7 Habits To Train Soft Skills Applied To The Work Environment
Soft skills are a quality of professional profiles that are increasingly taken into account.
However, it is still relatively common for people who have been working in the same professional field for years to be unaware of this concept, thereby suffering a competitive disadvantage both as candidates for better job prospects and as team leaders.
In this article We will explore this concept of “soft skills” and see some of the most important habits to enhance them
Soft skills are the set of personal skills that have a significant impact in the work context even though they cannot be reduced to technical knowledge or the motor execution of certain specific movements related to the work to be done. , and which are very useful in a wide variety of professional roles.
In other words, they are the personal skills that, despite not being reflected in the curriculum, are as important or more important than formal education and technical learning that a person has received in order to aspire to certain jobs.
Thus, soft skills are predispositions and abilities of an eminently psychological nature, that is, linked to the management of emotions, thoughts and personal relationships, and do not depend on the memorization of certain theoretical contents or strength or motor coordination that a person has. For this reason, it is often said that the scope of application of these “soft skills” goes far beyond work, since they are useful both in the professional context and in private life, and if a person is able to apply them in one You can also do it on the other.
At the same time, due to its dynamic, flexible nature and not dependent on memorizable content, it is very difficult for companies to develop systematic evaluation tools for soft skills; That is why the most used method to study its presence or absence in candidates for a job or a promotion, for example, is personalized evaluation by professionals with experience in HR and/or in the department of the corresponding organization
Of course, for this type of evaluation process to be effective it is necessary to first have a notion of what soft skills are and which are the most relevant in a given context, since unfortunately, otherwise the temptation to take into account Only considering “objective” and easily quantifiable criteria will be the default option.
Habits to enhance soft skills applied to work
Although soft skills do not arise from formal education (for example, from university classes), that does not mean that they cannot be learned and internalized. The only thing that happens is that in this case the learning process will be more adapted to the lifestyle and way of being of the person, as it will not be reduced to class notes and exercises to be done with a computer.
Since soft skills emerge in real work and social interaction contexts associated with everyday life , the way to train them is also based on going through certain situations that have to do with the day-to-day problems that we must learn to solve: in this case, theory and practice merge and we must learn to master them at the same time.. This can be promoted through company initiatives such as training programs in social skills, courses and workshops, etc. But it is not the only way: you can also do your part to, as an individual, fill your daily life with situations that “force” us to learn and reinforce soft skills.
Therefore, below we will focus on this second way and do a brief review of habits that can help you enhance soft skills.
1. Adopt a refereeing role in discussions
Many people find it difficult not to lose their temper in discussions, something with negative repercussions both at work and in their private lives. To avoid this, it is important to approach conflicts by adopting the perspective of a character or “actor” whose task is to recognize the reason for the discomfort of both parties and look for common ground from a relatively distant perspective that allows us to see the whole. In this way, the objective will not be to “win” or see how “our side” defeats the other, but overcome a crisis that affects a group of people
It may seem unbelievable, but many communication problems can be corrected by learning to write well. The habit of writing sentences and paragraphs of relative complexity helps us to better structure the ideas and propositions in our minds, so that not only are we much better at writing emails and documents (something already essential in many jobs) but also speak in an understandable and convincing way
3. Delegate and give instructions regularly
You don’t have to assume that the more tasks and responsibilities you carry on your shoulders, the better you will be at your job. Many times, we lose the ability to add a lot of added value to our professional profile for the simple fact of not being able to delegate and train others by explaining to them the theory and practice of what they should do.
To be better at it, delegate tasks in your daily life and make sure that the other person will have all the information necessary to do those jobs in almost the same way you would do them. This will force you not to assume that everyone knows what you know, something basic for leading and organizing teams
4. Divide all your goals into sub-goals
This seemingly simple principle is essential to performing well, and can be applied to practically all the responsibilities you encounter in your daily life. Not only will it help you to be clear at all times about what you should do; besides, will help you prioritize tasks which is necessary to have a perspective oriented toward problem resolution (you will avoid falling into the common dynamics of focusing only on abstract ideas disconnected from what is really needed).
Gaining the capacity to adapt requires seeing beyond the objective goals linked to our job: it is important to understand the why of what happens in the organization. To do this, take advantage of the potential of your curiosity: ask questions to those who know This way you will be better at anticipating the needs of your team, company or department.
6. Prepare your workspace
Something as simple as preparing our desk by eliminating possible distractions will help us make better use of the time we have to work and, on the other hand, we will have more resources and energy to learn about what is happening around us
7. Make sure you are in constant communication with your team
It is increasingly common for teamwork to be mixed with individual work, thanks to new chat platforms, video calls, etc. Therefore, it is essential that you make a habit of always turning on these communication channels and reviewing them periodically. These types of routines will open you up much more to work going beyond your individuality.
You may be interested: “The 5 benefits of teamwork”
Do you want to learn more about soft skills?
If you are interested in learning more about soft skills and their implications in the world of work, either to enhance them in yourself or to incorporate them into your work managing teams, the Executive Coaching Certification Program of the European School of Coaching is for you. This training program lasts 229 hours and is especially aimed at managers, middle managers, psychologists, Human Resources professionals and coaches. In addition, it can be done both online and in person in Madrid and Barcelona. To find out more, contact us.
