Orientation Session for BBA students

What are soft skills & why are they important?

Soft skills are non-technical skills that describe how you work and interact with others

These skills generally fall into several different categories:

These skills are indispensable because they make you an engaged, communicative person and a helpful team member. Knowing your soft skills can also help others understand the big picture of how you work and interact with peers.

Soft skills are also integral to your success at any organization. According to a Leadership IQ study, 89% of new hire failures were a result of poor soft skills, not a lack of technical failures. New hires were more likely to fail because they lacked soft skills like coachability, emotional intelligence, and motivation. Only 11% of new hire failures were a result of technical incompetence. Hence, it’s important to coach, mentor and train employees for the soft skills, so why not that you learn these skills at the Undergrad level which will prepare you all for life.

Students with strong soft skills communicate more effectively with their peers, mentors, and others thereby increase their chance of educational success. Moreover, soft skills mean helps students to be emotionally mature, resilient, develop grit etc.

Extracurricular activities, including service-learning experiences, philanthropic projects that require a group endeavour, are great ways to develop teamwork and collaboration skills. Better yet, seek a leadership role in student led activities which you cannot do sitting at home, or volunteer to take charge of a project works like Climate action etc. What other place than your college where you can collaborate with your peers and participate in numerous such activities to build and nurture your skills.

How do soft skills contribute to overall personality development?

Communication Skills

Communication skills describe how you interact with the people you work with — from your boss to your friendly colleague to an important client. These skills are vital in getting your ideas across, sharing status updates on a project, or effectively negotiating with a co-worker about how to move forward. Some soft communication skills include:

  • Public speaking
  • Negotiation
  • Conflict resolution
  • Confidence
  • Friendliness
  • Empathetic listening
 

Leadership Skills

Leadership skills are essential in all types of roles, even if you’re not directly managing someone. Adding these skills to a resume shows your potential employer that you’re confident in taking charge and leading by example. Some soft leadership skills include:

  • Decision-making
  • Adaptability
  • Team-building
  • Reliability
  • Delegation

Problem-Solving Skills

Companies hire people to help them solve problems and find the best solutions. No matter what role you’re taking on, you’ll need to think creatively, analytically, and logically to understand why problems are happening and how to solve the issue.

Whether it’s understanding why there’s not enough traffic to a website or how to raise students’ test scores, problems in the workplace are everywhere, and companies want new hires to bring fresh and innovative ways to solve them. Problem-solving skills include:

  • Analysis
  • Decision-making
  • Communication
  • Creativity
  • Innovation
 

Critical Thinking Skills

These skills help people identify the root cause of an issue. Critical thinkers analyze, research, identify, and think out of the box to make sense of information. At work, critical thinking helps people solve problems and challenge preconceived notions to help create the best path forward. Some soft critical thinking skills include:

  • Analytical thinking
  • Research
  • Questioning
  • Decision-making
 

Time Management Skills

In simple words management means – the control or organization of something. And here we are talking about Time hence it means your ability to plan and control how you spend your day to effectively accomplish the goals you’ve set.

Some time management skills include:

  • Prioritization
  • Detail-oriented
  • Diligent
  • Ambitious
  • Motivated
 

Benefits of Time Management:

  • You don’t miss any important deadlines hence no stress
  • Enough time in hand for routine activities apart from academic engagements
 

Effective Time Management Techniques:

  • Record all due dates and deadlines
  • Create a routine
  • Use your tech for good
  • Break down your workload
  • Take note-taking to the next level – Re-copying and re-organizing those notes will increase your retention and understanding of new concepts
  • Examine and limit potential distractions
  • Ask for support – Recognizing when you’re overwhelmed and asking for help will serve you better in the long run
  • Keep yourself healthy
  • Stay organised
  • Checklists are your friend
  • Find a balance – Give yourself time to recharge