The Importance of Soft Skills Today – Basics Of Soft Skills

You too might have noticed that people now change their work much more frequently than ever before and, perhaps, not even you are exempted from these changes. This can easily be because the work no longer challenges you, the company has changed its operation and you do not have the skills they need to continue into the future. It can also be because the company has close up or for a variety of other reasons. And what can help you stand out in the labor market is your level of skills and ability to adapt to the changes. Are you ready?

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What you will learn in this series

In this article series on Soft Skills, we will cover such discussions as:

• How To Develop Your Soft Skills,
• Best Soft Skills To Develop Today,
• Soft Skills Vs Hard Skill,
• The Importance Of Soft Skills Today.

What is the importance of Soft Skills Today?

According to a report by The World Economic Forum on the Future of Jobs by 2020, such skills as complex problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management and emotional intelligence were predicted to be among the most important skills that would be required in our workplaces. Learn about the basics of Soft Skills to understand the beginner guide.

If you have paid enough attention to the developments in the last years and this New Year we have just started, you can see that the forecast of The World Economic Forum on the Future of Jobs by 2020 did not fall flat.

If you are interested, you can read the full article on the world economic forum webpage. It’s titled: The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

What do all these really mean? It means that, as I was telling you in a previous article, you need to take advantage of the dynamics of our new economics and in our workplaces.

Say, for instance, you are an immigrant from Nigeria or from any other country in the world who traveled several kilometers away to a new country, so you can start all over again, learn a new language, meet new people and learn to do the works you have probably never done before.

Why do all these? It’s because you are seeing the future and you need better results for yourself and your family.

So, the question of change or learning new skills to help you better adapt to a changing situation should not be considered anything new. We need to embrace it, learn what we need to learn and move into the future as full participants in shaping our world.  

Many smart individuals are quickly retraining themselves and refining their tools, their skill sets so that they can become more valuable in the market when all these economic crises are over. We will talk more about the “how” in the last article in the series (How To Develop Your Soft Skills,), so make sure you check it out.

I understand that looking at the changes in our workplaces, and the need to learn new skills, we might easily blame everything on the outbreak of covid19, which has evidently forced a lot of businesses to go online and therefore the necessity to learn how to remain online.

But the truth of the matter is that many experts, even without any prior knowledge of the covid-19 pandemic have been warning us since the past few years that people need to retrain themselves if they want to be relevant in the marketplace of the future.

This is not by accident and many people who understood the importance of refining their soft skills have been retraining themselves. Yes, some people did. And there are the common behaviors of human beings.

Even with the right information in front of us, many will not take action but few will do. Imagine yourself that is reading this article right now, not all of you will take advantage of this free and valuable information I am sharing with you here. But some will do it and get the result.

Make sure you are part of those few. Now, let’s consider some specific examples of how important soft skills are to you today. 

Today’s workplace is now more interpersonal

In today’s workplaces, such skills as the ability to listen actively, collaborate, present ideas, and effectively communicate with colleagues have now become more valuable than ever before.

This is not to say that these skills were not important in the past, say, 20, 30, or 50 years ago. If you were working in a coal mining company, you will, of course, need to communicate with your co-workers. You surely needed to do that.

However, you will agree with me that in the current economy, which is now more of service and interpersonal engagements, and with the customers who are now more enlightened about the intricacies of goods and services, you absolutely need a better level of communication if you want to remain in business.

Of course, you understand that by a better level of communication, I am referring both when talking to customers and among co-workers or business partners. These are what ensure a better collaborative and healthy working environment. And this, in turn, will help the company increase its productivity and remain competitive in the market.

Any situation that encourages discrimination or bad feelings among co-workers should completely be discouraged in the workplace. There is no real business that progresses on the basics of these unhealthy behaviors. So, do not indulge in them or promote them around you.

In this service or knowledge-based economy as some will prefer to call it, you need soft skills to leverage the various possibilities around you. You cannot; I repeat, you cannot ignore this if you want to be relevant, personally and professionally.

Don’t know why you should develop your soft? Check out the following article on the series: The Importance Of Soft Skills Today.

The success of future workplaces depends heavily on quality soft skills

There are many indications that more proportion of our daily work will be done by machines in the nearest future. While that is an indisputable reality, automation and artificial intelligence are part of the jobs that will still rely heavily on the brainpower of physical people and therefore their soft skills.

It is true that the recent improvement in technology has eaten much into the tasks that used to be done by people with hard skills. But nothing, at least within the foreseeable future has taken the place of the interpersonal human relationship.

Do not subscribe to the apocalyptic idea that machines will wipe out human labor and turn us, humans, into some kind of lifeless robots. That is nonsense.

