WHAT ARE SOFT SKILLS?
Soft or social skills (also called non-technical skills) are those personal values and interpersonal skills that determine a person’s ability to work well with others in a project team. Soft skills are needed to deal with the external world and to work in a collaborative manner with one's colleagues.
These skills include effective communication, leadership, and teamwork skills; demonstrating problem solving abilities, initiative, and motivation skills; displaying honesty and strong work ethics.
Soft skills play a vital role for academic and professional success; they help us excel in the workplace and their importance cannot be denied in the emerging information or knowledge society.
Soft skills are needed to deal with the external world and to work in a collaborative manner with one’s colleagues.
TYPES OF SOFT SKILLS
There are various components that comprise soft skills. Some are inborn such as confidence, friendliness and whether or not someone has a sociable nature, while others are skills that can be taught or improved upon, such as developing effective communication, organization, and social graces.
A large number of soft skills are known today. However, a different set of soft skills are required for a specific type/nature of work.
For our purpose these may include the following:-
• communication skills
• listening skills
• presentation skills
• interpersonal skills
• team skills
• leadership skills
• etiquette
• cross-cultural skills
• language skills, etc.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The ability to communicate ideas to others effectively is an absolute essential requirement for our career building. Speaking clearly and coherently will allow effective verbal communication with others. How we speak is more influential to the person who we are communicating with than what we actually say, so we should be careful about our.
body language and tone of our voice when we are talking. Communication is a two–way process.
Listening is therefore an essential skill too. Listening is more than just hearing what is being said. Effective listening encourages others to listen to us and respond to what we say.If communication skills are an area that we feel we could improve on, we should set about identifying ways in which we could develop them.
Communication subsumes delegation, listening and presentation.
The ability to present comprehensive written ideas will enable us to put forward professional documentation of our thoughts and is a highly regarded skill. If we write so that misinterpretation is minimised we will find that people are far more receptive to our suggestions.
Effective communication skills are something everyone needs to possess. Verbal communication skill includes one-to-one interaction, presentation/public speaking ability, and good telephonic skills. Written communication would include program writing, report writing, letter writing and e-mail etiquette, etc.
HOW TO DEVELOP SOFTS
KILLS?
Developing soft skills needs practice. These are acquired and experienced on the spot. Soft skills cannot be acquired by merely reading textbooks. The soft skills we gain equip us to excel in our academic/professional life and in our personal life. It is a continuous learning process.
Development of soft skills has two parts. One part involves developing attitudes and attributes, and the other part involves fine-tuning communication skills to express attitudes, ideas, and thoughts. Perfect integration of ideas and attitudes with appropriate communication skills in oral, written, and non-verbal areas is necessary for successful work. Attitudes and skills are integral to soft skills. Each one influences and
complements the other.
COMMUNICATION
We know that communication is to get our message across to others clearly and unambiguously and it is most important for our progress.
For this, we must understand what our message is, who the audience Is and how it will be perceived.
We must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding our communications, such as the situational and cultural context.
EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
Effective communication and interpersonal skills are crucial to the success of an academician as they help him in dealing with people at the emotional level. Effective communication and soft skills not only improve relationships, but also improve efficiency. Communicating effectively is characterised by such things as active listening, using self for messages, conflict management, positive body language, and asking the right questions.
COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
The process of communication involves effort from both the sender and receiver of the message. Else the process can be fraught with error,with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When the error is not detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
Problems with communication can pop-up at every stage of the
process. To be an effective communicator and to get our point across without confusion, our goal should be to lessen the frequency of these problems at each stage. This can be done through clear, concise,
accurate, and well-planned communications.
The communication process consists of basic components like sender, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver, and feedback and the context.
Sender As the source of the message, we need to be clear about why we are communicating, and what we want to communicate. We also need to be confident that the information we are communicating is useful and accurate.
Encoding
This is the process of transferring the information we want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the
other end. One must be careful about cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, missing information, etc.
Channel
Messages are conveyed through channels which may be verbal, including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing and written, including letters, e-mails, memos and reports. Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it is not effective to give a long list of directions verbally.
