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Jacob was nonplussed. He had just been passed over for promotion into a recently vacant managerial role. This was his 9th year working as a software developer in a renowned financial services organization. In that period, he had only been promoted once.

Jacob was a key member of the information technology team. He had developed several critical business solutions for the organization. He was also adept in user support. Over the years, his appraisals had always been slightly above average.

The Business Applications Manager had just been elevated into the deputy CIO role and the organization had decided to replace him internally.

Jacob was among three staff members under consideration. Jacob had an edge, technically, over the others.

However, the human resources team had selected another employee, Deji, for the role.

After due consideration, they had concluded that despite been technically proficient, Jacob lacked certain soft skills or traits which were required for the new role.

Qualifications are universal. Using Nigeria as a case study, many of us have acquired degrees, qualifications and certifications from educational institutions and professional bodies.

A lot of us have also acquired professional and other skills either through self-learning or from training programs.

However, your technical or hard skills and qualifications can only take you so far.

The right soft skill might be the difference between you and another applicant or give you an edge to excel in the workplace.

1. Communication
Few years ago, a certain doctor lost a medical malpractice case because a patient died in his care. A nurse had failed to inform him that the patient had complained of abdominal pain after his operation. The patient’s red blood cell levels had also dropped. These signs were indicative of internal bleeding. The patient’s condition worsened later and he died. Post mortem examination traced his demise to internal bleeding.

The share prices of many organizations have plummeted because a comment was wrongly interpreted or a public relations campaign was not properly handled.

Tales abound of employees losing their jobs because the wrong person was copied in an email.

Many battles have been lost because the wrong information was passed to the troops at the war-front.

Communication is not just a critical workplace skill. Communication is the glue that holds organizations and workplaces together.

“Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.”

– Earl Sweatshirt

Getting a job requires communication right from when the resume is submitted to the interview.

Communication in the workplace includes interaction with colleagues, vendors/suppliers, partners, clients or prospective customers.

You might communicate horizontally with your peers or vertically with subordinates and superiors.

To succeed on the job, your communication skills must be on point.

2. Time Management
“My village people have done it again,” Obi groaned.

He had just stepped out of the training room of one of Nigeria’s biggest banks. He and several others had been invited to write the aptitude test for the bank’s executive trainee position.

The test had been divided into four sections, quantitative aptitude, verbal reasoning, critical reasoning and current affairs. Each section had 25 questions making a total of 100 questions to be answered in an hour. Each question was worth 1 mark.

The quantitative reasoning questions came first. Obi spent 40 minutes solving the quantitative aptitude questions. He spent 10 minutes solving one particularly tricky question. He finally got the answer and felt triumphant.

He was midway into the critical reasoning section when the time elapsed and the answer sheets were collected from them.

He flipped through the current affairs section and saw question like:

Who is Nigeria’s current president?
Which country won the 2018 Fifa world cup?
Nigeria is divided into how many geopolitical zones?
When did Nigeria have her independence?
Chai !

The current affairs and verbal reasoning questions he hadn’t answered were so easy he could have answered them all in 10 minutes. Yet he had spent 40 minutes in the quantitative aptitude section.

Time is a limited resource and employees who are able to manage it judiciously are highly productive and able to meet defined goals.

Improve your time management with these tips:

Understand your goals and objectives
Prioritize your tasks in line with your goals. Know which tasks are urgent and/or important
Organize your workspace
Delegate when you can
Know your most productive time. Early in the morning, late at night, etc.
Make use of reminders (alarms, phone reminders and apps)
Learn to kill two birds with one stone. You might not need to go to a coworkers office for a meeting if you can schedule a chat with him during lunch in the canteen
Take breaks or walk around to refresh yourself

3. Adaptability
Wale was close to tears as he lumbered along in the torrid Lagos heat. Wale was a marketer with one of the new generation banks. He had just been transferred from the bank branch in Lekki Phase 1 to the Oke Arin branch in Lagos Island. Most of his clients in Lekki were financially literate and well-to-do. They preferred treasury bills, bonds and fixed deposit products. Prospecting them was easy and usually involved stepping down from the comfort of his air-conditioned car into the cosy embrace of their cool offices.

Oh, the life!

He hadn’t anticipated the massive difference in the two locations.

The first change was that he couldn’t drive to meet his prospects. The streets of Oke Arin were crowded with goods, buyers, sellers, tourists and so on. He had to make use of his legs like others.

Most of the traders were interested in savings, loans and fixed deposits accounts rather than bonds and treasury bills. Their concerns included how to make payments to their suppliers in China and other foreign countries.

Most of them spoke English but addressing them in their native languages was an edge most marketers had come to realize.

Wale had to adapt.

Adaptability refers to the ability to alter your behavior in response to a change in the workplace, environment, economy, relationship etc.

When the Treasury Single Account policy was implemented, many financial institutions were caught unawares and had to react.

Individuals and organizations had to adjust to the recession that occurred in Nigeria few years ago.

