Our Soft Skills Make a Difference! They Are Critically Important!

A special note:

Thank you to those of you who provided your feedback on last week’s post regarding topics you would like me to further discuss. I was extremely excited by your responses and will be using them to craft my posts going forward. The responses varied widely, but the four topics received the most votes:

• A woman in business and with her own family does not need to be a perfectionist, to do everything; rather, per Step Aside Super Woman, it will help her to be very focused while at her office so she can get her work done in eight hours, not stretched to ten and twelve hours, as could easily happen to anyone.
  

• We cannot let ourselves become paralyzed at our computers. With the endless flow of emails and information, it’s a formidable challenge we must conquer.
  

• There is more interest than ever in people wanting to start their own business or be an important part of a small or mid-sized business. The large companies have disavowed the adage that loyalty pays off, as they continue to buy and sell their competitors and lay off massive amounts of individuals who, by the way, were most likely not the cause of the poor financial results.
  

• Survey’s reveal that 50% of us do not feel we have a productive working relationship with our boss. That is scary. If we want to be successful, to advance, we have to fix that. We can’t complain, we can’t grouse. We’re on the same team. Talk it out! Be receptive, not right!
  
• Again, thank you for your participation!
  

And now to today’s posting!

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Our Soft Skills Make a Difference! They Are Critically Important!

In today’s competitive business world, we can assume that most of our colleagues and competitors are intelligent, knowledgeable and hard working. These are almost “givens”. So how do we stand out and advance in our careers as well as help grow our business with new clients?

By using our “soft” skills.

Sure we have to work hard, maybe very hard, and certainly our work has to be very good. But that’s just the “price of admission”. Here are examples of the behaviors and qualities that make us attractive candidates to advance, a highly effective leader with whom a potential client would like to work.

• Easy to work with
• Receptive
• Encouraging
• Polite
• A great teammate
• Has a ready smile
• Asks others for their ideas, what they think
• Listens to learn
• Helps other do good work and succeed
• A source of positive energy
• Cool under pressure, maybe having quiet confidence
• Has genuine caring about others
• Is a giver, not a taker
• Allows his or herself to be vulnerable
• Has a firm handshake
• Makes comfortable eye contact
• Congratulates others for their good work and successes
• Remembers names
• Arrives early
• Hand writes thank you notes

Some of us, under stress, do not show or use our soft skills, and some of us are introverted and these behaviors do not come naturally. We must be aware of the value of these behaviors and be ready to come out of our comfort zone and practice.

To achieve the success we want and to become the leader we aspire to be consistent mastery of soft skills is a must. I know, no surprises here. It’s all common sense!