What are soft skills?

A question we get asked quite regularly is “What are soft skills?”. Soft skills are the personal character traits or qualities each of us has. They make us who we are, generally encompassing our attitudes, habits and how we interact with other people.

They refer to abilities that make people better employees and open doors for many opportunities that are not directly related to the subject matter of their jobs.

In other words, soft skills refer to a person’s ability to relate to others, to get him/her and others organised, to communicate in written, spoken or other forms. 

Soft skills have been defined by the World Health Organisation as follows:

“These are the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal with the demands and challenges of everyday life.”

UNICEF defines these skills (called life skills) as:

“A behaviour change or behaviour development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills.”

Soft skills include psycho-social abilities and interpersonal skills that help people take decisions, solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, demonstrate qualities of leadership and team building, manage time effectively, and cope with the stress and strain of life in a healthy and productive manner.

Essentially, there are two kinds of skills – those related to thinking called ‘thinking skills’ and skills related to dealing with others called ‘social skills.’ While thinking skills relate to the personal level, social skills include interpersonal skills. It is the combination of these two types of skills that are needed for achieving behaviour change and negotiating effectively.

So now you know the answer to the question “What are soft skills?”. Would you like to read more about soft skills? Get your FREE copy of Bookboon’s e-book “Soft skills” by Manmohan Joshi. The above article is an excerpt of the e-book.