Soft skills are described as non-technical, innate human qualities that contribute to how employees perform and the way in which they interact with others.

While personality and upbringing can affect the qualities a person possesses, they can also be developed through experience and training.

Here is a range of soft skills that are important in any workplace.

1. Communication

Clear communication allows your team to build and maintain positive relationships with one another and with customers. Around 97% of employees say communication impacts their efficiency, while 86% of staff blame lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failure.

Effective communication involves active listening, offering clear explanations and summarising details, repeating when necessary, and making sure information is conveyed with clarity.

2. Listening skills

Active listening is described as being focused on what someone is saying, understanding what those words mean, and responding in a manner that validates what they’re saying.

It allows colleagues and customers to feel genuinely heard, understood and served.

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence describes the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions, which enables service professionals to build authentic and trust-based connections with customers.

Qualities include empathy, being aware of how you come across to others and how others feel, and the ability to manage stress and how it affects your emotions.

4. Friendliness

Research shows that 80% of consumers identified friendly service, along with speed, convenience and helpful employees, as among the most important elements of a positive customer experience.

Some 73% of consumers say friendly customer service representatives allow for a memorable experience that causes them to stick with a brand.

5. Calmness under pressure

Service professionals need to deal with all manner of problems, and personalities, day in and day out. They need to be able to remain calm under pressure, which has a direct link to their performance.

Stress has an adverse impact on employees’ mental and physical health, and contributes to higher rates of absenteeism and increased financial costs for businesses.

6. Good organisation

Being well-organised encompasses numerous critical internal and external skills such as attention to detail, time management, prioritisation, self-motivation, managing conflict, meeting deadlines, and fulfilling responsibilities.

7. Writing skills

Social media has made writing skills essential to ensure effective communication, whether among colleagues or with customers.

Whether your team engages with customers via social media, email or a virtual help desk, they need to know how to respond to their questions and feedback in a professional, timely and meaningful manner.

8. Body language

Given that at least 70% of communication is non-verbal, employees need to demonstrate strong non-verbal communication skills through their body language.

Simple ways to do this include smiling while talking to others, maintaining eye contact, not crossing arms or legs, and maintaining a good posture.

9. Initiative to follow up

Following up allows for any outstanding issues among colleagues or customers to be resolved, and for the customer experience to continue or end on a positive note.

10. Customer service

This refers to the practices and procedures that aim to improve all interactions between a business and its customers – the “personality” of the company, and the reason customers come back.

However, while most experts agree customer service is indeed a soft skill, there are some who argue it should be considered a typical skill, as calling it otherwise makes it difficult to train and manage.

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