abilities you use when giving and receiving different kinds of information. Some examples include communicating new ideas, feelings or even an update on your project. Communication skills involve listening, speaking, observing and empathizing. It is also helpful to understand the differences in how to communicate through face-to-face interactions, phone conversations and digital communications like email and social media..

3. CHANGE MANAGEMENT. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies. The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping people to adapt to change.

4. STORYTELLING. In simple terms, storytelling is the ability to tell stories. The word storytelling is composed of two words: telling stories. You can use this skill in business, at work, and in your personal life because storytelling techniques will help make your arguments more persuasive to another person, regardless of who you are interacting with. You can use storytelling at a product presentation, advertising, or even at a daycare: a great story works perfectly for people of all ages. Additionally, storytelling in education helps describe the material in a far more accessible way. Therefore, it is suitable for students of all ages, even for preschoolers..

5. CHARISMA. A special personal quality or power of an individual making him or her capable of influencing or inspiring large numbers of people..

6. THE COMPLETE RESUME, LINKEDIN, INDEED ETC. A comprehensive resume is an all-encompassing document that allows you to showcase all of your previous work experience, your specific types of qualifications, special skills, education and awards and recognitions.

7. PERSONAL BRANDING. Personal branding is the process of creating a brand identity for a person or a company. As the name suggests, this is a brand for you or your business. Essentially, it is how you project your brand and its values to the world and ensure that your target audience knows who you are, what you stand for, and why it’s worth choosing you over your competitors. Personal branding is not just about marketing but about being your marketer. It is about standing for yourself and your business to command respect and confidence from your peers and customers..

8. WRITING MASTERY. Writing skills are the skills you use to write effectively and succinctly. A good writer is someone who can communicate their point to their audience without using too much fluff and in a way that the other person can understand. Writing skills don't just include the physical act of writing.

9. THE POWER OF DEEP LISTENING. Have you ever spoken to someone who made you feel like you were the only person in the world at that moment? Who seemed truly engaged and interested in every word that came out of your mouth? How did that make you feel? Important? Understood? This is the power of deep listening. Deep listening is more than a valuable social habit; it is a transformative communication tool. With deep listening, you are not only allowing yourself the time and space to fully absorb what your conversation partner is saying, you can actually encourage him or her to feel heard and to speak more openly and honestly. And this is a key step in developing rapport with someone. To better understand how to interact and communicate more effectively with others, we spoke to body language expert Jan Hargrave, one of our Leadership Academy speakers, about the core tenets of deep listening:.

10. INFLUENCING AND PERSUADING. Influence is the ability of a person or leader to affect, to shape, or to transform the opinions (convincing) and the behaviors or actions (persuading) of other people without necessarily having a formal authority over them. Influencing is soft or personal power, independent of one's positional power..

11. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. Emotional intelligence in the workplace can provide significant benefits and further develop your career, in addition to creating better relationships and promoting a positive work environment..

12. REMOTE TEAM MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP. Not everyone is capable of going fully-remote or mentally prepared to go days without a human interaction. Set up regular video chats and be sure to make space for intentional informal communication. Being a remote manager means building a support system for your team, while at the same time striking a balance to hold them accountable. Building trust, maintaining transparency, communicating frequently and openly, and ensuring a supportive working environment are critical for success Use different apps such as: google drive, slack, loom, skype, zoom , etc..

13. CRITICAL THINKING. Critical thinking is a kind of thinking in which you question, analyze, interpret, evaluate and make a judgment about what you read, hear, say, or write. The term critical comes from the Greek word kritikos meaning “able to judge or discern”..

14. CREATIVITY, DESIGN THINKING AND INNOVATION FOR BUSINESS.

15. PRESENTING WITH CONFIDENCE. Many jobs require giving presentations or speaking in front of crowds. However, some people consider public speaking to be a challenge. Learning strategies for speaking in public can help you feel confident during your next presentation It's important to be confident during a presentation to ensure you give the best presentation possible. Confidence may help you speak with more clarity and authority. This may help audiences better understand and respond to your message..

16. ASK BETTER QUESTIONS - BUILD BETTER RELATIONSHIPS.

17. NEGOTIATION SKILLS. Negotiations are formal discussions between people who have different aims or intentions, especially in business or politics, during which they try to reach an agreement. They try to reach a common ground eliminating their differences. Negotiation in business has become one of the most important skills and abilities. While negotiation will happen between two parties for reaching an agreement, it is said that the most effective negotiator will be both competing as well as collaborating. An effective negotiator is one who creates value for the other while claiming value for the self. There must be meaningful give and take that should happen in negotiation. Negotiation should always be win-win, where agreements are created by taking care of the interests of both the sides. Negotiation requires interpersonal skills, communication skills as well as problem solving skills..

