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6 Soft Skills You Need Now

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The behaviors known as soft skills continue to be highly valued in the workplace. Unlike technical, or “hard” skills, that encompass job functions, soft skills refer to the values and practices that shape your working style—-how you interact with clients and colleagues, how you manage your work and how you solve problems. Soft skills govern how you behave in different situations. They reveal who you are.

Technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and automation have made the execution of numerous mechanical or routine tasks faster, cheaper and more accurate and that saves time and money. However, the adoption of AI has contributed to the value of soft skills because the jobs that the machines cannot do are often dependent on soft skills.

Freelancers, who must present ourselves to prospective clients as not only possessing the hard skills required to get the job done, but also communicate that we’re good to work with—- resourceful, cooperative, dependable, pleasant—-are perhaps more explicitly in need of soft skills than are employees. It is now obvious that for Freelancers, soft skills such as emotional intelligence, adaptability, optimism, self-motivation and resilience are critical success factors. It is doubtful that you can build and sustain a successful venture without displaying your command of soft skills traits. Soft skills are also elements of your personal brand, BTW.

Of the many soft skills that Freelancers might cultivate, the following come to mind for me (and I’m sure that you, dear reader, can suggest several more):

  • Analytical ability
  • Creativity
  • Judgment
  • Communication
  • Organization
  • Teamwork

Analytical ability

Problem-solving starts with analyzing the issue you need to unravel, examine, evaluate and resolve. Looking beyond the surface to discover the root cause or motivators of the problem is usually necessary. Analyzing a dilemma can include a number of problem/solving skills, including:

  • Research
  • Forecasting
  • Historical analysis
  • Risk management

Creativity

The solution to a problem is not always obvious. Predicting what clients may want next is an ongoing puzzle. Out-of-the-box thinking and other points of view can be very beneficial as you search for a viable ideas and solutions.

  • Brainstorming
  • Editing
  • Design or presentation of products and services
  • Narratives

Judgment

Drawing from your life experiences is the most reliable way to develop good judgment because ideally, we learn from our experiences. As you navigate the personal and professional sectors of life, you’ll eventually learn how to consider the nature of a problem, understand what resources could be needed to bring about the solution and recognize what might go wrong along the way. The soft skills you’ll rely on will include:

  • Critical thinking
  • Decision-making
  • Collaboration

Communication

Communication is the foundation of problem- solving. Leaders (and managers) must be able to inspire, motivate, reassure, coach and constructively criticize. Being a good communicator also helps you to articulate your decisions and persuade your team to align and support your vision.

  • Active listening
  • Patience
  • Persuasion
  • Negotiation
  • Empathy
  • Building rapport
  • Public speaking
  • Body language
  • Verbal communication
  • Written communication

Organization

Once you’ve chosen a solution to a problem and communicated it to your team, you still have to create a process to carry out your plan. Organization skills help you implement the steps everyone needs to take, which can improve alignment and efficiency. Executing a strategy to achieve your solution requires a number of problem-solving, among them:

  • Prioritization
  • Initiative
  • Project management
  • Time management

Teamwork

Teamwork is essential to successfully collaborate with your colleagues. or your work partner or contact at a client’s firm. It’s necessary for brainstorming and exchanging ideas, delegating tasks and efficiently working toward a solution.

Even if your role is largely independent work, you still need teamwork to collaborate with colleagues in different departments and keep your goals on track. As a Freelancer, your role could involve interacting with multiple people. Make an effort to develop the skills that will make everyone want you on their team:

  • Collaboration
  • Delegation
  • Feedback, giving and receiving
  • Goal setting
  • Dependability
  • Prioritizing
  • Setting expectations
  • Assessing employee strengths and weaknesses
  • Setting expectations
  • Performance evaluation
  • Identifying outcomes
  • Trust
  • Respect

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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8 Skills Everybody Needs

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Whatever work one does, from start -up founder to pastry chef, automotive mechanic to chief financial officer, it is interesting that we all need the same short list of skills to become successful.

Consultants are often advised to hone and promote fluency in the skills listed here but everyone who works—-business owner, Freelancer, or employee—-taps into these skills on a regular basis. Your hair stylist and the guys who do your yard work use the same skills as your bookkeeper and your periodontist and if they didn’t, you wouldn’t have hired them. Let’s remind ourselves of what we really need to know in life.

