Research backed, top 10 most in-demand soft skills among business execs

What are soft skills, exactly?

Soft skills are your personal attributes that enable you to interact and relate to the world and people around you. They are your transferable and intangible skills that are non-technical like interpersonal communication, problem-solving and negotiation.

Most of us develop our soft skills through life experiences and influences and we tend to start learning them early on in life. It can be easy, to neglect our soft skills when we are under pressure or in stressful situations, but it’s important to remember just how well we can negotiate or communicate.

Why are they important?

It’s important not to forget about tour soft skills because sometimes they can be the key solvent for navigating a tricky situation or circumstance. They can help your intuition, initiative and integrity on both a personal and professional level. They are the skills that help you decide what is socially appropriate behaviour in stressful environments and they can be extremely useful when you are trying to deal with a crisis, make sense of a scenario or just plain dealing with the day-to-day.

Research backed, top 10 most in-demand and important soft skills among business executives.

1. Integrity. It’s your moral and ethical principles, and acting with honesty and truthfulness are central to having integrity.
2. Communication. It’s the transferring or relaying of information to others that they are able to understand.
3. Courtesy. This is the act of politeness and respectfulness toward others. When you are being courteous you are being considerate.
4. Responsibility. It’s being reliable and trustworthy to fulfil your duties and obligations. It’s also the act of being accountable for your actions.
5. Social skills. This is the understanding and sensitivity to others around you, knowing how to relate and interpret social environments and knowing appropriate behaviours.
6. Positive attitude. It’s remaining optimistic and enthusiastic and demonstrating initiative towards your work.
7. Professionalism. This is being well mannered, punctual and well groomed.
8. Flexibility. This involves a number of different skills such as collaboration, compromise, willingness and open-mindedness.
9. Teamwork. It’s the ability to work with others towards common goals. Collaborating and communicating.
10. Work ethic. This is essentially your conscientiousness towards your work.

Developing your soft skills takes practice and experience, we can’t be experts overnight.

Is there a gap in your soft skills toolkit? Develop your soft skills today, take a look at our professional development workshops!

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