Soft Skills: What They Are And How They Are Learned

In the soft skills drawer we find a combination of social skills, communication, way of being and approach to others, among others. In this sense, soft skills make a specific person able to relate and communicate in a more or less intelligent way. It is, therefore, a component that is highly appreciated today, since it enables the proper functioning of institutions and work teams.

Following this idea, there are many companies in the world that set their eyes on professionals who have been able to develop their soft skills in parallel with their studies. This makes them much more interesting candidates for any work team: thanks to these skills, they are expected to have a good aptitude for communication and empathy.

The importance of soft skills in the professional environment

Currently, most companies have started to consider other characteristics in the workers they seek, beyond their training or experience. We talk about  social, communication and teamwork skills. These factors can be decisive in a selection process, determining the choice of one or another candidate.

This is where soft skills come into play, which will allow us to show ourselves as very interesting candidates for a certain position in a job interview. If you work and develop them, you will have a lot of ground gained from the rest of the candidates.

Most valued soft skills in the workplace

In addition to academic preparation, these are some of the most valued soft skills in the selection processes for a job:

• Autonomy.
• Leadership.
• Coherence.
• Integrity.
• Attention and listening skills.
• Self-regulation.
• Interest.
• Curiosity.
• Authenticity.
• Personal and social responsibility.
• Reflection capacity.
• Proactivity.
• Passion.
• Intrinsic motivation.
• Divergent logic.
• Modesty.
• Continuous learning.
• Empathy.
• Synthesis and argumentation capacity.
• Time management.
• Confidence.

How to develop soft skills?

The soft skills learning process, or its development, goes through four phases:

Unconscious incompetence phase

In the first place, the soft skills development process begins with a phase in which we are unaware that these competencies exist and how we perform in them. They mediate many of the results we get, but we don’t care about them, because we don’t identify them as important.

Conscious incompetence phase

The second step begins when we realize that we do not have any skills. At this stage we make the decision to continue with the learning and the first problems begin to emerge. Therefore, this stage will demand all our conscious attention.

Conscious competition phase

This third phase of the development of our soft skills will be in which we begin to be aware that we are learning. As we gain competence, we can gain confidence in ourselves and build on that ability more and more.

Unconscious competition phase

Finally, we come to the phase of unconscious competition. This moment is reached when the skill in question has become so integrated into us that it has become part of our personal stamp, permeating our manifestations and making them better in terms of adaptation to the environment.

When competition is incorporated into the unconscious, its application arises practically instinctively, almost without thinking. In fact, others may come to think that it is an innate ability.

Ultimately, like many other skills, our performance with them improves with practice. On a day-to-day basis, theoretical and academic knowledge is not enough, but we need to put what we know into practice, especially when it comes to social skills.

Finally, let’s not forget that the improvements we achieve are no more – or less – than the result of a learning process. Perhaps genetics in this sense would give us better or worse wickers, but we are the ones who have the mission to develop them and make our own basket of soft skills.