Adaptability

Because when we wake up in the morning, we never know what the day will bring. One may learn, for example, that a potentially lethal and highly contagious virus, for which there is no reliable antidote, has entered our country by way of a meeting of executives employed by a prestigious biotechnology company.

When those who attended the meeting returned home and went about their daily lives, some of them infected people with whom they interacted. Very quickly first hundreds, then thousands, of citizens contracted the virus and many died. In an attempt to block the spread of the virus, governors in all 50 states ordered nearly half of commercial enterprises, plus all schools, government offices, libraries, museums and other public spaces, closed. So what did we citizens do?

We adapted as much as possible, that’s what. Grocery stores, the post office and other entities deemed essential were allowed to remain open. Many business owners and leaders found ways to keep their ventures functioning, with revisions.

Millions of knowledge economy workers used their personal computers to work from home, as department heads kept their teams united with videoconference meetings. Schools quickly switched from classroom to online learning (many colleges long ago added online courses).

Retail stores sold merchandise through their already robust e-commerce websites. Personal trainers and fitness instructors contacted their clients and followers and invited them to participate in outdoor workouts. We did what we had to do and we got by.

Creative thinking

Whether or not an out-of- the-box solution is needed, every once in a while it’s fun to bring innovative flair to a plain vanilla task. Whatever the motivation, resourcefulness and creative thinking are appreciated, because the need for an end run or a work-around can be part of daily life. Sometimes, one needs all of that just to get through the morning commute!

Creative thinking is often associated with the arts or architectural design. But during the COVID shutdown wedding planners, who were watching the ground give way beneath their feet, flexed their creative genius to reimagine weddings for panicked brides and grooms. That often meant broadcasting the ceremony virtually and rescheduling the reception for the following year.

Creative thinking can also reach back into the past for an innovative solution. This year, the New York Film Festival, barred from using shuttered movie theaters, will debut its contenders at drive-in theaters in the Brooklyn and Queens boroughs.

Credibility

Dependability, judgment and expertise are the three pillars of professional credibility. These attributes add up to trust and trust is what gets one hired and motivates customers to give referrals. People do business with people they like. They do more business with people they trust.

Communication

As it is often said, it’s not necessarily what you say, but how you say it. You’ve got to know how to talk to people.

One of the best ways to communicate with someone is to not talk (much), but tlisten. Use nonverbal cues to demonstrate that you are following the narrative. Ask questions to clarify or confirm what you think you’ve heard. Pay attention and let others know that you value them and their opinions (even when you see things differently).

Decision-making

Here’s the reality—-when a big decision is on the table, we seldom have access to as much information as we feel would be helpful as we weigh the possibilities. It is frustrating, to be sure, and we’ve all been there. The thought of taking the wrong path makes the stomach queasy.

But at some point, one must make a move and travel to the left or right, say yes or no, or leave well enough alone. Or, one can elect to put the matter aside and revisit it within a certain period of time.

If a decision carries impact, it cannot be ignored. The fear inspired tactic known as analysis- paralysis, where information is considered and reconsidered ad nauseum, is counterproductive. The best way to improve the quality of information to use as a guide for wise decision-making is to ask the right questions.

Problem-solving

Nearly every purchase one makes is intended to solve a problem, from a bottle of juice (thirst) to calling Lyft (door2door, on-time transportation). Whether the items your company sells are products or services, you’ll make more money when you 1.) understand the business you are really in, by thinking through the underlying motive for the purchase, beyond the obvious, and 2.) design your marketing strategies and sales pitch to reflect item #1.

Teamwork

Many hands make for light work. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Teamwork and collaboration lie between those warring poles and a real professional will persuade others to join him/her in the sweet spot.

Someone must step up and take the lead on a project of any magnitude. Those responsible can draw up an action plan, complete with due dates. Milestones or a mid-point check-in will help to keep everyone on schedule and ensure that mistakes have not been made.

If everyone holds up their end and the project is completed on time, you’ve got a team. If a mistake is discovered and corrected in a timely fashion with the help of your colleagues then congratulations, you’ve got a high-functioning team.

Time management

The ability to prioritize and organize, enabled by an action plan that includes target completion dates, are the three pillars of time management. Understand and get agreement from stakeholders and decision-makers regarding mission- critical tasks. Confirm that team members and other collaborators have the time to produce what has been asked of them within the desired time frame.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark, February 2019. Choreographic Objects, installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston by William Forsythe (a choreographer who works with world- class ballet companies)