As a developer, I bet you have spent considerable time increasing your technical knowledge and software development skills. How about soft skills? Various courses, individual projects, jobs, and unique experiences have got you where you are now. Fun fact, at the dawn of my career in IT, I took on the challenge of learning Frontend development as a basis for understanding programming better. The highlight of the experience consisted of my 3 AM crying sessions. Besides the conclusion that I’d better stick to leadership, I gained a sense of admiration and respect for developers. I spent my leadership journey giving developers a helping hand and guidance out of admiration and my passion for people. During this journey, I observed developers who aced the technical department yet found or thought of themselves as needing to be more appreciated. I’ll share a glimpse into my 1×1 discussions from over the years, “I am the best developer in the entire team. But, somehow, X is more appreciated than me. It’s not fair. I’m a senior, after all, and he’s a mid, I don’t get it.” What if I told you that there is a set of skills that will take you to the next level, no matter how brilliant you are in the technical department? In an increasingly competitive IT market, soft skills are becoming the delimiter between two equally skilled technical professionals. Soft skills are the “thing” that will get you that job you desire, a promotion, the best evaluation scores, or even save you from lost professional opportunities. Introduction to Soft Skills Hard skills: frameworks, languages, testing. Knowing Excel…a hard skill. Moving on to our subject of interest: The Mighty Soft Skill. You certainly have already heard of soft skills, but maybe you can’t put a finger on what soft skills truly are. If you are interested in learning what this wild animal is and how to gain or boost your soft skills to propel your career, then this is the article for you. Simply put, soft skills, aka people skills, are the abilities that showcase one’s work ethic and interaction with others. They are attributes you have as a person, independent of your job title. Soft skills are gained through life experience, while hard skills are usually achieved through learning and practice. Soft skills will help you demonstrate your hard skills. As per Wikipedia, although not the most reliable source of information, “Soft skills, also known as power skills, common skills, essential skills, or core skills, are psychosocial skills generally applicable to all professions. These include critical thinking, problem-solving, public speaking, professional writing, teamwork, digital literacy, leadership, professional attitude, work ethic, career management, and intercultural fluency. This contrasts with hard skills, which are specific to individual professions.” You can start to understand why soft skills play a massive part in your performance and that technical development is just one chapter of what defines you as a professional. Before even discussing our professional lives, we need to go back to the basics and pay attention to our core as human beings. I strongly believe that the main pillars of overall success in life are the already cliche “communication” and the often-overlooked self-development. Understanding yourself as a person, defining your psychological profile, strengths and weaknesses, wishes and goals, as well as learning how to communicate efficiently will ensure your evolution. It is worth clearly defining your values to understand your work persona better. I don’t believe that soft skills are not learnable. Of course, it is more difficult to learn them in your later years than to have them as part of your education, but trust that these skills can be fine-tuned. Examples Work ethic – a personal set of values, feelings, and beliefs that determine how we approach work. They guide professional behaviour, including integrity, responsibility, quality, and discipline. Taking initiative, being accountable, and being dependable are all ways to exhibit your work ethic. It can also be viewed as “professionalism”. Critical thinking and Problem-solving – Looking carefully at information or problems and thinking in an organized way, making choices based on evidence and good analytical reasoning. Keep in mind that arguments can oftentimes be influenced by cognitive biases. Professional Attitude – What is the “right” professional attitude, or what does it mean when a person says “they have an attitude problem”? They don’t have a responsible work approach or a positive can-do outlook. There can be a lack of motivation, conflicts with teammates, and passive-aggressive behaviour. Teamwork and Collaboration – Teamwork is the collaborative effort to achieve a common goal. Collaboration is a partnership with the scope of producing something together. As we work within teams, we need to learn how to help each other, ask for help when needed, and ask ourselves how we can help others. Together, as a team, we are a powerful force. Organization and Time Management – This one is pretty straightforward: managing your time effectively, making use of lists, calendars, and planners to enable yourself to get higher quality work done in the least amount of time. Emotional Intelligence – The ability to understand both your own emotions and the emotions of others. The main pillars of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, empathy, self-regulation, and social skills. Social skills are the tools that enable people to communicate, interact harmoniously and develop healthy relationships. Conflict resolution – Conflict is a normal part of a team, as it is in life, but if we can reduce the chances of constant conflict, we’ll choose to mitigate the risk. And let’s not forget that conflict resolution starts with two mature individuals who can cooperate to resolve it. This is another aspect that can be resolved by seeing past the differences, choosing to communicate, and being open to the other’s perspective. Asking oneself: How can we focus on finding a solution to the problem and not our differences?   Communication, the Queen of Soft Skills The definition of communication at a simple Google Search: the imparting or exchanging of

