Soft skill training has become more important now than ever. With the introduction of new technologies and innovation, the business landscape is seeing a skill shift.
The way work gets done is evolving rapidly, and in parallel, employers are no longer looking for the same capabilities from employees as they did years ago.
In fact, as we begin to be able to rely on machine learning and AI to manage manual and repetitive tasks, emotional intelligence and technological competence, just to name a couple, are becoming increasingly pivotal skill areas for employees to exhibit.
What's in this post?
- What Exactly are Soft Skills?
- The Growing Need for Soft Skills Training in an L&D Programme
- Building an Effective Workforce for Future Growth with Soft Skill Training
What Exactly are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are essential for the future of work, but they’re often overlooked due to their intangibility. Nonetheless, they are the building blocks for facilitating fluid and efficient communication within a workforce. In a business landscape where communication, relationships, and presenting your organization in a positive way to the public and potential employees is a priority, HR managers and employers recognize that soft skills are in fact irreplaceable and necessary.
So what are some of the key soft skills that employers look for?
What is Soft Skill Training?
Soft skills training focuses on the development of abilities and skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Soft skill training teaches you how to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to present a good and confident image. This leads to greater success in both personal and professional life.
Workplace Soft Skills:
- Interpersonal communication abilities
- Storytelling
- Time management is essential
- Organizational abilities
- Problem-solving skills
- Adaptability to change
- Resilience
- Being able to accept feedback for improvement
1. Emotional Intelligence in Soft Skill Training
Emotional intelligence for soft skill training is being identified in the Leadership and Organisational Behaviour literature as accounting for the success and failure of leadership. Despite only being introduced in the 1990s, studies on emotional intelligence have been picking up a lot of traction since, particularly in the fields of psychology, human resource, management, and consultancy.
It's been regularly used to assess how well we can manage our emotions as we interact with others, using the dimensions of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, hence the importance of it for soft skills training.
As a confirmed key component for effective leadership, those with high emotional intelligence competencies are able to identify, assess, predict, and essentially take control of their own emotions, as well as that of their team members.
2. Adaptability in Soft Skill Training
The business landscape is constantly evolving. New technologies are changing the way we work, and globalization is making new possibilities into reality, not to mention the last two years have been a clear reminder that adaptability may be an essential skill to have in the Covid-19 world.
HR managers are looking for open-minded workers who are able to shift gears and take on different responsibilities to match the needs of the volatile business environment. A team can quickly fall apart when the team members aren't able to manage uncertainty and adapt behaviors to other team-member needs.
Though adaptability is often regarded as a personality trait, Motulsky, an associate professor in the Division of Counseling and Psychology at Lesley University argues that adaptability, although some are already by nature, is indeed a trait that can be learned.
So next time you have a job interview, it may pay to consider the question "What's the most stressful situation you have handled, and what was the outcome?" - chances are high it's on your interviewer's mind.
3. Self-Motivation in Soft Skill Training
It's true - better motivation leads to better results.
Self-motivation, commonly called intrinsic motivation, refers to the stimulation that drives adopting or changing behavior for personal satisfaction or fulfillment. For instance, going to a gym session for the positive feeling of being active and building muscle would be considered intrinsic motivation - as opposed to going to the gym because someone would pay you for it.
In terms of work, intrinsic motivation within employees can be the difference between workers that take initiative and ownership of their work, set goals, and create steps accordingly, and employees that turn up to work, and go through tasks while waiting for the clock to hit 5.
But with everything, it's always easier said than done. Especially in times of crisis when managers are fixating on urgent corporate priorities, employees are often left with little room to think about their well-being, and lose their purpose - not just in the workplace, but also in life, leading to damaging effects like such as long-term stress.
So instead of luring employees to complete tasks through traditional, transactional methods (external motivation), HR managers are actively looking for intrinsically motivated employees. In turn, employees are looking for jobs where they are personally and emotionally invested and able to foster strong relationships with their team members.
The Growing Need for Soft Skill Training in an L&D Program
Recruiting for the right blend of soft skills takes a measured and strategic approach. It also requires an investment of time, patients, and often, gut instinct. That's why more and more organizations are investing their time and money into enhancing and developing their learning and development (L&D) strategies as today's skill shift accelerates.
In turn, organizations and HR managers are recognizing the need to adjust the way they train and develop their workforce, and essentially fine-tune the social and emotional abilities that machines cannot master.
Building an Effective Workforce for Future Growth with Soft Skill Training
Retorio, a start-up based in Munich, helps organizations around the globe take talent management to the next level by helping HR managers spot soft skills within candidates during the hiring process.
Through using machine learning, Retorio's AI-powered video interviews automate the pre-screening process, widening the talent funnel and helping to hire the traits and skills that matter - the soft skills.
So why are organizations around the world incorporating AI into their talent acquisition process?
Benefits of AI in talent acquisition:
| Data-based insights | Removes unconscious and conscious recruiter bias that can strongly influence the hiring decision. |
| The ability to test soft skills at scale | Recruiters will no longer overlook candidates and can screen candidates for their personality traits faster and more efficiently. |
| Convenient for both recruiters and candidates | Saves the recruiter's time and fills open positions faster. |
To learn more about soft skills assessment tests with AI recruiting software, read our article here.
Click the button below to see how Retorio can help you gain a better understanding of personality, and culture fit, and essentially help save costs by recruiting faster and smarter.
FAQ's
1. Why is Soft Skills Training Important?
Soft skills training helps trainees to become more successful and happy with their work, leading to increased production and decreased absence and turnover rates. For example, you could acquire new conflict resolution skills that will help you deal with conflicts, and handle them better to work more effectively with your coworkers.
Benefits of soft skill training:
- More effective communication
- Stronger leadership
- Improved problem solving
- Enhanced creative and critical thinking
- Improved teamwork, efficiency, and productivity
- Higher employee retention
- Improved customer service
- Better sales approach
2. How to Conduct Soft Skills Training
Soft Skills training opportunities are the most effective approach to upskill employees and assist them to build and improve their soft skills. You can begin to train soft skills to employees by following these three steps:
- Conduct a training gap analysis to identify soft skill gaps
- Select specific soft skills training topics required by our team to be more effective and successful.
- Create a soft skills training program that includes entertaining, engaging, and relevant material.
3. What are the 7 major soft skills?
Many soft skills are important depending on your industry and position. While the following 7 major soft skills listed are considered essential for most careers, the specific skills in high demand can vary depending on the industry and job you are in.
1. Communication: The ability to effectively convey information and ideas to others through speaking, writing, and nonverbal expression.
2. Problem-solving: The ability to analyze information and situations, identify problems, and develop creative solutions.
3. Teamwork: The ability to work effectively with others in a group or team setting.
4. Adaptability: The ability to adjust to new situations and environments and to remain flexible in the face of change.
5. Time management: The ability to prioritize tasks, manage one's schedule, and meet deadlines.
6. Leadership: The ability to influence and guide others towards a common goal.
7. Interpersonal skills: The ability to build positive relationships with others and to effectively interact with people from diverse backgrounds.
