The Hard Truth About Soft Skills

When it comes to soft skills, most people think they are all about those warm-and-fuzzy people skills. Yes, it’s true people skills are a part of the equation, but that’s just for starters. While hard skills refer to the technical ability and the factual knowledge needed to do the job, soft skills allow you to more effectively use your technical abilities and knowledge. Soft skills encompass personal, social, communication, and self-management behaviors. They cover a wide spectrum of abilities and traits: being self-aware, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability, critical thinking, attitude, initiative, empathy, confidence, integrity, self-control, organizational awareness, likability, influence, risk taking, problem solving, leadership, time management, and then some. Quite a mouthful, eh? These so-called soft skills complement the hard ones and are essential for success in the rough-and-tumble workplace. You can have all the technical expertise in the world, but if you can’t sell your ideas, get along with others, or turn your work in on time, you’ll be going nowhere fast.

Carefully listen to everything they say, ask questions, and invite them to make specific suggestions of ways you could improve your behavior. When responding to their feedback, be sure to communicate your opinions using nonemotional and nonjudgmental language

You really do want to know on a regular basis how you are being perceived by others, especially when the news isn’t good

It’s never too late to make a bad impression

In today’s virtual world, you will be judged for speaking too loudly and quickly—or softly and slowly—on the telephone or by your spelling errors and incorrect word usage when writing

Within the first one-thousandth of a second of meeting you, those on the receiving end have already started clicking off judgments about you. Within seven seconds, they’re trying to determine whether they like you, if they trust you, or if you appear confident and qualified. If they can’t decide within that time frame, they spend the next thirty to sixty seconds going through a critical laundry list in their heads about you:

As anybody who has ever been a success at anything will attest, we often learn more from our mistakes than our successes

We are sizing up people and situations every minute of every day in our business lives. Sometimes our impressions are good, sometimes bad, but rarely if ever neutral

UCLA showed that 55 percent of the message received by an audience is conveyed by one’s physical appearance, which includes—in addition to the obvious things like clothes, hairstyle, and makeup—your gestures, facial animation, smile, posture, and eye contact

Do not—repeat, do not—practice in front of a mirror because that will tend to make you self-conscious and stiff.