In a post-industrial economy, the continuous development of technology and the systematic obsolescence of knowledge, the demand for flexible thinking or soft skills is becoming more and more relevant. It used to be believed that “soft skills” are personal, individual and peculiar to each person. It is partly true, but it is difficult to deny the influence of personal qualities of a concrete person on the productivity of his professional activity; that is why in 1960 in the USA the first researches in this field were started and by the end of the nineties in America the direction of personal and professional characteristics called soft skills appeared.
Today every company wants to have in their team a specialist who is not only perfectly versed in his own profession, but also has “flexible skills. Such skills include:
Learnability and openness to everything new. The ability to quickly get into the essence of the processes, to understand, assimilate the ability to immediately apply new information, without resistance and “stage of denial”.
Communicative skills. Emotional intelligence, ability to resolve conflicts quickly and effectively, to find common language with colleagues, partners and clients, as well as the ability to persuade and influence the development of the situation.
Self-organization skills. Self-discipline and responsibility, the ability to shift and multi-task quickly, stress-resistant, skills of effective management of own time and organization of work activities.
Creativity and the ability to think outside the box. The modern world is changeable, so we are increasingly faced with non-standard tasks, which in turn require non-standard solutions and approaches.
Skills to work with information. In the age of the Internet, computer literacy, the ability to analyze information, to search for and find high-quality data, and to be able to work with it properly are extremely important. Not being able to use a computer or search for information online today is equivalent to not being able to read and write 60 years ago.
Flexible “human” skills are not tied to a specific profession; they are important to all because they help professionals do their jobs more effectively. For example, a sales manager with the skills will be better at persuading and handling customer complaints than an employee without them. As a result, the work of the first employee, all other things being equal, will be more productive and therefore more profitable for the company.
Skills training occupies one of the leading positions in the educational sphere and is a trend in business education, according to reputable publishers and experts. In special group trainings companies teach their specialists flexible skills, create motivation and a special environment for employees, where they could fully realize the potential of their own abilities and show high results of work, on which the success and reputation of the company will depend.
