Top Ten Soft Skills for Employees

Will Gemma unlocks the secret to being a great (versus good) employee with a list of the ten most valuable interpersonal skills you can possess:

Verbal Communication: Be clear. Slow down and speak more thoughtfully. Pause to consider questions. Stay calm, focused, polite, interested, and match the mood of the situation.
Non-Verbal Communication: Includes facial expressions, eye contact, posture, voice, gestures, and body position. Everything you do or don’t do says something about you.
Listening: Includes interpreting and responding appropriately, which is crucial to success.
Questioning: Builds upon listening but is not just a device for obtaining information.
Manners: A basic understanding of etiquette translates to other cultures and their expectations.
Problem solving: The skill is not how quickly you solve it, but how you go about doing it.
Social Awareness: Being in tune to others’ emotions is crucial to identifying opportunities.
Self-management: Allows us to control our emotions when they are not aligned with what would be considered appropriate behavior for a given situation.
Responsibility and Accountability: Two reliable indicators of maturity.
Assertiveness: When used tactfully, assertiveness can gain you a kind of respect that you won’t be able to attain by other means.