Have you ever worked with someone who just seemed to have that "it" factor? That natural ability to navigate complex situations with ease, work effectively in a team, and communicate with empathy and clarity? Chances are, what you were witnessing was the power of soft skills.

Hard skills may be why you hired them, but soft skills are why you keep them. A team that is made up of individuals who possess strong soft skills — such as active listening, adaptability, and relatability — is more likely to work well together, achieve goals, and foster a positive and productive work culture.

Who wouldn’t want to hire someone who communicates like a pro, collaborates like a superstar, leads like a boss, and solves problems like a ninja? In this article, we're going to dive deep into the world of soft skills, exploring what they are, why they're important, and how to assess them in potential new hires. So, if you're ready to take your business to the next level and create a team that truly shines, it's time to start cultivating and prioritizing soft skills. This guide is packed with practical tips and insights to help you harness the power of soft skills and take your business to new heights.

Gain a comprehensive understanding of soft skills.

Simply put, they're the non-technical attributes that enable individuals to work effectively with others, communicate clearly, and adapt to different situations. They're the icing on the cake and the cherry on top that takes a candidate from good to great. We are referring to articulation proficiency, social adeptness, managerial expertise, conflict resolution, time organization, pliability, versatility, and teamwork.

Effective communication is crucial in any workplace, and employees with excellent communication skills can articulate their ideas and opinions clearly, listen actively, and build relationships with colleagues and clients. But what about interpersonal skills? These are the qualities that enable individuals to work effectively with others, such as empathy, patience, and emotional intelligence. A team with strong interpersonal skills is more likely to collaborate effectively, handle conflicts professionally, and achieve greater success.

Leadership skills are also essential in any organization. An individual with these talents can inspire and motivate their team, set clear goals and expectations, and lead by example. They're able to delegate effectively, provide feedback, and empower their team to achieve success. And let's not forget about problem-solving. Employees with this skill can identify the root cause of the problem, develop effective solutions, and implement them with precision and accuracy.

Time management is another critical soft skill. Employees who can manage their time effectively can prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and achieve their goals. They multitask without sacrificing quality, and they're able to work efficiently and effectively under pressure. Flexibility and adaptability are also essential in today's rapidly changing business environment. Employees who can adapt to new situations, learn quickly, and adjust their approach are more likely to succeed in the long run.

But it's not just about the individual; collaboration is also essential in any organization. Teams that collaborate effectively are more likely to achieve success, develop innovative solutions, and achieve better outcomes. Collaboration requires strong communication skills, empathy, and the ability to work well with others.

Uncover, discover and assess their soft skills.

Assessing soft skills in potential hires can be a challenge since they are not always easily quantifiable. So, how can you evaluate a candidate's soft skills effectively?

5 tips to soft skills discovery

1. Review resumes and cover letters for any indications of soft skills such as communication, teamwork, or problem-solving.
2. Ask behavioral interview questions that require candidates to provide specific examples of times they have demonstrated certain soft skills.
3. Check references and ask former employers or colleagues about the candidate's soft skills.
4. Observe how candidates interact with others during the interview process, paying attention to their communication style, body language, and overall demeanor.
5. Conduct a pre-employment personality assessment that measures soft skills, such as assertiveness, communication style, flexibility, and decisiveness.

A personality assessment can provide insights into a candidate's communication style, work style, and leadership potential. With behavioral assessments, you can gain valuable insights into a candidate’s proficiency in solving problems as well as adjusting to changing circumstances.

But it's important to remember that soft skills aren't static — they can be developed and improved over time but assessing them early on can help provide you with valuable next steps.

Soft skills don’t stop after you hire them.

Remember that soft skills aren't just important for new hires — they're essential for employees at all levels of the organization. Even managers and executives can benefit from developing their soft skills, such as empathy, communication, and collaboration. By modeling these skills, leaders can inspire their employees to do the same and create a culture of success and teamwork.

Employers can invest in the soft skills of current employees through training and development programs, coaching, and mentorship. By investing in the soft skills of employees, employers can create a more positive work environment, boost morale, and improve team dynamics. Plus, employees with excellent soft skills are more likely to be promoted and become leaders within the organization, leading to long-term success.

To foster the development of soft skills you need to lead by example. Managers and leaders who demonstrate strong soft skills are more likely to inspire their employees to do the same. By providing positive feedback, recognizing accomplishments, and creating a supportive work environment, managers can encourage employees to develop their soft skills and strive for excellence.

