Soft skills, which are literally translated as "soft skills" (it's pretty, isn't it?), today represent the holy grail of HR, business leaders and any candidate looking for a job. or professional development.
Also called behavioral skills, soft skills designate all of our human skills applied to the professional environment: empathy, creativity or stress management to name a few.
Skills that are becoming increasingly important as working methods (digitalization, automation, telecommuting) evolve. Want to know more and identify your own room for improvement? Do you have the most in-demand soft skills in 2022? And if not, how?
Follow the guide, gently!
Soft skills, what are they?
A short definition of soft skills
Soft skills, or soft skills, were first defined in opposition to hard skills, or hard skills. Hard skills designate all the knowledge that is acquired regardless of the character or behavior of the person: academic training and technical knowledge in general.
Soft skills, on the other hand, relate to interpersonal skills and good manners, to what makes such an individual a good communicator, a good team leader, a creative person... This is why they are called behavioral skills or transverse. They can be mobilized regardless of the position or profession concerned.
Contrary to popular belief, soft skills can be acquired through appropriate support and practiced on a daily basis, exactly like a sporting exercise!
Why are soft skills fundamental?
Gone are the days of absolute academic supremacy. If the quality of the training retains a real importance, soft skills tend to take more and more place in the attractiveness of a profile. Until it becomes a highly strategic value.
Why ?
Quite simply because our way of working is changing – and changing very quickly! However, a successful adaptation to a change of profession, sector, technology or career can only be done thanks to our soft skills, precisely. More collaborative, more participative, work is now also done remotely, mobilizing all the more our behavioral skills and our ability to maintain a link.
A study conducted by Michael Page in partnership with Cadre Emploi reveals that:
84% of managers pay attention to the notion of soft skills
54% of them mobilize their soft skills as much as their hard skills, and 31% even more
70% believe their behavioral skills are underutilized
62% of executives and middle management executives are ready to recruit a candidate mainly on their soft skills, a percentage that rises to 72% in the marketing and digital sectors, which are very subject to technological transformations
All these figures show that the human factor is essential as THE lever for business success and change management, especially in a crisis situation such as that generated by Covid-19. No flexibility without resilience, emotional intelligence or team spirit!
Soft skills appear to be such a strategic resource that "reskilling" or "upskilling" (i.e. increasing the skills of employees through training or professional coaching) are considered to be one of the most important investments. more profitable for a company. According to a study carried out by McKinsey, 82% of managers of companies with a turnover of more than 100 million dollars consider that the “reskilling” of employees is the best solution to compensate for lack of key skills in certain areas.
The human factor, finally!, stands out as the key to the competitiveness of companies and their ability to adapt to crises and changes. And therefore deserves all possible investments.
How to develop soft skills?
Soft skills, innate or acquired?
Acquired!
Some people are said to be particularly empathetic, resilient or creative, and have been since childhood and outside the professional setting. Certainly. But all soft skills can be acquired, worked on and developed in the context of work, in a targeted and coordinated way with the needs of the company. Soft skills are thus an integral part of professional training objectives and have become essential when it comes to success at work.
Learning how to work and manage remotely? Soft-skills!
Stress management, change management? Soft-skills!
Professional development and fulfillment, well-being at work? Soft-skills!
So how do we do it?
Business coaching, the first soft skills accelerator
It is always useful to read, watch, listen to testimonials or essays on the subject. However, more than any other learning, the development of soft skills requires personalized support, taking into account who you are and defining the way you train on a daily basis in practice. This support is the one offered by business coaching.
Why ?
First of all, because in-company coaching is carried out and financed at the initiative of the employer. This will offer you targeted support based on your development within this company. A rewarding investment that generates motivation and professional fulfillment!
Then because business coaching is personalized, tailor-made support. We will not apply a ready-made method to you; it is the method that will adapt to who you are.
Finally, because business coaching uses tools that are recognized and particularly effective in reskilling issues, like the famous GROW method, to name just one.
3. What are the top soft skills in 2021?
The 10 top soft skills to develop as a priority
As you might expect, most are interrelated. At work !
1. Resilience
A key skill in any period of crisis or major change, resilience defines our ability to absorb shock, learn useful lessons and move forward.
If IQ is the measure of hard skills version of performance, emotional intelligence could be that of soft skills. It indicates our ability to understand, control and use our emotions in a constructive way.
3. Solving complex problems
Particularly useful in business, this skill means the ability to analyze a situation, to imagine one (or more!) creative solution and to make decisions accordingly.
4. Creativity
It is difficult to ignore this queen provision in our era marked by innovations, the lab spirit, start-up and disruption!
5. Assertiveness
Less known, assertiveness is nevertheless a high-end skill. It consists in knowing how to express and defend one's point of view without hurting that of others. A whole art, to be completed by that of negotiation.
Do not let yourself be overwhelmed, know how to take a step back, have self-confidence… Effective stress management would avoid many problems of overwork and burn-out in the workplace.
Fundamental even when everything is accelerating, time management measures our ability to prioritize, prioritize and contributes to a good overall management of the above stress.
8. Conflict management
A magical tool, the ability to manage conflicts can be a productive medium that generates creativity instead of weighing down an entire team.
9. Empathy
Indispensable to other skills such as conflict management and assertiveness, empathy, or the art of putting oneself in the place of others, helps to defuse tensions and misunderstandings. Also on condition that you know how to protect yourself
10. The sense of the collective
Collaborative work, telecommuting... Team spirit and a sense of community are more necessary than ever in a professional environment in search of meaning and marked by distance.
Leaders and key people: the 3 soft skills that are on the rise!
More specific, these 3 soft skills will be particularly useful to the leaders of tomorrow.
1. Remote management
Highlighted by the health crisis, remote management requires behavioral skills essential to any company, today and tomorrow.
2. Leadership
Leading, guiding, leading a team can be learned. A skill that has become all the more essential with the generalization of telework
3. Kindness
The culmination of soft skills!
As Harvard Business Magazine analyzes in an article entitled "Successful leadership is an act of kindness", kindness and caring for others is becoming THE skill that will make the difference in engaging employees and realizing ambitions. of the company. Good news, being kind… can be learned!