Machines were invented by men to help them do their job more efficiently and with less physical energy. As for what we can do with our minds, we cannot even imagine the limitation, because there is probably no limit to the power of our minds. However, it all start with your mindset. So, learn to improve it.

If you can refine your soft skills, there will always be a job available for you and you can even choose among the best if you are good. We will consider some of the most important soft skills you can develop today in another of our discussions on soft skills. So, stay tuned.

In the analyses of Deloitte, an Anglo-American multinational professional services network, Soft skill-intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030. The company was asked to assess the importance of obtaining and measuring soft skills to better understand areas that need to be improved in the Australian workforce and businesses.

“As technology, globalization and demographic shifts continue to shape how businesses compete,” continued the publication, Soft skills for business success – Building Australia’s future workforce, “the importance of soft skills will grow.” 

Develop your soft skills, there is job for you

Here are some of the crucial soft skills you should start developing today:

• Critical thinking,
• Communication,
• Creativity,
• Social skills,
• And teamwork among others.

Pay attention to those vital soft skills and you will soon see that irrespective of the sophistication of machines and computer automation, human intelligence and capacity is always indispensable.

Computers are known to be very poor at simulating human interaction, therefore social skills are still important today and tomorrow too. Do not write yourself off just yet. Instead, improve your soft skills and get ready to take your place in the workforce of your choice.

If you are serious about improving yourself today, you can consider checking out our online training classes at AClasses Content Academy. Why not, you can also participate in some voluntary activities, so you can gain some skills in the process. Make your choice today.

Do not underestimate the idea of volunteering. That is where a lot of people learn great skills. The most interesting thing about knowledge or acquisition of skills is that you can catch it in some of the most unlikely places.

Imagine a neighboring woman whose appointment was suddenly changed and she didn’t know what to do and therefore calls on you to help her look after her children while she goes for her appointment. You don’t have to grumble or refuse if you have some minutes to spare.

You might actually end up learning how to better talk to children. And you can never know what that small knowledge can transform into in your head and maybe earn you some money one day. So, learn soft skills where you can, they will always serve you. They always do. 

Soft skills for your own businesses

Now, one other thing I will like to share with you about the importance of soft skills is that you can apply the knowledge in your own business. You know that in our Obehi Podcast, we have talked a lot about jobs – that getting a job and working for someone or a company is important. No doubt about that. But we have also stressed the importance of having your own business if you can because that is a different adventure altogether.

You do not know what business to start? Consider the following articles on this link: Businesses To Start Today.

Whether you have been on the entrepreneurial journey for many years or you are just starting out, there are many advantages for you if you can master your soft skills.

There is an article I would like you to check out. It’s on Inc.com and titled: 5 Soft Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs To Master, Otherwise, Your Business Will Fail – Soft skills are the most undervalued part of entrepreneurship.

“So many entrepreneurs,” said the article, “build products and services they just assume people will buy. Meanwhile, they haven’t invested any time in understanding how they’re going to communicate their value–and ultimately share the vision of their company.”

Communication is another topic you will hear me talk about on Obehi Podcast. The point is, whether, for business or for personal life purposes, communication is just too important that we all must make an effort to master it. Communication is literarily everything; it is everything.

Now, the part I enjoyed most in the article is this: “The moment you try to sell someone on something, you’re at a disadvantage. And in a sense, you’re fighting a losing battle. Nobody wants to feel like they’re “buying into” a product or service. They want to feel like they’re hopping onto a winning team–and the way you do that is you learn how to communicate what you do in a way that triggers a positive emotion.”

That is a great piece. As an entrepreneur, you are your own boss, so it’s even more important that you learn about such soft skills as:

• Growth mindset,
• Creativity,
• Adaptability,
• Innovation,
• Positive Attitude, just to name a few because they are the secrete to your business success.

You need all these skills to run your business because the ideas, as you might already know by now, do not come to you already formed.

They come in bits and pieces, like the puzzles and you need to put them together, shape them as you like and give them the meaning you want.

Remember you are going to continuously deal with people, both collaborators and clients, good ones and some very bad ones who might want to drive you insane if you let them. You can only succeed in the end by:

• Mastering these skills,
• Developing a good level of empathy,
• Adapting to the situation,
• And maintaining a positive attitude.

A positive attitude can help you remain in business. Never forget that.

Your key takeaways the importance of soft skills today

Soft skills are key to the workplace of today. Research has shown that soft skills are absolutely necessary for success in today’s job market. These skills such as time management, interpersonal communication and teamwork will help you progress your career faster than hard skills alone.

A new trend in the business world is Hybrid and Remote work. As a result, employees have greater need for soft skills than in the past. Among these are the ability to communicate and collaborate, which are vital for successful remote work.

If you are a small business owner or self-employed, soft skills can help you find, attract, and retain clients.

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