SOFT SKILLS | VALUE OF HUMAN RELATIONS IN BUSINESS AND LIFE | THE BUSINESS OF GOOD PEOPLE

A Book focussed on the importance of Soft Skills or mainly the Human relations within organizations or corporations and also within people. It gives ways by which we can improve our soft skills. The skills that are gaining importance in not only the corporate world but also in our personal lives.

The author has put a mirror on our education system which has been successful in producing top-ranked people eligible for leadership positions in the organizations. But this system has also produced a major problem. The problem of people lacking basic soft skills or people’s skills.

This book is an attempt to throw fresh light on values that will not only make us good corporates but also effective people who are desired by all. 

TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS BOOK

This book is for the young generation who aspires to be a leader as well as a good person. It will make us realize that the real issue is not of Right Vs Wrong but of Right Vs Good. A person can be right many times but being right doesn’t make a real difference, but being Good and effective and accepting mistakes does makes it. Here we will learn about the soft skills or the people’s skills required for our growth. Because any individual’s continued success depends on how well one absorbs these skills and uses them with the core skills.

“To achieve great things, you must think, believe, and act differently. And it is not just all the wealth and education you can earn, but the Quality of a Person you must become that would ultimately determine whether you will become successful.”

THE LEARNINGS

Below is a list of all the soft skills that we need to develop in ourselves. A click on any of these links will take us to those specific soft skill.

• THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE’S SKILLS IN THE FUTURE.
• MANTRAS THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN DEALING WITH PEOPLE IN BUSINESS.
• HOW TO PLAN OUR DAY?
• FOLLOW-UP. THE ONE THING THAT DISTINGUISHES WINNERS FROM OTHERS.
• MASTER THE ART OF TIMING.
• MASTER NEGOTIATING SKILL.
• MANTRAS THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN DEALING WITH PEOPLE IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.
• MASTER EXECUTIVE PRESENCE – A SKILL TO BE A GREAT LEADER.
• CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE AND PRAISE IN PUBLIC.
• LEARN TO EMBRACE CONFLICTS WHEN NECESSARY.
• ART IS TO FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE JOB AND DELEGATE FOR RESULTS.
• DEVELOP A LIFELONG THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE & TRAINING.
• SELF-DISCIPLINE.
• IMPORTANT POINTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.
• PEOPLE’S SKILL THAT WE ALL NEED.
• CONCLUSION.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE’S SKILLS IN THE FUTURE

Before knowing its future, we should realize first that people’s skills or soft skills have existed on this planet for ages. Human interactions are the very basis of every social network that is formed. This, in turn, is the foundation for every relationship that exists within people throughout the world.

The world is developing fast, and so is its demand for skills. Thus, we need to know about in what ways this soft skill will be beneficial for us to become an asset for the market in the coming future. The skills are:-

• Resource Management. That is allocating time, money, materials, and staff.
• Interpersonal skill. That is working with teams, teaching others, serving customers, leading, negotiating, and working well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Information management. That is organizing and maintaining files. Interpreting and communicating the information and acquiring and evaluating data received.
• Systems. That is designing or improving systems, and understanding social, and technological systems.
• Technology. That is selecting appropriate equipment and tools, applying technology to specific tasks, and maintaining and troubleshooting technologies.

MANTRAS THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN DEALING WITH PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

Identify stakeholders and accountabilities clearly and maintain positive relationships. Here stakeholders include everybody who has an interest in or a part to play or impacted by the things we do. These stakeholders are there in every initiative we take and must never be ignored.

We need to understand each stakeholder’s influence and what impact it can have on the chances of success of the present initiative. Influencers and decisions should be identified and the positive relationships must be kept.

Even our employees too are key stakeholders and must be taken good care of. As if we take good care of them, they too will take good care of the company.

The focus must be on to achieve more within a given time frame. (click here)

Punctuality should be maintained as its this habit which will create our BRAND. Being punctual conveys that we are serious, in absolute control of ourselves, confident and prepared, and do respect others’ time involved in the project/event.

Voice mail should be written down first and then spoke slowly. As doing this we can speak more confidently and put our best voice forward. But it’s important to be to the point and should not be left with a lot of questions unanswered as it is one-way communication. Bad news should not be conveyed through this medium.

We should learn to focus on changing priorities of tasks and plans and align our efforts accordingly. This plan is called priority management.

A habit of taking feedback and giving quality feedback in return should be included in our business. This process will help us finding faults in our process and a chance to improve it. It’s just about keeping an open mind and a desire to improve that will make it easy to implement this habit.

HOW TO PLAN OUR DAY?

