At Gaper, we take soft skills seriously. Put simply, when we create augmented teams of software engineers, we don’t just look at technical prowess. Candidates also need to demonstrate that they possess a certain level of soft skills to ensure they are a good fit for our company’s productivity and team culture. This ensures that when our clients hire vetted software engineers from us, there are no accountability issues on our end.
What are soft skills, you might ask? Soft skills are a person’s social and collaborative skills. This includes their emotional intelligence, leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution and, problem solving skills. These skills are thus defined by how well one is able to interact with others, form professional relationships and work on collaborative projects.
Don’t get us wrong. This does not mean introverts or asocial folk don’t have a place with us. On the contrary, we are very mindful of ensuring everyone with different predispositions feels comfortable. A good ‘portfolio’ of soft skills just means that they are able to collaborate with their team members on work-related projects, address challenges and generally subject their fellow colleagues with kindness and empathy. The following are a few reasons why soft skills are actually more important for your business than you think:
It is not just good teamwork that results directly from good soft skills. Your employees are also become equipped to handle clients if and when required. This is because possessing these skills affords them the ability to deliver good presentations and conduct negotiations in meetings with clients. Leaving a good professional impression on a client can contribute to getting more work from existing as well as new clients.
Another important factor that naturally comes up is that of networking. A company is afforded an edge over others if their employees can represent the company appropriately in professional settings. Good soft skills let you interact effectively and productively with fellow businesses and potential customers. Individuals with well-developed negotiation and networking abilities are an invaluable, intangible asset for a lot of companies.
Having employees with good self-management and collaborative skills means that you won’t have to worry about and micromanaging every single thing they do. As a team, they will already have developed the necessary time and work management skills required to deliver good quality work on time. Ideally, they will also have the interpersonal skills to organize and delegate tasks to other team members as required. Employees who are able to manage themselves lead to massive bouts of productivity that can take their company to new heights among competitors.
In extension of all the aforementioned points, the idea of flexibility must be addressed. 2020 showed us that companies with rigid policies and work practices are not equipped to deal with unforeseen, uncertain circumstances. These business models are becoming redundant and unsustainable. We need employees who are not only able to read the room (the room being the business environment they are operating in), but also able to communicate effectively with each other and come up with better solutions in trying times. This flexibility means that changes are always being made to adapt and keeping ahead of competitors. Nobody is stuck on practices that are no longer delivering results. An agile and flexible company culture is only possible if your teams are good at adapting and communicating.
In conclusion, while soft skills are trickier to gauge than technical skills, they are essential. Every person will have different combinations and permutations of soft skills – don’t expect a full-package with each individual. But when together, what results is a remarkably efficient and productive team of professionals imbued with self-accountability and a responsible attitude. Nowadays, employee soft skills may even determine whether a company survives troubling times or not.
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