Why soft skills matter- career development

“The most important thing is communication is to hear what is not being said”- Peter Drucker

The phrase ‘soft skills’ is often used to describe the skills which characterize relationships with other people, or which are about how you approach life and work. The skills we use to develop, transform, restructure or augment our personality, behavior, attitudes and mindset.  A lot of people are looking for soft skill training to improve their overall image.

Hard skills, describe a person's ability to perform specific tasks, soft skills apply across all job titles and industries. Hard skills are imperative to get the job but to keep the job you need soft skills. Soft skills constitute pleasant and charming personality traits as self-confidence, positive attitude, emotional intelligence, social grace, adaptability, sociability and effective communication skills.

Problem solving, delegating, inspiring and team building are effectively carried out with the help of soft skills. A positive frame of mind is crucial for success. This is where soft skill training comes in handy. It helps us visualize ourselves and work to improve our efficiency not only as workers but as people.

If there is some dissonance in our thoughts, if we come across as crass, if we can’t find a middle ground, there will be no relationship formed.  We need to introspect and understand who we are and how we come across to others. How can we improve ourselves to facilitate smoother relations with others? Awareness is essential when it comes to answering our own questions about ourselves. What's most important, however, is that those people who lack well-developed soft skills become aware of their lack otherwise they can do nothing about them.

Why soft skill training? Why does it matter?

The first reason for soft skill training has to do with a threatening shortage of skilled workforce. India has a high rate of aging population. High illiteracy only exacerbates the problem of unskilled labor. The youth need training to enhance their skills, polish their work ethic to then match up to the competition from the global market.
A second reason why soft skill training is so important has to do with the generation gap in our workforce. According to most researchers there are at least four distinct generations in our workforce today. Communication between such wide generational gaps is currently and will continue to be a challenge.

The most industrially proficient person in the world will remain unemployed unless they can advertise themselves better. In time, , someone who is less technically assured but has better people skills will always get promoted over someone who can't. There is a positive correlation between your ability to interact with co-workers and your task performance.

Finally, soft skill training has even more relevance in the workplace. Researchers have spent the past decade looking at the effect of employee engagement on our businesses and economy.  Higher engagement means higher productivity and profitability of your business. And engagement is achieved not only with technical skill, benefits plans or increased pay. Engagement is achieved by companies that engage in soft skill training for a more efficient workforce.