Four Soft Skills Every Leader Needs For Success

How good are the Soft Skills of the Leaders In Your Company?

Soft skills (also known as people skills) help how personally and professionally successful an individual will be. And a company’s sustained viability and profitability is directly linked to leadership’s level of emotional intelligence.

Briefly, EI consists of being aware of and able to manage your emotions. It also includes using soft skills to pick up on the mood of others and be able to navigate the rocky waters of disagreement and conflict in an assertive yet respectful way.

Below are four competencies of emotional intelligence related to soft skills that every leader needs to understand:

1. Self-awareness: Knowing what your emotion is in the moment (this is considered being “emotionally literate”) and knowing what your negative triggers are.
2. Self-management: Being able to bring the appropriate emotion, to the appropriate degree to the appropriate setting.
3. Social-awareness: Your ability to use soft skills to pick up on the mood of the group, being able to read a situation, and apply the best behavior for that context.
4. Relationship management: Listening dispassionately to others, and in the words of Covey “seeking first to understand” and being assertive and respectful in times of conflict. This also includes the ability to build social capital and leverage relationships.

Many managers send their employees for coaching in these soft skills in order to get some sort of change to happen. While this is often a good idea and works in favor of advancing the skills of the employee, you know that you lead from the front.

Hence leaders who are eager for their teams to be more agreeable, productive and profitable are well-served in refreshing and boosting their own levels of soft skills and other aspects of emotional intelligence.

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Hi, I’m Crystal Jonas,

In traveling to over 120 cities in the country each year, I often find that just one little tweak in what someone says or does can make all the difference. “The People Skills Lady” helps people express their best so they can get more done and make more money. Come visit my website and Sign up for my free newsletters while you’re there.

Call me at 719- 291-0366 and ask about speaking or coaching for you or for your company.