To answer this question, Brian Tracy, one of the best living authors in today’s time has shared an excellent technique.

The technique starts with making a list of everything that we need to do throughout the day. The best time to make the list is in the evening after finishing the work for the day. The benefit of this is that the subconscious mind will then store the list and work on it while we sleep. By this, we will wake up with ideas and insights for how to more effectively complete the task for the day.

Then in the morning apply the A B C D E Method.

A = “Must do” – Works that will have serious consequences if not completed.

B = “Should do” – Will have consequences if not done but those will be mild.

C = “Nice to do” – No consequences whatsoever.

D = “Delegate” – Everything that can be transferred to someone else in order to finish it.

E = “Eliminate” – All the work that are not important at all.

If we have several A ranked works, then we can rank those work as A-1, A-2, and so on. The same goes for B and C ranked work.

One thing that should be kept in mind is that we should never do a lower-ranked task unless the higher-ranked task is over. For example, a B ranked task should not be touched unless the A-ranked tasks are over.

FOLLOW-UP. THE ONE THING THAT DISTINGUISHES WINNERS FROM OTHERS.

There is no substitute for it if we want to acquire customers for our business. This art of Following-up even gives a signal to the customers of our genuine interest, concern, and care for them. Now, this art becomes more interesting when a study is found by McGraw Hill that 80% of business contracts are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. But as a fact, only 10% of salespeople make more than 3 contacts.

Moreover, people who follow-up within 24 hours of appearing for interviews have a 50% more chance of getting the job.

We should think of Follow-up as an investment of our time that pays dividends in the forms of leaving a positive impression by showing care and sincerity. It’s a tool for building strong relationships that can ultimately lead to increased sales and profits.

Thus, we need to learn this art as it’s an important tool for career and sales opportunities, building relationships, and friends and professional networks,

MASTER THE ART OF TIMING.

Probably one of the most important art that we need to master in order to achieve anything worthy in our lives.

As if ignored, then the day will not be far when we realize that we have lost control over ourselves and the happenings.

But before mastering this art, first, we need to master the art of patience. As if they both are not mastered simultaneously there are chances that we could lose all that we have created through many years of dedication.

To start with, we must learn to control our emotional responses to events. Fear, anger, and anxiety blind us from putting our focus on the important things that matter.

There is a good and a bad time for everything, in both our personal and professional relationships. So, we need to understand this fact and plan accordingly.

MASTER NEGOTIATING SKILL.

Negotiation is an interactive communication process that may take place whenever we want something from someone or vice versa.

It’s the basic skill that is required for any business to succeed. As the market is full of choices of products, it’s our skill that’s under scrutiny with the way we get the required product or services that too at a genuine price. Thus, this skill needs preparation.

Here are some tips that will help us in our preparation for negotiation.

• Identify other parties’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Be open-minded to discuss the issues in different ways and then come to the conclusion.
• Make more “I” statements to bring more authority in the conversation of negotiation.
• Keep the emotions under control.
• Need to learn non-verbal communication signs.
• Look for common ground, interests, and needs on which to build agreement.
• Listen more, talk less.
• Make it easy to say “yes”.

One important thing that we must be prepared for before the negotiation, is what should be our walk away condition. That is what should be our least price to accept. It’s around this price that we would discuss with the other party.

Another point is to maintain momentum, as it’s important to take breaks between conversations but this break should not be during key discussions or before the agreement is coming to a conclusion.

MANTRAS THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN DEALING WITH PEOPLE IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.

First impressions do create a lasting impression upon others and need to be taken good care of. This impression is created on the basis of our appearance, our handshake, our body language, our courteous and attentive behavior, and how we have dressed.

It’s important to create our own style as this style will create our own individual brand. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore others, but observe others. Take the positives from them and reject the negatives and include them into our own personality.

We should make time to travel, learn new cultures, make good friends, and enjoy life.

Take initiatives and do not be afraid to make mistakes. Because making mistakes is an actual sign of taking real initiatives. And this take itself is a fantastic move towards development.

It’s important for us to not to put restrictions or imaginary wall around us after an unfavorable experience. In place of that, we should communicate, connect, and collaborate more during that time. It will be difficult at first but the truth is we humans are social creatures, our power lies in the interaction with others. As these interactions increase our knowledge and this is what we strive for.

We need to be a peace-maker and not conflict originator.

Embrace changes but hold the constants. As in do not ignore the beauty of relationships in the race of acquiring wealth.

Find Mentors and learn from them every day if we really want to be successful. As our lifespan is small to learn everything on our own.

Learning to lose and sharing failures is the next step towards success.

