Ladies of Delight Blog

Hello revered Readers, we are going to be doing a lot of talking on business for a while.
About two weeks ago, our community organised an Online Masterclass on "Personal Branding as an essential Tool for Business Growth" and we had Olori Boye as our facilitator. We were taught the importance of building an excellent brand in leading successful businesses and careers.
 
Today, I will be sharing on soft skills and how they help build capacity and give an upper hand in our careers. Yes, hard skills are important and necessary, however, soft skills cannot be put away in leading successful career lives.

There's no comprehensive list of soft skills and each of them have a variety of personal attributes that contribute to your mastery of them. But some of the most commonly mentioned soft skills include:

•Verbal Communication - This is the art of being able to clearly and concisely communicate with other people in your workspace/company. This is the only way to minimize mistakes and inefficiencies that come from miscommunication. It defines how the people around you perceive you and therefore your relationship with them.

•Teamwork - It's likely that no matter what profession you're in, you will need to collaborate with other people to solve problems and accomplish projects.

•Time Management

 Let's face it. Some of us are procrastinators. Everyone puts off unpleasant or difficult tasks at least some of the time. If you need help managing your time, there are plenty of simple steps you can practice and hopefully internalize to become more efficient

•Organization skills - Even if you're technically proficient in your field, you'll face challenges if you can't organize your time, space and workload. A major part of being organized is staying on top of your goals, duties and expected deliverables.

Writing- In your work, you'll need to create communications, including emails, presentation slides and reports, and these have to be easily understood by others. While practice is important for improving this soft skill, it can also be helpful to receive outside assistance.

Critical Thinking- To practice critical-thinking skills, an Entrepreneur article laid out a three-step process to approach any problem or project. First, clearly Identify your purpose and let that drive each decision you make going forward. Second, Identify your biases. Try to consider possible solutions from your supervisor's perspective, or your customer's. Finally, try to think about the implication of your options. What happens if your decision fails? Is that failure an acceptable risk.

•Emotional intelligence: It's known as an EQ, and it is becoming one of the most prized soft skills in the workplace. Knowing your own emotions, and recognizing them within other people, is just as important as the work you're doing. Can you empathize? Can you spot when someone is having emotional problems? Are you able to step back and realize that you need to adjust your own attitude or behavior? A high EQ can be even more valuable to an employer than a high IQ; especially if you plan on managing a team.

•Problem Solving Skills. Many people shirk from problems because they don't understand that companies hire employees to solve problems. Glitches, bumps in the road, and stumbling blocks are a part of the job. The ability to use your knowledge to find answers to pressing problems and formulate workable solutions will demonstrate that you can handle  and excel in your job.

Work Ethic. While you may have a manager, companies don't like to spend time micromanaging employees. They expect you to be responsible and do the job that you're getting paid to do, which includes being punctual when you arrive at work, meeting deadlines, and making sure that your work is error free.

And going the extra mile shows that you're committed to performing your work with excellence. Even if you're self-employed, it's important you inculcate work ethics such as performing excellently at what you do, punctuality at meetings, keeping your promises and being diligent.

Yassssss!!! It's  a wrap! This is cheers to leading successful lives in careers and businesses 🍻🍻