Change is constant and the ability to adapt or respond is invaluable. Such changes in the office could include:

New competitors
Adoption of open office layout in order to encourage collaboration
New reporting structure
Movement to a new location
Mergers and acquisitions
Lay-offs
New software
Modified KPIs
To compete favorably in the workplace, employees must be able to adapt proactively or reactively to changes.

4. Customer Service Orientation
It doesn’t matter if a business is non-profit or profit driven. Irrespective of an organization’s vision, mission, company culture, product or service, the customer is the reason why organizations and businesses exist.

A contented customer translates to a happy enterprise.

“Today’s consumers do not buy just products or services — more and more, their purchase decisions revolve around buying into an idea and an experience.”

– McKinsey

Studies indicate that customers are likely to stick with enterprises that make them feel good even if they pay more for the service.

Research indicates that customers have higher expectations for good customer service.

It is unsurprising therefore, that organizations seek to employ, retain and promote individuals who have a flair for treating customers or clients right.

You could be a salesman who faces customers directly or an IT support personnel who assists the staff of your organization. Those employees you support are your internal customers.

It’s important to adopt a customer focused mindset as you execute your tasks. A recommendation from a satisfied client or coworker can be invaluable.

5. Problem Solving
Banks help you keep and manage your money. Telecommunication companies enable you communicate with your friends, associates, acquaintances and so on. Hospitals try to keep you healthy. Shopping malls exist to enable you purchase items within the same location. Courier firms assist you to deliver your packages to the right person and at the right time.

You see the trend. Businesses exist to solve problems. Any individual who has a knack for solving problems becomes highly sought after.

A good problem solver is able to assess a need or challenge, identify options and proffer a solution.

Hone your problem-solving skills.

Can you utilize excel to perform calculations and identify patterns for your business unit?
Are you able to assuage an irate customer in the banking hall?
Do you have the skills and patience to navigate the nooks and crannies of Ladipo parts market to purchase a not so common automobile spare part?
Do you have public relations skills that can mitigate the disastrous consequences of your boss’s inappropriate utterances?
An ability to solve problems is invaluable though learnable skill.

6. Collaboration & Team Work
Two heads are better than one. Right?

Forward looking enterprises understand the importance of teamwork and take steps to nurture teamwork and collaboration in their workplaces.

The applicant or employee who can add value to a team is gold. We all have unique talents which we should be able to bring into a team to enhance team dynamics and strengthen the team.

You have to bring something to the team.

Are you the comedian who uses humor to diffuse tension in the workplace?
Do you utilize your good understanding of English to ensure your teams project documents or other office communications are free of grammatical errors?
Are you the Good Samaritan who doesn’t hesitate to stand in for your indisposed colleague?
Your colleague has stage fright. Do you encourage him with a nod of the head when he is making a presentation?
Do you have the chutzpah to defend your team from naysayers?

7. Strategic Thinking & Awareness
“Cleaner from hell”, Joan muttered as she unplugged the phone charger.

Joan was a marketing executive with one of Nigeria’s top marketing and media firms. She had come into the office early that Thursday morning.

She had a 9 am deadline to submit bid documents for a federal government contract. The documents included some multimedia files and would take at least an hour to upload to the government procurement portal.

She finished her final check and initiated the upload by 7:30 am. She stepped out to get some tea.

Joan came back 15 minutes later to discover that the upload had stopped. Closer checks indicated that the Internet router was down.

While she was gone, the office cleaner had stepped in to clean the office. While cleaning, he unplugged the router to charge his phone.

Joan plugged back the router and was able to restart uploading the documents by 7:55 am.

Sadly, she missed the 9 am deadline.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

Most organizations function on three levels: Strategic, Tactical and Operational. The strategic level (top management) typically crafts the mission, vision and direction of the organization. The tactical level (mid-level management) defines the short-term plans and activities that enable the organization to meet its strategic or high level objectives. The operational level includes the daily tasks and processes executed by various functions, roles and departments under the guidance of the tactical/mid-management to meet the strategic/long-term objectives.

As an employee or prospective employee, irrespective of your position in the chain of command, you need to be aware how your job role supports the organization to meet its daily (operational), short-term (tactical) and long term (strategic) objectives.

As a gateman at the security post of a bank, do you realize your smile might be the reason why an angry customer refrains from closing his account?

As a salesperson or marketer, are you aware that the millions the organization puts into product research and development are useless if you’re unable to effectively convince the customer/client to purchase your company’s goods\services?

Employees who understand the impact of their job roles on the entire organization and act appropriately to further the goals of the business are priceless.

Conclusion
Soft skills are personal, behavioral and attitudinal traits needed to succeed on the job.

Hard skills are also important. Hard skills are typically learnt in school and via professional programs.

However, you need soft skills to excel on the job.

Many seemingly average employees are promoted regularly because they understand the dynamics of the workplace and have a good rapport with fellow staff and management.

It’s also key to note that soft skills are more transferable than hard skills across industries and sectors.

Differentiate yourself on skills not qualification.

Source: https://www.openmindedreflections.com/7-indispensable-soft-skills-you-need-to-excel-in-your-job/

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