What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are the attributes and behaviours describing how a person approaches tasks. You likely use soft skills across all areas of your life, but they’re particularly valued in the workplace, where they can impact your ability to communicate effectively, solve problems, and think critically. Examples of soft skills include active listening, creativity, and strategic thinking.

Explore the high-value soft skills employers look for and discover actionable tips for enhancing your personal skill set. Whether you're looking to advance in your current role or prepare for a new opportunity, mastering these professional workplace skills can give you a competitive edge in the current job market.

What are soft skills vs hard skills?

Hard skills, also known as technical skills, describe what you do, while soft skills describe how you do it. Your hard skills are your technical skills relating to the tasks you know how to do. Some examples of technical skills are data analysis, computer programming, writing, and UX design. When you complete a task, you often use hard and soft skills—technical skills to guide your process and workplace skills to encourage effective outcomes.

Explore further: Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills: What’s the Difference?

What is meant by soft skills?

One soft skills meaning is interpersonal abilities that define how you interact with others and navigate various situations. These skills encompass the ways you communicate, collaborate, and manage relationships with coworkers, customers, and supervisors. Developing strong soft skills is crucial, particularly if you're in a role that requires teamwork, as they enhance your ability to connect with colleagues and contribute to a positive work environment.

You also may hear soft skills called workplace or transferable skills. These alternative names highlight the versatility and relevance of soft skills across various job roles and industries. Recognizing them as transferable skills emphasises their value in any professional setting, making it easier for you to identify and articulate your strengths when discussing your skill set during job interviews or performance reviews.

What is a soft skill example?

Different employers may value workplace skills differently. Below are some examples of desirable workplace skills:

• Active listening

• Adaptability

• Communication

• Creativity

• Critical thinking

• Empathy

• Leadership

• Organisation

• Problem-solving

• Resourcefulness

• Strategic thinking

• Teamwork

• Time management

What are the top three important soft skills? 

Though many soft skills are valuable, three primary skills—oral and written communication, teamwork and collaboration, and critical thinking—are especially important and often encompass other key abilities.

Why are soft skills important?

Workplace skills can offer insight into a person’s approach to work beyond their role's technical or context-specific aspects. For many employers, how you do something is as important as what you do—especially regarding long-term learning, growth, and success.

A Yale University study found that managers with soft skills relating to their emotional intelligence had happier, more creative staff than those without those soft skills [1]. According to a Skill Survey, 77 per cent of employers said soft skills were just as important in choosing a candidate as hard skills [2]. 

Essential soft skills that employers value

Employers may forecast a person’s future potential by considering their soft skills. This character analysis may come into play when choosing the leads for a new project or deciding whether an employee is ready for a promotion. Hiring managers also assess workplace skills to determine whether a job candidate may be a good fit for a specific team.

In particular, employers are broadly looking for:

• Work ethic

• Effective communication

• Teamwork and collaboration

• Critical thinking and problem-solving

Explore further: Workplace Skills for Career Success

How to improve soft skills

Since workplace skills are primarily tied to behaviour, improving them may involve shifting your regular patterns, approaches, or thought processes. This type of work requires practice and patience, but over time, you’ll likely notice more ease as you lean into your workplace skills.

Although soft skills are traditionally seen as more complex to learn than technical skills, you can find several ways to build upon your existing workplace skills. If you have a specific skill in mind that you’d like to improve, think about ways you can implement that skill into your daily life. You can also consult a life coach to help develop a personalised action plan.

As you build your soft skills both professionally and personally, consider these tips for how to improve your workplace skills:

1. Practise different communication styles.

People tend to prefer different communication styles, whether that’s delivery methods—such as conversation, email, or text—or the manner of the delivery, like passive, aggressive, or assertive communication. In addition to your communication skills, considering how you might approach communicating in different situations can be an opportunity to practise adaptability, critical thinking, and strategic thinking.

To practise different communication styles, you can express the same idea in various ways by writing it down, describing it aloud, putting it into a presentation, or delivering it to multiple audiences.

2. Join a group project.

Beyond demonstrating your ability to take the initiative, joining a group project can offer opportunities to practise several workplace skills, such as teamwork, time management, and active listening. As a bonus, group projects can enable you to bring your technical skills into a collaborative environment.

To join a group project, you'll be interested in what colleagues are working on and offer your help where it may be beneficial or look for opportunities within your local community.

3. Learn something new.

Learning something new can expand your typical way of thinking and encourage growth. Strong links exist between learning and creativity, so whatever you decide to study, you may stand to gain technical knowledge and enhance your creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

To learn something new, check out the class offerings at your local community centre, college or art centre, or browse popular free courses on Coursera.

4. Socialise with teammates.

You use workplace skills in every interaction you have. Simply getting to know your teammates, if you are part of a team or workmates and colleagues, can be an effective way to practise your communication and active listening skills and create opportunities for future collaboration.

If appropriate, you can approach socialising with your teammates or colleagues with an interest in their lives and a willingness to share about your own.

5. Suggest improvements to processes.

As you build your technical and workplace skills, you may notice some opportunities to improve how things are done. Thinking critically about processes, recognising problems, and finding viable solutions are all valued workplace skills.

To suggest process improvements, you may ask your manager about their preferred method and what type of information they’ll need to assess your suggestions.

6. Ask for feedback.

Many workplace skills have an element of interactivity, and sometimes, an outside perspective can help illuminate things you are doing well and areas you may want to focus on improving. Similarly, offering feedback to others can be an opportunity to practise active listening, leadership, and teamwork.

To ask for feedback, turn to your manager, recent project collaborators, or other colleagues you’ve built relationships with.

Soft skills for resume

You can include your workplace skills on your resume within the summary or profile or in a special skills section. Also, you'll be able to select action words that align with the skills you want to demonstrate within your work experience section. Then, you can use your cover letter to share further details.

Remember that workplace skills are reflected in how you approach your work, so when you discuss your successes, share what you did, how you did it, and your impact.

Develop your soft skills on Coursera

Soft skills, including communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, are essential for career success. As you consider your soft skills both professionally and personally, you can continue to grow in your abilities by practising new strategies and committing to development and learning.

You can continue working on your workplace skills with Coursera. Browse popular workplace skills courses and Specialisations from top institutions and industry leaders, or check out IBM’s People and Soft Skills for Professional and Personal Success Specialisation. You'll have opportunities to practise using soft skills, including active listening and communication.