Do you know what the most in-demand #SOFTSKILLS are in the business world?
We already knew that the era of new knowledge and information technology make up a dynamic and challenging professional work environment. Developing and maintaining an up-to-date skill set to successfully move in this environment presents a constant challenge.
In AI–artificial intelligence–based working systems, networking, and acceleration in times of technological evolution, technical skills and expertise in a specific field are not the only thing required anymore. Life experiences during 2020 and new requirements in the labor industry with new job opportunities in different spaces and schedules provided by home office and remote working emphasized the need to have abilities that allow adaptability, critical and creative thought, the capacity to work with others and collectively put together answers to conflictive or crisis situations.
We are talking about what is called “soft skills.”
According to the 2020 Workplace Learning Trends Report: The Skills of the Future, the top ten most valued soft skills of 2020 are
1- A growth mindset
2- Creativity
3- The ability to concentrate
4- Innovation
5- Communicative skills
6- Narrative skills
7- Cultural awareness
8- Critical thought
9- Leadership
10- Emotional intelligence
It’s essential for businesses to base the composition of their workforces on criteria that tend to value these soft skills in their staff in order to achieve a better position in the market. Likewise, the assurance of growth both in performance and in quality of productivity will also be determined by what is permanently invested into employee training to boost these soft skills and consolidate proactive workforces that are constantly evolving.
Renewing your workforce is a necessary condition to innovate, improve productivity, and add quality. This requires having people with upgraded skill sets who rise to the occasion given the ever-changing situations in which your company is developing.
The key is to make the right decisions in the moment of choosing in what to invest two equally valuable factors: time and economical resources.
You don’t necessarily have to renew your team. Recruiting processes and training that implies replacing your staff for a new one are not the most effective option. Investing in promoting and upgrading skill sets that your team members already have is more effective and has more competitive results. This type of decision-making confirms a solid leadership based on long-term planning.
Incorporate into your company permanent training programs that boost and develop your employees’ soft skills. Soft skills are the essential component in qualified, competent teams that are committed to your company.
The most valued skills of 2020
The rapid development of AI (artificial intelligence) and IT (information technology) demands constant training in all areas of work as an indispensable requirement to sustain and increase your company’s standards of quality and competitiveness.
All economic, financial, and scientific activities in this context require a constant upgrading of skill sets that include using web tools, project management, digital transformation, and cybersecurity. Knowledge of information technology and software development and management is required at the fast pace of a world in which everything that happens is found on the web.
Paradoxically, this same context that demands such specific technical skills needs at the same time the development of skills associated with a new way of being and working. Both the complex technology of artificial intelligence and the ever-renewed information technologies require individuals with highly developed “soft skills.” Emotional intelligence, the ability to work as a team and resolve conflicts, the attitude of critical and constructive thought, the tendency to work autonomously, and adaptability to complex, changing environments are as essential and valued as knowledge that is strictly technical.
The incorporation of areas for the training and development of these skills as an integral part of businesses are a key trait of efficient leaderships in highly complex and challenging contexts.
Have these issues been observed on your workforce?