Decoding
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding
(for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively). Confusion can arise from errors in encoding as well as decoding. This is particularly the case if the decoder does not have
enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver
Our message is delivered to individual members of our audience. No doubt, we need to be aware of the actions or reactions we hope our message will get from them. We need to bear in mind, though, that
each of these individuals enters into the communication process with his or her own ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of our message, and thereby, their response. To be a successful communicator, we should consider this before delivering our message, and act appropriately.
Feedback
Feedback is obtained by monitoring the response of the receiver to the message. Our audience will provide us with the feedback, may be in the form of verbal and non–verbal reactions to our communicated message. Pay close attention to these feedbacks. These Feedbacks are the only things that allow us to be confident that our audience has understood our message. If we find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least we have the opportunity to send the message a second time.
COMMUNICATION
MODELS
Various communication models have been proposed for the communication process. The simplest of these, the sender-receiver models are discussed here. Basic Communication Model
This model is useful when the movement of information across space and through time is a central challenge. Since the model looks at communication from a message point-of-view, its usefulness is limited when the information exchange is so complex that it cannot be isolated into message units.
WRITING SKILLS
Many people are intimidated by writing. Even so, there are times when writing is the best way to communicate, and often the only way to get our message across. While writing, remember that once something is sent in written form, it cannot be taken back. This presents written communicators with additional challenges, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, even writing style and actual wording.
Thankfully, today’s technology makes memo, letter and proposal writing much easier by providing reliable tools like word processors that check and even correct misspellt words and incorrect grammar.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
“ETIQUETTE”
Some of the most basic tips to remember when writing include:-
• Avoid slang words
• Try not to use abbreviations (unless appropriately defined or widely accepted)
• Steer away from symbols (such as ampersands [&])
• Clichés should be avoided, or at the very least, used with caution
• Brackets are used to play down words or phrases
• Dashes are generally used for emphasis
• Care should ALWAYS be taken to spell the names of people and companies correctly
• Numbers should be expressed in words when the number is less than 10 or is used to start a sentence (example: Ten years ago,my brother and I...). The number 10, or anything greater than 10, should be expressed as a figure (example: My brother has13 matchbox cars.)
• Quotation marks should be placed around any directly quoted speech or text and around titles of publications.
• Keep sentences short.
While these tips cover the most common mistakes made when writing letters, memos and reports, they in no way cover everything we need to know or ensure that our written communications are accurate and understood.
LETTER WRITING SKILLS
When writing letters, it is best to address the letter to an individual. Moreover, when beginning the letter with a personal name, be sure to end it with an appropriate closing, such as ‘yours sincerely’. If we cannot obtain an individual’s name, consider ending it with a more generic (less personal) closing, such as ‘yours faithfully’.
Normal business letters should start with an overall summary, showing in the first paragraph why the letter is relevant to the r
eader.
It is not a good practice to make the reader go past the first paragraphto find out why the letter was sent to them.
The body of the letter needs to explain the reason for the correspondence, including any relevant background and current information. Make sure the information flows logically, ensuring that we are making our points effectively. The closing of the letter is the final impression we leave with the reader. End with an action point,such as ‘I will call later this week to discuss this further’.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL PROOFING
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when writing a letter is to check it thoroughly after it is completed. This “unwritten” rule holds true for everything we write – memos, letters, proposals, etc.
We should use both the grammar and spell check on our computer, paying close attention to every word highlighted. We should not place total faith on our computer. Instead, we should have both a dictionary and thesaurus (printed or online) handy to double-check everything our computer’s editing tools highlight, as these tools are certainly not always reliable in a given context.
Is our written communication well organised? Does each idea proceed logically to the next? Would some additional headings help? We should make sure our written communications are easy to read and contain the necessary information, using facts where needed and avoiding information that is not relevant. We should also outline the course of action we expect, such as a return call or visit.
Finally, we should close appropriately, making sure to include our contact information. While this may seem obvious, it is sometimes overlooked and can make our written communications look amateurish. This can diminish our chances of meeting our written communication’s goals.
AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Computer and Communication Technology have empowered us to digitise our audio and video inputs and communicate across long and far-reaching destinations. In most of the audio communications, many users do not keep in mind certain essential aspects of audio communication and this results in either miscommunication or no communication. Similarly, in
using a tool for video communication, some things should be kept in mind so that the communication is effective and there is minimal loss of information intended to be conveyed.
Audio Communication Skills
Always have a sufficient knowledge of the issue that we are dealing with in the audio communication and the key points that we have to discuss. (always remember that the person on the other side can only hear us and respond to our details).
Do not use very long sentences, since it is difficult to grasp if the sentences are too long.
Always have a modulated pitch of voice, we should stress and emphasise on the words that we want to convey more strongly than the rest of our communication.
Make use of key words and terms that are related to the issue in consideration, this will minimise the understanding time of the receiver of the information.
Never speak in a jet speed fashion; always speak clearly voicing out each word and do not leave it for the receiver to understand it on its own.
Always give sufficient time to listen to what the person on the other side is saying. Allow the other person also to speak his/her part and then respond to him/her after s/he has finished.
Always have a note-book and pen/pencil marker to note some information given immediately by the receiver
If we are on a multi-people conference call then we should first introduce ourselves and then deliver the message.
Use of correct salutation is also important depending upon the regional/global context of the person/s we are communicating with.
Summarise the discussion at the end of the meeting.
Video Communication Skills
In a video communication to one or many person(s), one should always keep in mind that audio is integrated with video. Hence most points mentioned above are relevant.
Dressing up for the occasion is also a part of the communication, since many times video conferences are formal in nature.
there should be enough preparation for the occasion so that while communicating,we should not be looking for any information that is sought by person(s) on the other end.
Greeting everyone and introducing ourselves is essential in video communication especially when there is more than one person on board.
Always give an opportunity to others to express themselves in the communication and allow participation of all.
ACTIVE LISTENING
Hear What People Are Really Saying
It is obvious that if we have poor interpersonal communications skills (which include active listening), our productivity will suffer. This is simply because we do not have the tools needed to influence, persuade and negotiate all necessary for workplace success. Lines of communications must be open between people who rely on one another to get work done.
Considering this, we must be able to listen attentively if we are to perform up to expectations, avoid conflicts and misunderstandings, and to succeed. Following are a few short tips to help us enhance our communication skills and to ensure that we are an active listeners.
START BY UNDERSTANDING OUR OWN
COMMUNICATION STYLE
Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness.
Understanding our personal style of communicating will go a long way towards helping us create a good and lasting impression on others. By becoming more aware of how others perceive us, we can adapt more readily to their styles of communicating. This does not mean we have to be a chameleon, changing with every personality we meet. Instead, we can make another person more comfortable with us by selecting and emphasizing certain behaviors that fit within our personality and resonate with another. In doing this, we will prepare ourselves to become active listeners.
BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER
People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute but they can listen intelligently to up to 300 words per minute. Since only a part of our mind is paying attention, it is easy to go into mind drift - thinking
about other things while listening to someone. The cure for this is active listening - which involves listening with a purpose. It may be to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, see how another person feels, show support, etc. If we are finding it particularly difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, we should try to repeat their words mentally as they say it - this will reinforce their message and help us control mind drift.
USE NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Use nonverbal behaviors to raise the channel of interpersonal communication. Nonverbal communication is facial expressions like
smiles, gestures, eye contact, and even our posture. This shows our
interest to the person we are communicating with. This will prompt further communication while keeping costly, time-consuming misunderstandings at a minimum.
GIVE FEEDBACK
Remember that what someone says and what we hear can be amazingly
different! Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can
distort what we hear. Repeat or summarise to ensure that we understand.
Restate what we think we heard and ask, “Have I understood you correctly?” If we find ourself responding emotionally to what someone said, say so, and ask for more information:“I may not understand you correctly, and I find myself taking what you said personally".
THANK YOU
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