In addition, employers can encourage collaboration and teamwork by providing opportunities for employees to work on cross-functional projects or participate in team-building activities. Soft skills can also improve job satisfaction, employee retention, and overall happiness in the workplace. Employees who feel valued, respected, and supported are more likely to be engaged and committed to their work.

In conclusion, if hard skills are the engine of a workplace, then soft skills are the oil that keeps everything running smoothly. So, if you want your workplace to be a well-oiled machine, it's important to invest in those soft skills. They are essential in any workplace, and employers who prioritize them are more likely to create a positive work environment, boost morale, and achieve long-term success. Whether you're hiring new employees or wanting to develop your existing team, it's important to focus on soft skills like communication, interpersonal skills, leadership, problem-solving, time management, flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration. By doing so, you can create a culture of collaboration, innovation, and success that benefits both employees and the organization as a whole.

Other popular blog posts to read:

Enhance Workplace Effectiveness through Behavioral Assessments
Addressing Conflict to Build Team Unity
Ready, Set, Grow! 5 Steps for Cultivating Talent in Your Organization
How a Growth Mindset Can Help Your Company Flourish and 3 Ways to Get Growing!

Whether you’re striving to succeed as a leader, a long-term individual contributor, or are just beginning your career, you want to succeed. Whether you’ve completed formal education at a university, technical school, or earned certifications, the truth remains formal education has its limits. Hard skills are essential, but they’re not all you need to succeed.

While education is one aspect employers look at, it’s not the only thing. In fact, the best employers take a holistic view of each applicant's strengths and challenge areas. They look for cultural fit, ease of training, and other elements that show this person will be a good fit in the job and company.

SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) published a survey in May 2020 titled “Leaders and Employees Need Soft Skills Now More than Ever”. In it, 97% of employers surveyed said that soft skills were either as important or more important than hard skills.

Schools often focus more on hard, measurable skills. Soft skills are difficult to measure, grade, and give certifications to prove exceptionalism. Certainly, you practice soft skills at school, but to be truly successful you need to hone them like you do hard skills.

Let’s discuss what soft skills are and why they matter in the workplace.

What are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are non-technical skills that relate to how you work. They include how you engage and interact with your colleagues, how you solve problems, and how you manage your work. We’ve covered specific soft skills before in one of our most popular blogs. Here’s another list of what employers value when it comes to soft skills. These include (but aren’t limited to) adaptability, communication, integrity, teamwork, and leadership.

Adaptability

Adaptability is defined as being able to rapidly learn new skills and behaviors in response to changing circumstances. In the world of work, things change constantly. You can’t be successful and valuable to your organization if you aren’t adaptable. Someone demonstrating adaptability in the workplace is flexible and can respond effectively to their working conditions — even if things don't go as planned.  You’ve mastered this soft skill if you can see change on the horizon and be proactive in recommending how you get in front of it. On the contrary, if you’re someone who constantly digs in and resists change, you’re not only not helping, you could be part of the problem.

Communication

Employers look for applicants with superior written and verbal communication skills for almost every job. How many times have you said or written something to someone that they understood differently from your meaning? This happens all the time. The best employers need leaders on every level that can exercise care in their ability to listen and respond to customers and coworkers.

The soft skill of communication goes beyond effective verbal and writing skills. Communication breakdown is the root of almost all conflicts – and work team conflicts have a huge impact on workforce productivity. The most effective communicators are great listeners. They listen with the intent to understand. They also know how to adjust their style to match the preferred communication style of their listener. If you want to know more about your personal communication strengths, and where you may have some blind spots, the Omnia Professional Development report provides valuable insight.

Integrity

Schools rely on a student’s integrity when it comes to independent work, honesty in test-taking, and creating authentic projects. But is it taught and developed? Sadly, no. Is it critical in today’s work environment? Absolutely. It’s the cornerstone of an organization’s brand and reputation and can make or break a company’s long-term viability.

Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral, ethical principles and values. At work, it means keeping your promises, generating trust with clients and colleagues, and taking pride in doing good work.

Teamwork

Hiring managers look for job candidates who can work well with others. Whether you will be doing a lot of team projects or simply attending a few departmental meetings, you need to be able to work effectively with the people around you even if you do not always agree them.

Some skills related to teamwork include the ability to negotiate with others, and to recognize and appreciate diversity in a team. Another related skill is accepting and applying feedback.

