5 soft skills that can improve your business

Soft skills are becoming more important in the workplace with every passing day. By 2030, two-thirds of all jobs will be soft-skill intensive, according to a report by Deloitte Access Economics.

They’re some of the most vital skills to have if you want to be able to improve your business. From communication to problem solving, soft skills training with ICML can help you develop your abilities in areas that will bring you real returns.

Here are five of the most important soft skills you need to improve your business.

Communication

Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important soft skill one can have. It’s crucial for just about every aspect of business: sharing ideas and information, working in teams, giving feedback – I always find there’s not much in the business world that great communication can’t make better.

Beyond that, there’s also the secondary skills that communication enable, for example, being able to create and maintain relationships. So much of business is about building relationships – with employees, suppliers or customers – and it’s simply not possible to build solid relationships if you can’t communicate well. Or think of sales and pitching your business to potential clients. This requires being able to communicate the value you can offer them in a clear and succinct way.

There’s not much in the business world that can’t be bettered with effective communication.

Leadership

The ability to lead is a soft skill that can take a business to the next level. I always think of how Apple was brought back to the fore of technology companies with the return of Steve Jobs in the late 1990s. After a period of stagnation with uninspiring products and sales following his ousting in 1985, Jobs returned in 1997 and started the company on its journey to become one of the most valuable in the entire world. Clearly many factors were involved, but Jobs’ leadership skills undoubtedly played a role in turning things around.

Jobs was a natural born leader, capable of getting great things from people. But what can happen in a business is that you’re excellent at your job, you get a promotion and suddenly you’re thrust into a position where you’re responsible for leading a team. Even if you might never have done it before. There’s no need to panic if this is you – leadership skills can be learnt just like any others.

Resilience

Business success rarely comes easily. There are always going to be hurdles in the road that can make you want to give up before you’ve achieved it. Resilience in the face of desires to quit can often be the thing that separates great businesses from ones that fail. Having this resilience to deal with change and difficult situations is a soft skill that can improve your business indirectly by helping you stay motivated.

Time management

Time management is a crucial soft skill for improving your business. If you don’t use your time well, you can’t get any more of it. Hours spent on pointless tasks or those that don’t move your business forward are ones that could have been used more effectively.

I’ve found that learning to manage time was one of the first things I should have done in my personal development. It’s fundamental in a way that other skills aren’t, because it doesn’t matter how good you are at something if you waste all your time and never do it.

Managing your time effectively is a fundamental skill that underpins so many others.

Problem solving

Much of business improvement involves identifying problems and solving them. A company that’s facing financial troubles will have a myriad of problems that require creative solutions. Problem solving skills are the key to the engine of continuous improvement. Being able to assess the facts as they lay and find the fix requires ingenuity and an analytical perspective – all things that can be improved with training.

To learn more about fueling your personal development and the variety of skills you can train with ICML, get in touch with a member of the team today.