?? You Can Keep Sharpening Your Soft Skills—Even When You Work from Home ??

Today, the contribution of humans in any kind of working environment has been elevated to the status of empathy and creativity as the AI technology and work from home have been adopted in this realisation.

On the other hand, the virtual job applicants claim that using Slack and Zoom for communicating and networking, making it harder for them to achieve this objective, call this a necessary objective.

Then, how should we refine or develop our soft skills in a virtual environment?Let’s explore some strategies:

1. Engage in Face-to-face discussions with team members to create a collective meaning and develop a norm of behaviour.

Commence with developing a kind and collaborative culture that will thrive by the meetings with your colleagues based on the integral conversations. Engage in the conversation about likes and dislikes with work mates, communication styles and interactions.

From time immemorial, music has played a significant role in our lives. It has the capability to communicate, express, and convey a wide range of real – life emotions.

Music can be used to express joy, love, anger, frustration or even despair. Probe deep into their minds to expose their deep-seated biological drives and built-in instincts.

Rather, you will create connections between the affiliates in the group of the same values and norms, and this in turn will lead to empathy and mutual kind of people in the team.

Example: Sarah, senior specialist for remote team, holds one-on-one meetings with each member of team to form personalised private working style and professional short-term and long-term goals.?

The achievement of such an atmosphere of openness and trust will be the result of the discussions that will be held all the time, and together, this will ensure harmonious team work even in the case when they work remotely.

2. Lead teammates that it's alright to be heard and be noticed.

Illustrate respect for other people during virtual meetings. Walk into the conversation during break time freely showing your interest in what they are doing. This sign of respect is very effective. Lend your ear and become an active listener who is friendly and open to discuss matters that go beyond work-related topics. Show the things that give you joy.

At times, it is a sense of haphazardness and sincerity to have room for non-work topics. Seeing your teammates through as individuals will make an organisation a place of compassion and intimacy.

Example: When James gets a chance during the virtual team meeting, he asks his colleague about his new hobby of gardening which makes him more interested to learn from him. This gesture is refined, but critical, since it gives team members awareness and acceptance of self-belonging, which in turn enhances team relations.

3. Proactively Seek Feedback

When there are no random ‘face-to-face’ communications, be assertive and ask your colleagues as well as your boss what they think of your work.?

Establish a regular review-process if necessary to check progress, identify challenges, and reveal possible gaps. Masculine trait even while accepting criticism as your polisher or strengthener.

Moreover, it will be prudent of you to request for immediate feedback from the group members after virtual meetings as they can be a good source of information and a platform to work on your communication skills.

Example: Mark, a dream manager of remote teams, leads feedback sessions twice a week with the team to find out how they are doing and helps the team members personally. Employees will be asked to give opinions so that the workers can excel in a virtual environment and further develop their soft skills. Thus, their productivity and competency will be improved.

4.? Seek Out In-Person Interactions

Online shopping has gradually replaced the process of going out, getting your hands on products, and collecting different experiences while shopping, so it has now become a challenge for retailers to create engaging physical experiences in shopping environments.

Do not forget to make use of physical contacts if possible. However, the fact that a remote job brings many opportunities for such work should not discourage you from using the possibility of physical contacts. While it could be in the forms of team get-togethers or coffee meetings, try to let the real-time customer services as the pearls that you should collect at work for your career advancement.

These instances bind you more to a group and makes you work with distributed teams in that the spark for collaboration would be produced among the team instead.

Example: Aashish, a certified chartered accountant who is experienced, regulates team retreats at different intervals so that his remote team have reasons to meet at locations for physical meetings and group discussion with his team members. He refers the team to one another's essential feelings and makes them believe all they have is something more important than it is themselves; that act builds cohesion and morum for the team.

Through working remotely we must be proactive in shaping soft skills on our own despite all the difficulties and adversities. However, this process includes empathy nourishment, meaningful and on-going relationships and constant self-improvement as part of Cognitive Revolution and shaping up of the age of digital.

Hoping you will have a successful and thrilling experience in your journey to professional progress.

Best regards,

Aashish Singhal

Founder, Navigating Leadership with The Financial Soul

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