5 Soft Skills for Professional Success
Posted
on Thursday, April 7, 2022
in
News
Wanna get ahead in your career?
It takes more than just proper training and education. There are some essential skills for professional success that can't be gleaned from a book or taught in a classroom. They are called "soft skills" and here are five key ones that can help you climb the corporate ladder:
Communication. Good communication skills are vital to helping others form a positive opinion of you. In the workplace, you need to be able to communicate well in writing (emails, reports, etc.) and in person (meetings, presentations, sales opportunities). It's also important to perfect another type of communication – non-verbal communication. This includes your body language and facial expressions, which project your attitude to others.
Leadership. If you want to elevate your career, you'll need to demonstrate leadership skills. Leaders motivate, empower, and inspire others. You can be a leader among your peers by taking responsibility for projects, and providing assistance to others.
Collaboration. Individually, you can do a lot for your company and your career, but collectively teaming up with your co-workers, you can accomplish and learn more. Take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with others on projects, leverage their strengths, assist them with their challenges, and listen to and learn from their ideas and insights.
Problem solving. Problems exist in every workplace and position. What's not as common is having problem solvers who don't just report problems, but develop solutions for them. Before reporting a problem to your manager, prepare possible solutions to resolve it.
Interpersonal skills. You could be the smartest person in your company, but if you can't get along with others and build relationships, you likely will not advance.
At this point in your career, you may not have mastered all these soft skills, but with more time and experience, you'll learn that developing them is not all that hard.