How Soft Skills can Transform your Life as a Professional

Earlier soft skills were barely given importance over hard and tangible skills. Soft skills are a set of skills that improves and develops our behaviour and personality. It was categorised under stressbuster and motivational sessions. With the passage of time, most of the corporate houses and educational institutions understood the contribution of these skills in an individual’s life and society.

According to a renowned job portal site, the most searched key skills by an organisation are innovativeness, social skills, critical thinking and interpersonal communication. The most important reason why soft skills are introduced in any organisation is that they improve interpersonal skills among employees. Interpersonal skills mean the ability to communicate and interact with other employees in the organisation.

Let’s read in detail how soft skills can transform an employee into a professional.

• • Grooming: It means taking care of our appearance and it is considered the most important part of soft skills because how well you take care of yourself determines a lot about your personality. During an interview even before we get a chance to showcase our skills, we have already been judged on the basis of our appearance and clothing. For example, clean, well-ironed clothes with proper shoes during an interview expresses a student interest to work in the organisation. Whereas if the student is not in proper formal attire then they are often considered careless and irresponsible.

• • Anger Management: Anger is normal human emotional behaviour. Anger management refers to being able to understand our anger and learning the methods to control it rather than shouting and howling, ending up creating a scene. There are different ways in which we can control our anger:
    
    1. To understand if the reason behind the anger is really serious and important. For example, to know the cause of the irritation leading to anger.
    2. To learn methods to control anger. For example – breathing techniques, talking to someone, staying busy at work etc.
    3. Think before you speak. For example – In anger, we often say something which we regret later, so it is advisable to think before we speak.
• Mental flexibility can also be termed adaptability or the way to adjust in any situation. This shows an individual’s personality on how confidently they can accept changes.
  For example – XYZ Logistics Company introduced new software for the Procure to Pay process. The Procurement executives must be open-minded or mentally flexible to learn the new methods quickly and apply them confidently.
• Resolving Conflict: It is a way of understanding the problem from its beginning without judging. Resolving problems is very important in soft skill as it helps to maintain peace and decorum in the organisation. It also involves actively listening to everybody’s opinion and view before jumping to a conclusion.
  For example – A Logistics Executive made an error in the final bill of Lading. When the Consignee came to know he started shouting at the executive for the mistake. At that time the executive handled the situation by calming down the Customer by apologizing for the error on behalf of the team and rectified the mistake.
• Teamwork – An organisation does not grow alone it needs the contribution of all the employees beginning from planning till execution. The success of any organisation is highly determined by strong teamwork among employees.
  For example – An operation of Logistics is always carried out with a team of Executive, Manager and Logistics Operator. When everyone performs their task properly the work is smoothly carried out.
• Leadership – It refers to taking initiative for taking responsibility and respecting every team member’s opinion and ideas. A leader always has clarity of thought on how to move ahead in work and helps to bring out the full potential in the employees without being bossy or underestimating team member’s capability or skill.
  For example – A CEO of Logistics Company taking care of different departments by listening to their employee’s concerns and suggestions.

A productive environment in an organisation reflects effective communication channels or medium used among employees which refers to effective speaking. By effective communication, we understand adapting a set of skills in order to create better understanding and by answering all the W’s and H questions (what, when, why, whom and how) and do PDCA cycle (Plan Do Check Act)

Soft Skills Training at Tech Mahindra SMART Academies

At our Tech Mahindra SMART Academies, along with the healthcare, digital technologies and logistics, we also train students in the foundation courses, which includes English, IT and Soft Skills. These courses are an integral part of Tech Mahindra SMART Academies’ courses curriculum as they make our students job-ready and one step closer to entering the industry. Our trainers give importance to soft skills and personality development training so that ready for job-interviews before they complete their course.

So to be a professional with a sound personality, an employee must imbibe sets of soft skills, social skills including etiquettes and must have knowledge on emotional intelligence in order to create a strong network of people with effective interpersonal relationships which enhance their potential and career performance resulting in growth of an organisation.