Although soft skills are heard very often, especially in recent years, as required in the modern market, in fact the first to recognize them in the 1970s was the US military, which demanded much more than purely technical excellence from its soldiers, such as responsibility and teamwork.
What are the Soft skills and the Hard skills?
Soft skills (horizontal/soft skills) are the characteristics of a person’s personality, and their application in everyday work.
On the other hand, hard skills are called the knowledge and experience of the employee in relation to the subject on which he works.
Soft skills are adapted to any kind of work, while hard skills mainly concern a work object.
Some important soft skills or otherwise some social skills of an employee are:
- Teamwork
- Positive thinking and action
- Good manners
- Creativity
- Good communication
- Sense of humor
- Consistency
- Common sense
- Discipline
- Responsibility
- Good stress management
- Good conflict management
- Flexibility
- Emotional intelligence (EQ)
- Paying attention to details
- Taking initiatives
- Organizational skills
- Focus
- Listening to others
- Finding solutions to problems
Why soft skills are gaining an increasingly higher position in the market?
To tell the truth, the resume with the education and professional experience of the employee still plays a role in his selection for the job, however, soft skills win in many cases, because, hard skills are learned, beyond specific very specialized professions, which require very specialized knowledge, while the character of the worker will hardly change. This is another reason why companies tend to hire young people who will “forge” their value framework more easily.
Companies aim for a consistently good working environment, because every bad hire followed by a layoff costs them a lot in time and money. In order to achieve this good climate, the company needs to choose from the beginning people who will work smoothly within the team, and will bring good results to the company, thanks to their positive characteristics.
Every company also looks for employees who have the same values with it. If something has changed in our consumer society, it is that it is difficult to forgive companies or brands with a negative philosophy or action.Consumers now demand from companies, not only excellent quality in their products and services, but also to demonstrate high social responsibility.
Every company must care for fellow human beings, without discriminating, take care of the environment, defend culture, that is, in general, possess high values.
But, since every company is essentially its employees, it makes sense to give so much importance to their soft skills. Are they sensitive and active? Do they love animals? Do they speak equally well to all people? Do they respect the environment?
Employees are the soul of the company, so their values cannot be differentiated from the company’s values.
This era requires a different approach, because everything changes rapidly.There are many issues that concern every company that wants to play a role in the society it addresses, such as climate change, violence, equality of opportunities, so diversity, etc. The times require immediate action and this usually starts from social media, where no “wrong message” is allowed, if the company wants to be politically correct and not be cancelled by the society.
However, in order for everything to be done right and so quickly, there must be a stable base of employees with a good personality, critical thinking and a positive culture.
In order for a company to remain competitive in the very difficult global field, it should have a shared vision with the employees so that they work with dedication, commitment and productivity for the best possible result.
Finally, it has now become clear with the Great Resignation phenomenon after COVID-19, but also the latest Silent Resignation phenomenon, that employees also demand respect for their personality and well-being from the company. So they, in turn, also ask for leaders who are distinguished by high values and who inspire their team.
Although soft skills are character skills, this does not mean that they cannot be acquired, just like hard skills, by a person who does not have them by nature, that is if someone wants to gain more flexibility, it will do them good to often get out of their comfort zone and do something new. Thus, he will learn to maneuver better in the unknown and unexpected. Someone who is not good at communication can, with a lot of preparation, learn the tools for good presentations and start by speaking to a few first and slowly expand their communication to larger and larger audiences.
Take your own soft skills test to discover the gaps you want to fill. Are you good at completing a difficult task, but have a problem with deadlines? Then you should take some time management course. Do you work with dedication, but can’t handle the pressure? Then you should learn some stress management techniques.
BUSINESS COACHING – YOUR GROWTH GUIDE
If you lead a company, you know well how much people are at the center of it, in every way.
What do you think are your strong soft skills and which ones would you like us to develop together?
By strengthening your character with the appropriate soft skills, you will also develop your company personality, which will not go unnoticed by anyone.
I know firsthand what I am telling you, since in 2009 I founded GIM (Greek Internet Marketing), which today is very successful in its field, which is Digital Marketing, as well as Consulting.
Let’s look together at the challenges, but also at the opportunities that lie behind them.
And remember that machos are now a thing of the past, because our era needs very soft leaders!
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