The first question you should ask yourself is – how much do you love yourself? If you do, you must know your own strengths and shortcomings and should constantly be working towards your own improvement.Soft skills are better known as Work Skills or Life Skills. Without these skills in place, you would not be able to express or demonstrate your other skills effectively – to get you the place you rightfully deserve in the corporate world.
Work Skills encompasses a whole gamut of areas. Some of the more important ones are:
Ø Effective Communication Skills
Ø Adaptability Skills
Ø Personal Development Skills
Ø Group Effectiveness Skills
Ø Interpersonal Skills
Ø Planning & Management Skills
Ø Influencing Skills
The good news is that you can pick up work skills. The challenge lies in identifying where you are strong and where you need to brush up.
Communication is not simply fluency in a particular language. It is not just being able to speak well enough to get your message understood by the person you are addressing the message to. You need to be articulate enough when speaking. Listening is a skill that plays a very important role in communication. Most of us are impatient to get a word in; while the other person is still speaking. To understand what someone is saying, one has to listen – not just hear!
To be able to get along with others is a skill that is critical in the Corporate world. If you have a problem with this; you should hone up your interpersonal skills – by talking to as many people as possible – even if it creates a sense of discomfort in you. Unless people like you, trust you and accept you, it will be difficult for you to get your message across. Creating a rapport with others is very critical in the Corporate world.
Not a day should pass by without your having moved forward with your own personal development. It is an ongoing process and you have to be very disciplined and aware of what your own shortcomings are before you can even get down to working on them.
Love & Respect yourself before others can do so!
Realize your own potential – you owe it to yourself!
Arpita Chowdhury
Delivery Head – Soft Skills