Leadership

While not every job opening is a leadership role, most employers want to know that you have the ability to make decisions when push comes to shove and can manage situations and people. The ability to step up to the plate in a tricky situation and help resolve it is something employers look for in prospective employees. Other leadership skills include the ability to resolve problems and conflicts between people and to make executive decisions.

Why are Soft Skills Important?

Hiring managers search for candidates with strong soft skills because they are important to everyone’s success in the workplace.

Let’s do a quick exercise. Think of the people you've been paired up within school or at work.

Person 1: Excellent technical skills; proficient in a specific job; doesn’t work well with others.

Person 2: Competent technical skills; adequate in a specific job; personable and friendly with colleagues and clients alike.

You probably have a few examples of each. Which person would you prefer to work with? In most cases, we’d all select Person 2. Certainly, there are instances when an expert is needed and it’s always nice to have access to them, but if you can’t communicate your needs to Person 1 how beneficial is that access?

We can take another example from the SHRM article “The Hard Facts About Soft Skills”.

“Imagine an organization where leaders approach questions and concerns and mistakes with empathy and understanding,” Kristina Johnson, chief people officer for Okta Inc., says. “Then consider a workplace that’s aggressive and blame-focused, where employees are afraid to make mistakes and too embarrassed to ask questions. As you can imagine, employees will stick around at one of those organizations much longer than the other.”

Hard skills versus soft skills aren’t a popularity contest, though it’s often easier to work with someone who has at least decent people skills. No one wants to make their work or life harder than necessary.

Bonus, soft skills are transferable skills that can be used regardless of the specific job. Adaptable employees are a valuable asset to any company as their goal is to grow and change, not stagnate. Understanding and improving upon your soft skills will make you a valuable asset and add to your success potential.

Successful Soft Skills Development

Suppose you aren't strong in all of these skills. That’s ok, it’s never too late to develop them. Understanding where you excel and where you can improve is helpful. If you find areas for improvement and have an interest in strengthening them, you are in a great position.

To find out which soft skills are most needed in an organization, look no further than your most successful colleagues. See if there are certain traits that allow them to prosper in your workplace.

For example, you can learn a lot by seeing other people within a company who excel in these five areas. Also, offering to take on more responsibilities at work (serving on committees, planning events, leading projects, etc.) can help you gain valuable experience. If possible, consider taking online soft-skills courses. Developing soft skills will make you a more valuable employee and boost your chances of career success.

Employee assessments can also reveal areas where improvements could be made, making it easier to put together a development plan to address those needs. If your organization isn’t already using assessments, it may be worth mentioning in conjunction with development and retention efforts. People often focus on technical skills or competencies when planning their development but neglecting soft skills can make it difficult to succeed in future positions that require a high degree of emotional intelligence and social interaction.

Speak to the Author!

Have an article-specific question or want to continue the conversation? Now you can! Contact the author directly through the short form below and Keather Snyder will respond to your query. If you have a more general question please use our chat function, call 800.525.7117, or visit our contact us page and we'll have a subject matter expert answer your questions.

You may be a computer whiz, a scientific genius, or a master of mathematical theories.  However, to be successful, you need more than just expertise in your given specialty. In fact, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employees (NACE), when participating employers were asked to name the attributes they seek in candidates, they gave their highest scores to the following three traits:

• Written Communication Skills (82%)
• Problem Solving Skills (80.9%)
• Ability to Work in a Team (78.7%)

Interestingly, technical skills (59.6%) and computer skills (55.1%), often considered among the most important skills an applicant can possess in today’s high-tech job market, ranked quite low by comparison. The results clarify that employers are paying much closer attention to soft skills in the workplace than they did in years past. In response to the demand for employees who also possess emotional intelligence, some postsecondary schools incorporate soft skills in scientific and technical specialties. For example, Penn State’s Engineering Department offers a career development class for junior and senior engineering students, including team-building skills, communication skills, and leadership strategies.

What are Soft Skills and Why are They Important?

Soft skills are broadly classified as a combination of personality traits, behaviors, and social attitudes that allow people to communicate effectively, collaborate, and successfully manage conflict. People with good soft skills tend to have strong situational awareness and emotional intelligence to navigate difficult working environments while still producing positive results. This is especially important for leadership positions because good leadership is more about managing people and directing their efforts toward the desired outcome rather than bringing any specific technical skills to bear.

