What are the soft skills most in demand by companies?

According to the World Economic Forum, it is estimated that by 2025, 50% of employees will need upskilling. ?

Strengthening their engagement through the development of soft skills, also called power skills, will be key. These tools are ways of thinking and being that allow us to monitor our own mental health and interact in social situations in a positive way. Where hard skills require doing, soft skills focus on ways of being or thinking. Nowadays, selection processes are in a phase where methodologies and priorities are being reformulated, and HR managers are increasingly aware of the need to include the detection of soft skills that guarantee that the candidate and the company’s corporate culture are aligned. This means giving greater consideration to certain skills related to emotional intelligence that go beyond technical knowledge. These personal and social skills facilitate human relations and enable successful performance in the workplace.

In international environments of great social and cultural diversity they are even more necessary. But, What are the Power Skills most in demand by companies globally, and can these skills be trained?

And this is our Top 5.

Communication: It's all about communication. And for it to be effective with colleagues, customers, the corporation and all our stakeholders, it requires skill and emotional intelligence. But also empathy and compassion. A key area within this is micro-communication. Controlling these small, close and direct communications: emails, notes, calls that manage to transmit and engage on an emotional level. Proper communication generates trust. In international and culturally diverse companies where the company language is English - but not the mother tongue of all their professionals - learning the language from scratch or improving it along with the transferable soft skills can be relevant and meaningful to the business.

Leadership skills: Inspiration, flexibility, decision-making or problem-solving, negotiation, learning ability and vision. Also remote leadership. It is about becoming a reference point and a role model for the team. Only by developing these skills will we be able to generate trust in our teams. These skills are also associated with the ability to help the team grow and develop a whirlwind of creativity by finding innovative methods and solutions to problems from other perspectives.

Teamwork and its alignment with the organisation and with the competitive and international environment: In highly diverse and international environments, teamwork becomes even more important. It fosters learning and provides different points of view and perspectives on our regular tasks or on key company projects. A study published by Infojobs in which they interviewed more than 1,000 recruiters in Spanish companies states that this is also the skill most valued by companies. Cooperation predicts a person's ability to adapt and be flexible. An open-minded attitude to the ideas and proposals of others guarantees learning.

Adaptability and Organisation: This is the ability to respond appropriately to environmental pressures. It is linked to the development of organisational skills that allow the development of new processes and behaviours that respond to contexts where change is a determining element. Technological evolution, new work schemes and economic fluctuations make this one of the most sought-after and highly valued soft skills. Adaptability allows us to break with established paradigms and requires stepping out of the comfort zone.

Critical thinking and problem-solving: This is halfway between thinking skills and soft skills and, according to the World Economic Forum, it tops the list of qualities that employers believe will grow in importance in the coming years. Critical thinking is the ability to analyse an issue in an attempt to avoid bias and present arguments based on reflection. It is evaluating by questioning, and has a direct impact on decision-making and problem-solving.

We said it earlier: Soft Skills are not acquired in the same way as Hard Skills, but there but there are practical ways to improve them. If you haven't yet started working on these skills, we remind you that 6 out of 10 managers believe that 85% of business success is attributable to them.?

Find out more about Soft Skills for Agile Management at ESCP Business School

https://escp.eu/programmes/open-programmes/soft-skills-for-agile-management-certificate