Types of soft skills

Types of Soft Skills

 

Robles (2012) talks about seven soft skills:

(a) Communication skills,

(b) Critical thinking and problem solving,

(c) Lifelong learning and information management,

(d) Teamwork,

(e) Entrepreneurship,

(f) Leadership,

(g) work ethics and morals, and

(h) leadership

Robles (2012) evaluated what top executives perceive as the top 10 critical skills that an employee or a college graduate must have so colleges and universities can prepare students properly and increase their employability. Robles recognized these soft skills in the following order of importance:

(a) Integrity,

(b) Communication,

(c) Courtesy,

(d) Responsibility,

(e) Interpersonal skills,

(f) Professionalism,

(g) Positive attitude,

(h) Teamwork,

(i) Flexibility, and

(j) Work ethic.

Robles appeared to go further than some other scholars when she proposed that the set of soft skills could be divided into two components:

interpersonal or people skills and personal or career attributes. Interpersonal or people skills include things like patience, a sense of humor, friendliness, self-control, empathy, and warmth (Robles, 2012).

Personal or career attributes include qualities like customer service, teamwork, time management, leadership skills, likeability, and organizational skills (Robles, 2012).

Career attributes are associated with working in a professional team environment; however, all the skills are important for employability.

Zhang (2012) listed the following in order of importance:

(a) Honesty and integrity

(b) Communication skills,

(c) Analytical skills,

(d) Teamwork,

(e) Interpersonal skills,

(f) Motivation,

(g) Flexibility and adaptability,

(h) Creative thinking, and

(i) Organizational skills.

Lim, Lee, Yap, and Ling (2016) identified a set of soft skills that are highly rated by employers:

(a) Analytical skills,

(b) Strong decision-making process,

(c) Oral and written communication skills,

(d) Problem solving,

(e) Teamwork skills,

(f) Ability to gather information,

(g) Ability to work under pressure.

Among all of these skills, written and oral communications skills were the most important skills that employers identified as necessary for any new employee to be successful (Lim et al., 2016).

Soft skills as per Anna Mar (2016):

Communication Skills

1. Verbal Communication 

2. Body Language 

3. Physical Communication 

4. Writing 

5. Storytelling 

6. Visual Communication

7. Humor

8. Quick-wittedness 

9. Listening 

10. Presentation Skills 

11. Public Speaking 

12. Interviewing 

Leadership Skills

1. Team Building 

2. Strategic Planning 

3. Coaching 

4. Mentoring 

5. Delegation 

6. Dispute Resolution 

7. Diplomacy

8. Giving Feedback 

9. Managing Difficult Conversations 

10. Decision Making

11. Performance Management 

12. Supervising 

13. Managing 

14. Manager Management 

15. Talent Management 

16. Managing Remote Teams 

17. Managing Virtual Teams 

18. Crisis Management 

Influencing

1. Facilitation 

2. Selling

3. Inspiring 

4. Persuasion 

5. Negotiation

6. Motivating 

7. Collaborating 

Interpersonal Skills

1. Networking 

2. Interpersonal Relationships 

3. Dealing with Difficult People 

4. Conflict Resolution 

5. Personal Branding

6. Office Politics 

Personal Skills

1. Emotional Intelligence

2. Self Awareness 

3. Emotion Management 

4. Stress Management 

5. Tolerance of Change and Uncertainty 

6. Taking Criticism 

7. Self Confidence 

8. Adaptability 

9. Resilience 

10. Assertiveness 

11. Competitiveness 

12. Self Leadership 

13. Self Assessment 

14. Work-Life Balance 

15. Friendliness 

16. Enthusiasm 

17. Empathy 

Creativity

1. Problem Solving 

2. Critical Thinking 

3. Innovation

4. Troubleshooting 

5. Design Sense 

6. Artistic Sense 

Professional Skills

1. Organization 

2. Planning 

3. Scheduling 

4. Time Management

5. Meeting Management 

6. Technology Savvy 

7. Technology Trend Awareness 

8. Business Trend Awareness 

9. Research 

10. Business Etiquette 

11. Business Ethics 

12. Diversity Awareness 

13. Disability Awareness 

14. Intercultural Competence 

15. Training 

16. Train the Trainer

17. Process Improvement 

18. Knowledge Management 

19. Writing Reports and Proposals 

20. Customer Service 

21. Entrepreneurial Thinking 

 

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