Another benefit of soft skills in the workplace is that they help people to adapt to changing circumstances. Being able to communicate effectively during a time of uncertainty or collaborate with others when solutions aren’t immediately obvious is hugely important whether someone is in a leadership position or not. Given their many applications, it’s hardly surprising that organizations are doing more to assess a candidate’s soft skills during the interview process.

Also Popular: 10 Interview Questions to identify soft skills

The 7 Soft Skills You Need in Today’s Workforce

1. Leadership Skills

Companies want employees who can supervise and direct other workers. They want employees who can cultivate relationships up, down, and across the organizational chain. Leaders must assess, motivate, encourage, and discipline workers and build teams, resolve conflicts, and cultivate the organization’s desired culture. Understanding how to influence people and accommodate their needs is an essential element of leadership. All too many companies overlook when they place someone with the most technical expertise in a position of authority. Soft skills development is often a key component of leadership training.

2. Teamwork

Most employees are part of a team/department/division, and even those who are not on an official team need to collaborate with other employees. You may prefer to work alone, but it’s important to demonstrate that you understand and appreciate the value of joining forces and working in partnership with others to accomplish the company’s goals. This shows that you possess the soft skills necessary to engage in productive collaboration.

3. Communication Skills

Successful communication involves five components. Verbal communication refers to your ability to speak clearly and concisely. Nonverbal communication includes the capacity to project positive body language and facial expressions.  Written communication refers to your skillfulness in composing text messages, reports, and other types of documents. Visual communication involves your ability to relay information using pictures and other visual aids. Active listening should also be considered a key communication soft skill because it helps you listen to and actually hear what others say. You need to be able to listen to understand how to best communicate with someone. Without strong listening skills, any communication efforts will be one-way and probably ineffective.

4. Problem-Solving Skills 

Many applicants try to minimize problems because they don’t understand that companies hire employees to solve problems. Glitches, bumps in the road, and stumbling blocks are all part of the job and represent learning opportunities. The ability to use your knowledge to find answers to pressing problems and formulate workable solutions will demonstrate that you can handle – and excel in – your job. Discussing mistakes and what you learned from them is an important part of building a soft skills resume.

5. Work Ethic 

While you may have a manager, companies don’t like to spend time micromanaging employees. They expect you to be responsible and do the job you’re getting paid to do, which includes being punctual when you arrive at work, meeting deadlines, and making sure that your work is error-free. And going the extra mile shows that you’re committed to performing your work with excellence. 

6. Flexibility/Adaptability

In the 21st century, companies need to make rapid (and sometimes drastic) changes to remain competitive. So they want workers who can also shift gears or change direction as needed. As organizations have become less hierarchical and agile over the last decade, it’s more important than ever for employees to be able to handle many different tasks and demonstrate a willingness to take on responsibilities that might lay outside their area of expertise. 

7. Interpersonal Skills

This is a broad category of “people skills” and includes building and maintaining relationships, developing rapport, and using diplomacy. It also includes giving and receiving constructive criticism, being tolerant and respectful regarding others' opinions, empathizing with them. This is among the most important of all the soft skills examples because it is central to building teams with a strong foundation of trust and accountability.

Ready? Try a Complimentary Assessment

Successful Soft Skills Development

But suppose you don’t have these skills? It’s never too late to develop them. For example, you can learn a lot by observing other people within a company who excel in these seven areas. Also, offering to take on more responsibilities at work (serving on committees, planning events, etc.) can help you gain valuable experience. Also, consider taking online soft-skills courses. Developing emotional intelligence will make you a more valuable employee and increase your chances of career success.

Employee assessments can also reveal areas where improvements could be made, making it easier to put together a development plan to address those needs. People often focus specifically on technical skills or competencies when planning their development, but neglecting soft skills can make it difficult to succeed in future positions that require a high degree of emotional intelligence and social interaction (in other words, just about any leadership position).

 

Other popular blogs:

Enhance Workplace Effectiveness through Behavioral Assessments
Addressing Conflict to Build Team Unity
Ready, Set, Grow! 5 Steps for Cultivating Talent in Your Organization
How a Growth Mindset Can Help Your Company Flourish and 3 Ways to Get Growing!

An employee’s soft skills can make or break their job performance, especially in leadership positions. Technical or “hard” skills are certainly important, but having good soft skills—those personal characteristics like agreeableness, empathy, the ability to influence and listen, likeability, and the ability to resolve conflict—will determine whether an employee can enlist the necessary cooperation and buy-in from peers, subordinates, superiors, and even clients and vendors, to do their job well.

