7 Valuable Soft Skills to Grow Professionally in 2021

Don’t let this be another missed year

Surprisingly, we’re already in mid-February.

I don’t know about you, but one year ago, if you would tell me that I was going to be working from home and stay there due to a lockdown, I would have guessed that time would be moving in slow motion, but the truth is that days are going by rapidly.

Despite this, we’re still on time to make this year a success and make ourselves stand out in the crowd, benefiting from the inertia of our competition.

The New Working Reality

More than ever, companies are looking for people that can not only keep the same levels of professionalism and work quality but actually improve the performance to adapt to the new reality that the pandemic brought to the world.

For this, technical skills are still important, but to excel in your work field you’ll have to develop your soft skills. These are like the DNA of your behavior, the things that make you unique to your company, and luckily you don’t need any genetic intervention to develop these, only focus and work!

As the former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner once said in an interview with Inc.:

“as powerful as AI will ultimately become and is becoming, we’re still miles away from computers being able to replicate and replace human interaction and human touch”.

So if you’re looking to move on the corporate ladder or to take your personal business to new levels, these are the skills that you should take deep attention to and improve your proficiency levels.

7 Soft Skills You Should Invest On

1. Communication

Many of the soft skills needed to become a high performer are also essential for our personal life, and Communication is the best example.

Communicating clearly is the first thing we need to make ourselves noticeable, and yet so many fail at it.

Communication is much more than speaking correctly. It also involves listening, establishing a connection with the audience, adapting the tone to the different situations, and being assertive with our speech.

This is valid to speaking and writing, with the latter being more important than ever with the increasing of the written communication boosted by the pandemic because many jobs transitioned to a remote environment.

I work on this skill by reading a lot and watching videos or listening to podcasts. Whenever I find myself watching or listening to people talk for more than 30 minutes and my interest is still high, I try to deconstruct the reasons that kept me with the show.

Things like clarity, assertiveness, storytelling, and attention to other participants of the conversation, all make communication good and valuable.

2. Organization

Staying organized, meeting all the deadlines, and completing all the defined tasks will show that you’re professional and reliable, improving your image to your company and clients, and inspiring your colleagues.

There are so many tools to help us organize our work (and life) that most times the difficulty is to choose the best suitable to our needs.

I use Evernote and Trello, along with a physical notebook, to keep track of all my tasks and important deadlines. I’m also a big fan of Getting Things Done, by David Allen, so I try to implement his ideas into my organization's workflow.

Try a few organization tools and processes and stick with the ones that adapt better with you, and re-evaluate the results a few weeks later.

3. Problem-Solving (Critical Thinking + Creative Thinking)

There’s arguably no business or job that doesn’t face problems regularly, so being able to solve effectively those situations is a valuable skill that every company looks for on their teams.

The best way to improve this skill is by developing two others that complement each other: Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking.

Critical Thinking is the ability to analyze information objectively and deconstruct any problem to find an effective solution.

But sometimes we need to make a fresh approach to a given problem, either due to a new reality or because the usual solutions aren’t that effective, and for that, we need Creative Thinking. With creativity, we can innovate by combining new ideas and concepts and applying them to a situation to create an original solution.

To improve our Problem-Solving skills we need to understand every technical aspect of the business and also have an open mind and curiosity to try different ways of working, so learning from the industry leaders and your coworkers is indispensable, along with your own experience on the job.

4. Leadership

Demonstrating Leadership skills is very important, even for those that don’t have any management role on their job description.

There will be times where decisions will have to be made and not always the responsible manager will be present, so being recognized by your team as someone who’s able to take action on challenging situations is a great way to make yourself valuable.

You can develop this skill by building trustful relationships with your team, and by being open to their feedback because that’s how you’ll get better and more knowledgeable about your work, and how your team will know you have the best interest in your company’s success.

5. Resilience

I don’t know any profession where everything runs smoothly all the time, so you must have the resilience to face adversity and overcome obstacles, especially during crisis periods when many are overwhelmed by stress.

Being able to keep the end goal in mind and perform accordingly is a sign that your company and clients can count on you to deliver top service.

Resilience is developed mainly through experience, but working on your mindset to prepare yourself for hard times is a shortcut to that end.

I study and practice Stoicism in many forms to help me grow my resilience.

6. Adaptability

Along with Resilience, the more adaptable you are, the more suitable you’ll be to any change that occurs in your work field.

2020 brought the best example of this reality, with most companies being forced to change their ways of work due to the circumstances caused by the pandemic.

Many of us had to switch from a life-long reality of working at an office to a remote work environment, with all its consequent challenges, and many of those who were able to adapt to it faster were rewarded with new roles or recognition from their companies and colleagues.

To be more adaptable I’m constantly learning new things and embracing new projects. The more uncomfortable I feel with new ideas and projects, the more valuable they are to boost my Adaptability skill.

7. Emotional Intelligence

The way you perceive and respond to your emotions and the emotions of others is your Emotional Intelligence.

To thrive professionally you need to connect with your team and with your clients, and this is better achieved when you’re able to read their current state of mind and adapt your behavior accordingly.

For that, you’ll need to be emphatic and show compassion, at the same time that you manage your own emotions so they don’t interfere with the way you establish those relationships.

More often than not, one’s Emotional Quotient is more valued by the company and team than the Intelligence Quotient.

This skill can be improved by practicing self-awareness and by being genuinely interested in the other's well-being.

Studying psychology and human behavior can also boost your Emotional Intelligence, as you’ll learn how people react to different ways of approach.

Conclusion

There are of course other important soft skills that we all should develop, but with society shifting rapidly into a remote reality, improving these will take you to new levels of performance, and maybe open the doors to new opportunities for your professional life, so don’t just read this list and move on with your life, take action instead and reach as much of your potential as you can, I’m positive you won’t regret.

You’re still on time to make 2021 one of the greatest years of your life, don’t let it slip.

Thank you for reading.