SOFT SKILLS

 

Two people once started a company in their garage in 1976, both equal partners and best friends. They both had a burning passion for their product but only one of them knew the design, manufacturing of their product thoroughly as he was the one that engineered the product. The engineer’s father complained about how the other one had no contribution in the invention of the product and therefore his son (the engineer) should get the bigger share in the partnership. But his own son argued against this demand because he knew that the other partner possessed a particular skill set without which management of the company would not survive. The partners this story refers to are none other than Steve Wozniak (the engineer) and Steve Jobs. The company was Apple computers and the product was Apple II. The skill set the other partner i.e. Steve Jobs possessed are called soft skills.

 

There has been much debate about whether soft skills were an essential requirement for one’s career growth and sustainability. There are people who think that if you are excellent at your job profile whether it be accounting, marketing or finance, it is enough to achieve success in your chosen career. But there is still one obstacle that hinders the success you crave, that is people. There will always be people who you need to convince or people who you require something from. That is where soft skills come in, mastery of soft skills give one the ability to influence others. Influencing people is one of the hardest things to learn but it will pay off in the long term once you have acquired the ability to do it. An entrepreneur learns the importance of soft skills very early compared to an employee and that is because he has the responsibility to manage, influence and lead people so that they can work towards one vision. An employee may learn the importance of soft skill when he is given managerial or leadership responsibilities.

 

Soft skills include active listening, body language, adaptability to the business environment, communication skills, work ethic, problem solving, time management. There are more things but it is safe to say that these are the most important ones. There is a general belief among us that we have already mastered 2 of the skills mentioned above i.e. listening and communication, well we couldn’t be more wrong. I believe there is no skill harder to learn then listening and I mean to really listen, to understand where the person opposite to you is coming from. Many times when we are arguing with people rather than actually listening to the other person and trying to understand him we begin the process of undermining him by finding an answer to his argument in our minds while he/she is making his/her point. That is not really listening, that is trying to win an argument. To really listen we have to make a habit of being the last to speak, this gives 2 advantages to you, first is the people who spoke before you really feel like they have been heard and that give them an immense satisfaction and the other is you have had the privilege of listening to the knowledge and experience of other people which might give you a different perspective on things. Dale Carnegie said while presenting your argument try not to raise your voice rather improve your argument. Problem solving is another important soft skill but the more important part is the presentation of the solution. Rather than going to the boss with a problem, go to him with a solution to the problem, it may influence him to ask your opinion in the future to a problem he faces.  

While all these thing are hard to learn, they are even harder to practice, it requires self-control and discipline. It is even harder to make a habit of it and that is what you will need to do to fully comprehend these skills. As Aristotle once said “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit”