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Soft skills are the critical communication and personal abilities we rely on to make an impact in the workplace.

It’s easy to overlook the importance of soft skills, particularly during times of digital and technological change, when technical know-how can often be pushed to the forefront. But how we communicate our ideas, work with others and conduct ourselves at work is important at every stage of your career.

While it’s true that we develop soft skills throughout our lives, such as learning to adapt to different situations, manage conflict or work as a team, people skills training can help to hone and improve the way that we work with others.

Soft skills training encompasses a wide range of skills, from how we manage our time, to resolving conflict, reacting to change and building emotional intelligence. All these skills are fundamental in becoming a better employee, manager or leader, especially for those that need to rely on stakeholder management and teamworking as a key part of their roles.

A hard skill is considered to be a technical ability or certification. Gaining a TOGAF or ILM certification would be considered a hard skill, as would being a certified Software Engineer or Business Analyst.

Soft skills are more difficult to measure. Taking an effective communication course would be considered improving a soft skill, but it can be difficult to measure how successful that action has been. The benefits may be more circumstantial when it comes to people skills training, where you can usually define tangible benefits from learning or improving on a hard skill.

Despite the differences between the two, both soft and hard skills are important for individuals and businesses in the workplace. It’s as vital to have a range of technical specialisms as it is to have a team of people that can communicate effectively and work well as a cohesive unit.

There are so many ways to improve on people skills and it often depends on what an individual would most like to focus on.

Communication courses can help to develop better techniques and confidence in presenting and influencing, while professional development training may help more with coaching, teamwork and conflict management skills.

Soft skills also include how we react to different situations, including how to manage stress or times of emotional difficulty. This is particularly important for leaders and managers in understanding their teams and people better.

Building on key people skills is often a great way for businesses to show that they are investing in their people. Developing soft skills can put employees on the right path to furthering their career, as well as building confidence within an organisation.

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