18. ASSERTIVENESS. Assertiveness is a skill regularly referred to in social and communication skills training. Being assertive means being able to stand up for your own or other people’s rights in a calm and positive way, without being either aggressive, or passively accepting ‘wrong’. Assertive individuals are able to get their point across without upsetting others, or becoming upset themselves..

19. WRITE BETTER EMAILS. Is writing a bad email going to ruin your career? No. But learning the unspoken rules for writing professional emails can improve how competent you appear in the eyes of your colleagues..

20. GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK. At some point during your career, you might need to give or receive feedback on the job. When you do it effectively, giving and receiving feedback is useful to a person's or company's growth. Effective feedback is a way of giving input that can be positive (such as a compliment), negative (such as a corrective measure) or neutral (such as a general observation), but it is always useful to the receiver. It provides recipients with insight or suggestions that contribute to desired outcomes. If you want to give effective feedback, you should aim to be supportive, encouraging and specific on the direction that's needed to change, improve or continue actions and performance..

21. BE A GREAT MENTOR. Some important traits in a good mentor include patience and listening skills. The most effective mentors take in what's happening, assess the path the mentee is on and then guide the person onto the right track. Mentoring is as much about counseling as it is transferring knowledge and leadership skills..

22. INTERVIEW TRAINING. Preparing for interviews Dealing with interviews Dealing with nerves Creating a positive first impression The practical details What to wear Making your research count Using your voice Anticipating key questions Getting to grips with interview questions Brilliant questions to ask the interviewer.

22. INTERVIEW TRAINING. Handling different types of interview Successful telephone and video interviews Giving presentations Tests and exercises Leaving a positive impression.

23. INSPIRATION LEADERSHIP SKILLS. The quality of leadership within a business or organization is often a factor in its success. Though many employees give a certain amount of respect and obedience to a senior leader due to their position in the company, simply holding a leadership title doesn't guarantee that you can lead your team effectively. The best leaders aim to inspire their team toward achieving personal and professional success and create a culture of motivation in their workplace. Inspirational leadership is the ability to be a positive influence on those around you and motivate others toward success. Employers of any experience level can practice inspirational leadership, whether they're executives or entry-level employees. Inspirational leadership offers your employees or colleagues opportunities to develop their ambition based on your actions and attitude.

24. TEAM FACILITATION. A crucial role for team leaders Good team facilitation starts with being clear about the content of the meeting or workshop: what it is that you are facilitating? Think back over any flawed meetings and workshops you’ve attended in the past. How many meetings failed or were ineffective because it wasn’t clear what they were meant to achieve? That’s assuming there really was a proper purpose behind them in the first place!.

25. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT. Conflict management is an umbrella term for the way we identify and handle conflicts fairly and efficiently. The goal is to minimize the potential negative impacts that can arise from disagreements and increase the odds of a positive outcome..

26. EFFECTIVE DELEGATION. Effective delegation has two elements: delegating work to team members who have skills in that area, and giving team members opportunities to develop new skills. To do this, make sure you clearly understand each team member's strengths—as well as their interests.

27. NEW MANAGER SKILLS. There are many new manager skills a new leader must master to perform at their peak: Motivating others Making decisions Making decisions Taking initiative Championing change Managing performance Developing others Communicating expectations and priorities.

28. MANAGEMENT SKILLS. Management skills can be defined as certain attributes or abilities that an executive should possess in order to fulfill specific tasks in an organization. They include the capacity to perform executive duties in an organization while avoiding crisis situations and promptly solving problems when they occur. Management skills can be developed through learning band practical experience as a manager. The skills help the manager to relate with their fellow co-workers and know how to deal well with their subordinates, which allows for the easy flow of activities in the organization..

29. TEAM LEADERSHIP AND TEAM MANAGEMENT. The role of team management in the workplace is rapidly evolving as technology brings about dramatic changes to the way teams communicate, collaborate, and get work done. What hasn’t changed is its importance. Leaders who can get the most out of their employees by fostering a positive work environment and putting them in the best position to succeed are rewarded with higher productivity and greater innovation. Defining what leadership is can be challenging given the nearly limitless range of different scenarios in which it’s applied. The scope of leadership can vary greatly between roles based on everything from the number of employees being managed and team effectiveness to the nature of the work being performed to the amount of collaboration required between team members..

30. SOFT SKILLS. Soft skills include attributes and personality traits that help employees interact with others and succeed in the workplace. Examples of soft skills include the ability to communicate with prospective clients, mentor your co-workers, lead a team, negotiate a contract, follow instructions, and get a job done on time..