What Are The Best 7 Soft Skills to Succeed in the Workplace in 2022?

Many believe that the best way to succeed in the workplace is by doing your job well. But what does doing your job well even mean?

It means being a skilled individual. And I think it's a mix of both hard and soft skills.

I would argue that soft skills are more important if you want to make yourself more marketable.

You could be an expert in your field, but if you don't communicate your expertise, are unable to work with others, or people don't understand or like you, you won't succeed.

This article will dive into soft skills that will help you succeed in the workplace.

Let's look at what they are exactly.

What are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are defined as the non-technical skills related to how you work with others. For example, the ability to communicate effectively, work in diverse environments and maintain interpersonal relationships and a positive attitude.

Unlike hard or technical skills, they are highly applicable to any professional environment because you will work with others in any job, whether you are an employee or a business owner.

Soft skills in the workplace can improve a person's communication and collaboration with other people. These skills allow a person to successfully adapt to new situations and environments, which is critical to success.

Given how transferable and critical soft skills are, it should come as no surprise that employers are putting a greater emphasis on soft skills nowadays.

The best thing about soft skills is that anyone can learn them, and they may be even more important than technical skills.

What are the differences between soft and hard skills?

Hard skills are directly linked to an activity or a job, such as graphic design, project management, coding, construction, nursing, accounting, etc.

We can measure a person's ability so they are more quantifiable, teachable and easier to learn.

On the other hand, soft skills are not bound to specific jobs as they are transferable to any job. This is why they are also called transferable skills or interpersonal skills.

Examples include social skills, time management skills, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, creative thinking, etc.

Both types of skills should be in balance to get you through your work.

One should not go without the other. At the minimum, hard skills will help you perform your job; however, to stand out and achieve higher performance, additional soft skills qualities will go a long way.

For example, with technology being so prevalent in our lives, anyone needs technical IT skills.

Combine these technical skills with excellent communication skills, a team player and a customer-centric attitude, and you'll achieve more significant results than you would with just the technical skills.

This universal combination is one among many examples.

List of 7 essential soft skills employers value

Soft skills are essential in the workplace, and developing them will help you be a valuable employee.

With so much emphasis on technical abilities, it may not sound attractive to develop your soft skills, but they account for so much of your success or lack thereof.

Here is a list of 7 soft skills that can help you get ahead in your career.

Strong Communication Skills

The most important soft skill of them all.

Communication skills are a requirement for most jobs. Communication skills are so vital that they can make or break a career.

Your skills as an effective communicator can be seen by how you convey information to other people, whether through writing or speaking.

From customers to executives, bosses and colleagues, we all need to be able to connect with others through our interactions. 

To accomplish this, we need to develop effective communication skills.

Think of them as your people skills or interpersonal skills.

This includes a combination of both verbal, non-verbal, and written communication.

Verbal Communication Skills

These are your spoken words. Your ability to convey a clear message, express yourself effectively and be a good listener.

Non-verbal Communication Skills

This includes your gestures, posture, eye contact, and facial expressions. Your ability to control your emotions and communicate effectively through body language is vital to effective communication.

Written Communication Skills

This is your ability to write clearly and concisely. It's not just about spelling and grammar.

It's about getting your point across politely and effectively to colleagues and customers.

A poorly written email or letter can cost you a lot.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is about understanding how and why people feel and react to certain situations.

It's the ability to recognize emotions, understand what they are saying, and realize how they can affect your ability to communicate effectively and affect others around you.

The bottom line is: can you empathize with others?

Understanding what someone else is feeling and why they are feeling that way helps in communication and in building positive relationships. 

Those with high emotional intelligence are usually more successful in what they do. Because they work well with others, they tend to be good at helping or responding to others.

The five key elements of emotional intelligence are:

Empathy

Your ability to understand how others are feeling and how to respond to them appropriately.

Self-awareness

Your ability to understand your own emotions.

Self-regulation

Your ability to manage your own emotions when you are with others. It's about knowing when to express them. 

No one likes someone who constantly throws tantrums whenever they are unhappy with a decision at work.

Motivation

Your ability to take the initiative in pursuit of improvement and internal goals.

A motivated person will look at the bigger picture of what they do; as a result, they are action-oriented and committed to long-term success.

Social Skill

Your ability to build good relationships with others.

A person with strong social skills can make more meaningful connections, communicate and work well with others. This goes a long way because no one can achieve greatness by themselves.