You probably already know that communication in the workplace makes everything better. It seems like there’s always room for improvement regarding how you communicate with others, yet you cannot pinpoint exactly where to start. Although the effects of poor communication can be easily sensed, communication is such a complex and intimidating topic that it might get you into the “freeze and hope for the better” mode.  In software development, efficiently communicating with clients and colleagues is essential for success. So, this is the right article for you if you want to improve your skills or you are extremely familiar with phrases such as:   “The people on the client’s side don’t communicate with each other whatsoever”, or “Do they even talk to each other?” “Nobody has a clue what’s going on.” “X says we should do this thing, but Y says the total opposite. What do we do?”,  “I had no clue that this was even a subject”,  “I have explained this 3 times before.”, “This meeting could’ve easily been an email.” “I’m simply too anxious to speak up.” “Public speaking… ugh” “Who should I talk to?” A brief description of communication As per Oxford Languages, the definition of communication can be conveyed as follows: “The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. The successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings. Means of sending or receiving information, such as phone lines or computers.The field of study concerned with the transmission of information.” Types of communication Verbal communication: Face-to-face/ 1×1 conversations, meetings, video calls, phone calls; Written communication: Email, formal letters, reports/documentation, text messages; Visual communication: Graphics and charts, screenshots/ screen recordings, presentations, images and photos, videos, symbols; Non-verbal communication: Body language, symbols and gestures; Formal communication: Reports, announcements, documents, alerts; Informal communication: Casual conversation, social conversation. How can you improve communication in the workplace? Improving communication in the workplace is a combination of processes, a communication-prone culture, and skills that can be attained individually. By creating an environment where it can flourish, an organization can increase productivity and teamwork and promote employee well-being, leading to employee retention and revenue increase. On the other hand, as an employee in the said organization, improving your skills on the matter will lead to better relationships, reduced stress, and professional growth, to name just a few of the benefits.  Organizational processes The first step is to create a structure, a set of rules, processes, and a space that enables productive, safe, and open communication inside the organization.  Roles and responsibilities Ensuring that everyone’s roles and responsibilities are clearly defined will set the expectations for each collaboration member. Establishing and documenting the roles and responsibilities will eliminate confusion, and everyone will know who to contact for each topic. Being aware of each member’s accountability will improve productivity, eliminating time and effort waste. Communication preferences and rules Everybody prefers different kinds of communication, ranging from written emails/quick texts to 2-minute meetings or phone calls. When having 1×1 communication, consider the preferred communication channels and how you convey your message. Here are some examples of different communication styles: Quick and concise — getting straight to the point with no time to waste; Perspective-inclusive — including some background information and details on the matter; Personal — sandwiching information between non-work related topics to create a human bond. In the case of group communication, the manager must accommodate everyone involved and devise a solution that best suits the group. Scheduling meetings  Setting recurring meetings to check the pulse is a great time to discuss goals, progress, and status and see if there are any blockers, challenges, or issues that can be solved. Double-check that everyone involved or who could benefit from the discussion is invited. Channels of communication Establishing practical tools that can aid your conversation, creating channels for different topics, communicating frequently on those channels, and keeping the latest news on a roll will keep communication going, plus all the information will be stocked for future reference. Make sure that the tools you use are efficient and that you don’t have too many tools or channels, as it gets confusing and tiresome to use on a daily basis. Continuous improvement Improvements are a journey, and you can ensure their success by coming up with new solutions to improve the internal communication processes, analyzing the current situation, reacting proactively to communicated feedback, and setting up some success criteria and KPIs so you can clearly monitor your progress, setbacks, and milestones. Furthermore, offering communication training or workshops to develop soft skills across the company is always a great idea.  Changes & Organizational Goals Changes are stressful for everybody, but they’re also inevitable. You know what’s even more stressful? When a change takes place, and you have no idea about it. Communicating information about the upcoming changes and stating clear steps to follow will ease the way into the new destination.  Similarly, keeping everyone in the loop regarding the organizational goals is a great way to create a reassuring, safe environment and it helps motivate employees who are more likely to be involved if the common goal is clear and appealing. Environmental standards The second point on our list that leads to top-notch communication in the workplace is being part of a culture that nurtures and encourages free, no-fear-of-judgment communication. In a company, it is the management’s duty to ensure that the environment is enabling everybody to express their thoughts and that it provides access to learning opportunities on the soft skills front, as well as on the technical side. Sharing is caring: being part of an environment where you can openly share your ideas and concerns. Additionally, encourages collaboration by creating a space where you can ask for help when needed. Feedback: It is a great practice to provide and receive constructive feedback as frequently as needed. You can read more on this topic in one of my previous posts. Allowing mistakes: Mistakes are natural, and even more important, they are the