Identifying Key Soft Skills in the Hiring Process

So, how can you identify a candidate’s soft communication skills? Unfortunately, someone with poor or underdeveloped soft skills can harness enough superficial charm to convince a hiring manager they possess these attributes in spades. But being able to put on an act in a short interview isn’t the same as using soft skills in the workplace. In these cases, the manager might not see the truth until it’s too late.

According to Forbes, these are a few of the key soft skills all employers want workers to possess:

• Empathy
• Ability to influence peers
• Curiosity and Positivity
• Humility

Apart from the right experience and qualifications, employers want workers with good soft communication skills, the ability to work well in a team, good problem-solving skills, good time management and planning skills, the ability to take criticism, and a strong work ethic. Anyone being considered for a people (versus project) management position should also possess coaching, mentoring, and influencing skills.

Asking the Right Soft Skill Interview Questions

When we consider that resumes are usually reviewed for technical skills, correctly discerning your candidate’s soft skills sounds nearly impossible. After all, 45-90 minutes (the length of the average job interview) is not a lot of time to gain real insight into a person’s true character. 

Here then, are ten soft skills interview questions to help you make the most of your time (and the candidate’s) and focus on key soft skills in the workplace.

1. Tell me about the last time you had to learn a new task. How did you go about learning it and what, if any, tools did you employ?

This question will provide some insight into the candidate’s learning agility and sense of curiosity. It may also reveal their preferred learning style and resourcefulness when seeking assistance from others.

2. Tell me about the last time a manager rejected one of your ideas. How did you react to his/her feedback? 

Rejection is often an exercise in humility. Listen carefully for signs of resentment or hostility when they recount having their ideas shot down or criticized. It’s also important to see how they handle the aftermath of this situation. Did they become sullen and critical, or did they buy-in and contribute to a positive outcome?

3. Tell me about the last time you had to stay late at work. Was that unusual for you? 

While this may seem like a straightforward question about work ethic (and it is), it also offers a glimpse of the candidate’s time management skills. Are they constantly working late to go above and beyond expectations, or do they need to put extra work to meet them?

4. What tools do you use to keep yourself organized? 

There is no excuse for disorganization in today’s era of time management tools and applications. Leadership candidates need to know how they keep themselves on track because those habits will often trickle down to the rest of their team.

5. I see from your resume that you were the lead on the XYZ project. What was your greatest challenge as a leader? 

This question looks at time management and planning skills and provides insight into the interviewee’s emotional intelligence, learning agility, coaching skills, and ability to build consensus and manage conflict.

6. Tell me about the last project you worked on where you were made to understand you could not fail. What steps did you take to ensure success? 

As they emerge, handling problems is one thing, but laying out a strategic and visionary plan for success from the start is quite another. This question forces candidates to consider whether they have the ability to translate big picture goals into short-term objectives and get their team on-board with a “can’t fail” agenda.

7. Tell me about your biggest work failure. What did you learn? 

The most successful leaders are always learning. Resilience is among the key soft skills that organizations want leaders to trickle down into their teams. Finding out how people respond to setbacks is a good indication of whether or not they will bounce back from disappointments and frustrations in the future.

8. Tell me about the last time you were asked to do something that violated your personal code of ethics. 

Integrity matters in any organization. Will the candidate go along with the crowd when asked to cross a line, or will they take a stand and make the case for doing the right thing? While the latter type of employee may spark the occasional conflict, those conversations almost always benefit the organization in the long run by steering it clear of ethically dubious decisions.

9. Have you ever had to fire someone? Why? 

Dismissing an employee is difficult, even if the person is being let go for justifiable (and documented) cause. The potential for conflict is high, and if mishandled, the situation could expose the company to liability. Leaders with good soft skills should have an idea of how to handle those conversations.

10. How do you stay on top of developments/trends in your field? 

The best employees and leaders are always learning. Ideally, their desire to learn should be contagious, encouraging the people around them to level up professionally and grow personally. There should also be an incentive for leaders or managers to learn new things to pass on to the rest of their team.

