Published: | Last Updated:
Soft skills are skills that people can possess and develop but that aren’t for a specific activity or single-use case. Hard skills are important for specific tasks like using software. However, Soft skills are helpful for all jobs.
Most jobs require people to work in teams, communicate with others, and problem-solve. That’s where soft skills come in handy.
The soft skills that everyone would benefit from improving include:
- Communication
- Adaptability
- Creativity
- Teamwork
- Critical thinking
In this article, we’ll talk about the best activities to improve these soft skills.
Related Articles: Boost Your Resume With Emotional Intelligence Training, Top Soft Skills for Leaders
1. Reflect
Many soft skills are related to personal development and growth. Before you start diving into activities to improve soft skills, reflect on your personal strengths and weaknesses.
You can practice reflection in several ways including:
- Journaling
- Meditation
- Talk through your feelings
Having a clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses will help understand what areas are lacking while helping you feel confident about your strengths.
Related Articles: What is Professional Development?
2. Learn Your Gaps
While you reflect on your strengths and weaknesses, consider specific areas of improvement.
Start small and look for gaps that seem realistic. You don’t have to aim for the hardest or most important soft skill first. Think about soft skills that you already have somewhat developed but could use some growth. Have you improved time management, but your productivity still suffers because you lack organization? That’s a gap that you can plug by improving soft skills.
3. Nurture a Learning Mindset
A learning mindset is beneficial for all of life. It’s especially helpful at the workplace.
A growth mindset makes you more likely to challenge yourself and push to become more. It will also help you grow your resilience and improve your creative problem-solving skills.
Soft skills are easier to develop when you approach it with a growth mindset.
4. Communicate Often
Communication is a soft skill. It’s important for being an effective part of the workforce, and it needs to be developed.
Making an effort to communicate clearly and often will improve your effective communication skills. Before writing emails, sending texts, or attending a meeting, think about who your audience is and the most important parts of your meeting.
Skillful communication takes a lot of practice. Ask for feedback and communicate often.
Related article: How to Improve Communication Skills as an Employee
5. Ask For Feedback
People who are close to you know you better than you might expect. It’s not easy to develop skills in a vacuum. That’s why asking for feedback is a great way to improve soft skills.
If you’re working in a team, you should make it a habit to ask for feedback. If you’re a student, you can always talk with professors or classmates to get a better understanding of your performance.
Areas you should ask for feedback on include:
- Communication skills
- Conflict resolution
- Time management
- Teamwork
- Work ethic
If you choose professionals and trusted friends for feedback they should be constructive in doing so. Use their advice well to improve your soft skills.
6. Try a New Tool or System
Time management and productivity is a very important soft skill that every workplace cares about. Improving this soft skill is not an easy task. Some people might seem to be better at managing time then others, but the problem could just boil down to not using the right tools.
If you spend any time looking up productivity and time management tools you will quickly be flooded with ads for software that claims to be able to heal your attention issues and make you 100% more productive. Most of these claims aren’t true, but a good time management system can help.
Apps like Todoist, Evernote, Basecamp, or even just the reminders app on your phone can help you keep track of tasks, but without a solid system, the tools won’t work.
Develop a plan to organize tasks and plan your day every morning.
Importance of Soft Skills in The Workplace
Soft skills help people work well in teams, adapt to various problems, and practice problem solving. Having a solid set of soft skills will improve your chances of getting hired and make you more helpful for your team.
Soft skills are essential for the workplace, and apart from practicing the above activities you can attend courses online with the REDC to improve your workplace soft skills.