Growth Mindset

It takes a certain attitude to succeed in the workplace.

A growth mindset is about thinking of yourself and your capabilities as something you can learn to improve.

With a growth mindset, one sees potential in failing to meet a goal as an opportunity to find areas of improvement.

If you encounter something that doesn't go your way, use it as an opportunity to learn something new. This will help you improve and move on.

That way, you will learn from your mistakes and be more prepared for the next time you face a similar situation.

With a growth mindset, failures and mistakes help you grow as a person.

Teamwork

Most of us will be part of a company's team, department, or division. And with that comes teamwork.

You'll have to work with others no matter your profession. You better get used to it.

It's critical to show that you understand and value the need for teamwork and collaboration to achieve its objectives.

After all, you cannot do everything alone, nor should you want to, especially in the workplace.

The quality and efficiency work improves when people can collaborate using their strengths and skills to get the job done.

Characteristics of an effective team player:

Active listening

Your ability to listen to the concerns, opinions and ideas of others.

Empathy

Your ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand their point of view. This will help you to build a trusting relationship.

Communication

Your ability to communicate effectively with your teammates.

Problem-solving

Your ability to look for solutions to problems you face.

Conflict resolution

Your ability to handle conflicts professionally.

Positive attitude

Your ability to be optimistic and look at things despite challenges instead of dwelling. Your attitude is critical when working with others.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after a setback. It is the ability to persevere through times of adversity and grow from them.

The workplace can be highly stressful, with constant demands and changes every day. 

To have resilience is to experience stress and setbacks but to still be able to tap into your strengths and resources to overcome them.

In this way, resilient people empower themselves and grow.

If you can learn to be resilient, you can adapt to and grow from any situation.

Openness to Feedback

Receiving constructive feedback is critical. No matter how hard it is to accept it.

If you take it personally, you won't be able to use the feedback to improve yourself.

People who give you feedback are trying to help you succeed so you can adjust your current strategy.

Ask for feedback from more people you work with; in this way, you will learn from their valuable experience and make it easier for you to receive it since you asked for it.

Ignoring constructive feedback is like ignoring your blind spot; eventually, you're bound to crash. Don't ignore it!

Leadership Skills

Leadership skills relate to steering and inspiring others to achieve the goals of the business, drive change, and deliver results. 

A leader has a combination of many soft skills, which are crucial in leading others.

As a whole, leaders have strong communication abilities, emotional intelligence, and the ability to build and maintain relationships.

They are team players who know how to listen, motivate, and work with others.

You should see the common theme among leaders: soft skills.

Hard skills alone will not help you become a great leader. 

To develop your leadership skills and improve your soft skills, you will become a better leader as a by-product.

What to bear in mind with soft skills

The biggest challenge with soft skills is that they tend to be highly personal. There are no objective measures to quantify your soft skills, so it's hard to know if you're developing them effectively. 

It usually comes from experience. Which, on the bright side, means that anyone can improve them!

Here are some ways to learn and improve them:

Practice

You can practice soft skills in the same way you practice technical skills.

Just try something on a daily basis, both in your personal life and professional life, until it becomes easier.

I see every interaction or problem as an opportunity to improve my soft skills.

It's an ongoing process that is present in your everyday life. People are not just born with excellent soft skills; they honed them throughout their life experiences.

Imitate

You don't have to come up with everything by yourself. It would be best if you instead learned from others.

Find someone you admire and carefully look at how they interact with others.

Think of what about them inspires you and imitate what you like about them the next time you are with others.

It may not feel natural at first; it may even feel cringy, but the more you do it, the better you will get. Before you know it, it will become second nature.

Read

Read books, articles and blog posts on communication, leadership, personal development and other soft skills. 

Connect and communicate

Always be connecting and communicating with others.

To understand and to be able to communicate well, you will need to do it repeatedly.

If you take advantage of opportunities to use your communication muscles, you will eventually become good at it.

See every interaction as an opportunity to hone those muscles and get the reps in!

Find online resources

Learn to develop your soft skills. There are limitless free resources on the internet ranging from books, videos, and courses to online classes.

Begin your soft skills development now

The soft skills you learn as you grow will stay with you throughout your career and help you thrive and achieve results.

While we tend to think of soft skills as something we are born with, they are learned and transferable anywhere.

So, if you want to build a successful career and have greater job satisfaction, then make sure to develop these 7 soft skills because they are just as important, if not more, as hard skills.

What is one soft skill you are working on currently?