Ready? Try a Complimentary Assessment

Keep in mind that as the candidate is answering the questions, you’ll get the opportunity to assess his or her communication skills and style. While your gut reaction is rarely a perfect judge, you should be able to see if the candidate can communicate comfortably and effectively. For a deeper understanding, you should consider using soft skills assessment tools during the interview process. These tests provide information in a more controlled environment, which helps you assess their soft communication skills without the potential bias that comes with an in-person interview.

Soft skills development should be a major component of every employee development plan. The ability to communicate effectively and build strong working relationships is incredibly important for success in any organization. While it’s important to target candidates who possess key soft skills during the hiring process, developing those skills will help make them even more successful in the future.

Other popular blogs:

Enhance Workplace Effectiveness through Behavioral Assessments
Addressing Conflict to Build Team Unity
Ready, Set, Grow! 5 Steps for Cultivating Talent in Your Organization
How a Growth Mindset Can Help Your Company Flourish and 3 Ways to Get Growing!

It’s becoming quite common for employers to look beyond the specific job qualifications or the technical expertise of an individual applying for work. These hard skills are critical as to whether or not a person can do the job…but there’s more.

The second kind of skill set that companies are seeking is what is referred to as soft skills. These are the people skills, personal attributes, also known as interpersonal skills. Most positions require some interaction with fellow employees, vendors, or clients, and employees need to be able to interface and…well…basically get along with people.

Here are some results from a recent poll conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. Two-thirds of the companies trying to hire full-time employees find it difficult to find the right skills in both categories. The hard skills required are more obvious. I want to discuss the soft skills. What are they, and why are they so important?

“The hard truth about soft skills - they can make or break your career.” - Peggy Klaus, Business Coach and Author

Regarding these skills, this same report goes on to say, “HR professionals continue to report gaps in basic knowledge and skills in job applicants.” Following are the percentages of respondents that found these skills lacking in their candidates:

Critical thinking/problem solving	53%		Professionalism/work ethic	46%
Written communication	41%		Leadership	36%
Basic knowledge of writing in English	55%		Mathematics	38%
Reading comprehension	31%

In another informal poll conducted by Amdur Coaching and Advisory Group LLC, they found that 90% of those recruiting new hires said their greatest gaps came from communication skills and teamwork.

Why are these soft skills so important? Why should organizations put so much emphasis on them? If you think about the various jobs in the world today, their importance becomes quite clear. Almost all jobs have some interaction with other people. There may be a few jobs with no connection with the outside world, but those are rare.

Doctors learn a highly technical discipline or set of hard skills so they can practice medicine. But their patients are people, so their soft skills are still important. How many times have you heard of people changing doctors because of poor bedside manner? If you’re treated like a number and rushed through the office like cattle in a cattle car with no opportunity to ask questions or learn more about your ailment, you will not be a happy camper and may decide to change doctors. Another example of soft skill importance is calling a service center. How many times are you tempted to scream at the phone and hang up because the person on the other end of the phone is not listening to you, nor can they appropriately communicate with you about your issue? The person on the other end may be highly skilled in his field, but if he cannot work with people and get them to understand, then it’s wasted time and effort on both sides, and the customer is unhappy.

For the next example, let’s move inside the company. There are always interactions between departments or coworkers.  If the communications are stifled because the players cannot agree, then work is stopped, and the bottom line can suffer. Case in point…even though I didn’t have a high level of technical expertise in one of my jobs, I was literally hired into it because of my negotiation skills and ability to get the different segments to work together. This was my strength, and my boss recognized it and took advantage of it.

Many soft skills can impact an employee's performance and their ability to succeed in the workplace. I’ve already mentioned a few of the most important ones.

Here are some other significant soft skills that you may not think of: 

• Planning and organization
• Presentation skills
• Self-discipline
• Attitude
• Networking capability
• Priority setting
• Ability to accept and learn from criticism
• Listening
• Punctuality
• Creativity
• Integrity
• Personal habits
• Body language
• Empathy
• Trust
• Respect
• Dependability
• Conflict resolution
• Negotiation
• Time management
• Self-confidence
• Flexibility
• Motivation
• Decision making
• Awareness of surroundings
• Ability to accept change
• Politeness

…And the list goes on, but you get the idea. Some of these are more obvious than others, but they all impact the employee’s ability to survive in the workplace and its success.

If you are uncertain about analyzing an employee’s or your own soft skills or want to understand it better, try using Omnia® Behavioral Assessments and specifically the Omnia® Selection Profile. These products will give you the right questions to ask and help you analyze the results.  Having employees with strong, soft skills is a must in the business world today.