What Are Soft Skills And Why Are They Important?

Soft skills are nowadays seen as essential business skills. Employers look for them when recruiting candidates, HR and managers include them in core competencies when assessing performance and clients expect suppliers to have the soft skills to support the product or service they supply.

So what are soft skills? One way of thinking about it is that they are the opposite of hard skills. Hard skills are those that are job specific or technical. They enable you to get the job done correctly. Soft skills are those related to people and communication and are relevant across a whole range of jobs and roles, all in fact.

Soft skills include: presenting, motivation, people management, assertiveness, rapport building, influencing, team work and other interpersonal and communication skills.

Just because they are 'soft skills' however, doesn't mean they are any less essential to the success of a business. In the past it might have been enough to show that you can do the job. Now it's essential to show that you can do the job in a way that is as efficient, effective and profitable as possible, for all those involved. This is where soft skills add value.

Staff who understand the way others tick and know how to communicate with people, even if they have different personalities and styles from their own, will have greater success. They'll be able to build productive relationships, get what they want done and avoid mistakes and misunderstandings.

Someone who comes across in a confident, yet friendly and personable manner is more likely to be accepted and respected by others and to be able to build business relationships. People do business with people and it's no longer acceptable to be a tyrant, a robot or a wall flower.

Team cohesion and strong management skills will result in happier, more motivated staff who want to do a good job and are supported to do so. This in turn results in lower staff turnover, higher productivity and higher profits.

It's not all about being fluffy and friendly however. Some soft skills are fairly hard business skills - such as knowing how to write a clear and compelling report, negotiate the best deal or pitch your products successfully.

Nearly all companies now understand the value of soft skills and invest in training and coaching for their people accordingly. Face to face training allows people to explore and practise skills together, while learning from experts who walk the talk. Coaching enables specific issues to be addressed one-on-one and for skills to be honed.

Many organisations work hard at instilling strong people skills in their culture, referring to them in their values and focusing team days around them.

As diversity of cultures becomes more and more prevalent in business, soft skills become even more important for facilitating effective communication.