It’s very important to build a network of connections. As for the simple reason, every connection can provide us as many solutions that we would never possibly able to solve alone.

MASTER EXECUTIVE PRESENCE – A SKILL TO BE A GREAT LEADER.

Executive presence can be described as a skill set that makes a simple person eligible to be a great leader. But like every skill set, this too needs to be strengthened by practice. Here we would discuss some of the traits divided into three dimensions that are required to strengthen our executive presence.

PERSONAL DIMENSION

Passion. This trait is an expression of motivation and engagement which convinces others to believe our commitment to what we say and do.

Poise. It can be detected by the sophistication we hold in our attitude. It signifies that we are comfortable in our surroundings and have the courage to handle any adversity.

Self Confidence. One of the most important traits. It provides assurance and optimism to others and convinces them that we have the required strength and resources to initiate and lead.

COMMUNICATION DIMENSION

Candor. It’s our willingness to being honest and truthful to the responsibility along with the acceptance to engage with the world as it is.

Clarity. A trait to be clear, precise and compelling in whatever we say.

Openness. The ability to accept others’ views and opinions without any hesitation or ego.

RELATIONAL DIMENSION.

Thoughtfulness. Being concerned about others’ thoughts which help in making strong relationships.

Sincerity. It’s about the conviction of believing in and mean what is said.

Warmth. The appearance of being accessible to others, both physically and emotionally.

CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE AND PRAISE IN PUBLIC.

A soft skill that will win us more loyal stakeholders in any of our initiatives whether personal or professional. Because criticizing in public humiliates people and humiliated people will have no loyalty for the workplace or its people.

But criticism is important if something wrong has been done. So how it needs to be done?

The answer to it is that we need to become a strategic critic or believe in the power of positive criticism. For this, we need to follow these points.

• We need to take responsibility for the communication we have. As the criticism should not be with a motive of insulting. But should be with a motive for improvement.
• Offer specific solutions and goals so as to help the person get a path to achieve specific goals.
• It’s our responsibility to protect the self-esteem of the other person while delivering criticism.

Public recognition is another way to win loyal stakeholders. As it can motivate a person 100 times than any private award. People do strive hard to receive that recognition in public.

For the organization as well praising an employee publicly ensures that a person’s continued loyalty and commitment towards the firm.

LEARN TO EMBRACE CONFLICTS WHEN NECESSARY.

Conflicts are inevitable when working together in a group of 2 or more people. People will have different viewpoints and that’s quite natural in an organization. It’s said that having healthy conflicts is a feature of a high functioning team.

Every team member must be open to these differences and embrace them. As people with varying viewpoints, experiences, skills, and opinions combined for a single objective project, has the potential to surprise with the results that they will achieve in comparison to the achievement any single individual can.

The important thing is to maintain a healthy balance of constructive difference of opinion and avoid negative conflicts which are destructive.

Thus, it’s important to embrace conflicts with a view to creating a win-win situation where both parties gain.

ART IS TO FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE JOB AND DELEGATE FOR RESULTS.

Delegation is a practice of passing on responsibility and authority to individuals and teams and holding them accountable for results.

But this practice doesn’t look all that simple. It’s a skill of identifying the correct individual to whom the leader would have complete trust and can hold him/her accountable for the results.

This skill requires complete awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of every team member. At the same time, the leader should also be aware of the development need of his/her people. Through this analysis, the leader will be able to assign them challenges that will be good for their individual growth.

It’s important to remember that delegation should not be for just task completion but for results. For results, the authority must be given for decision making, as this will enhance the chances of getting the desired results.

Thus, the key to be a successful leader is identifying the right person for the right job and delegating full authority to him/her. This is a win-win strategy for both as the leader gets more time for doing other important jobs, and the assigned person too gets an opportunity for growth.

DEVELOP A LIFELONG THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE & TRAINING.

There are some constants that we hold and can never be taken away from us. We can term these constants as human capital. This capital includes our education, knowledge, skills, attitude, and values. It’s a fact that these are the real capital that we truly acquire.

Our job, wealth, friends, are physical assets that we value but are not permanent in real sense.

Thus, if we want to grow and leave a legacy for others in life, it’s the human capital that requires development every single day. For this development, there are some ways by which it can help us in this growth.

Firstly, we should spend time every day reading in our area of operations about what are the recent developments that are happening and what can we do to use it.

Secondly, we can listen to audio programs. And thirdly, attend seminars and webinars that are related to our respective fields.

We should make an honest effort to spend about 3% of our earnings every month into ourselves in order to make us an appreciating and inspiring asset in society.

SELF-DISCIPLINE.

As is said by the great American writer, Elbert Hubbard, “Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

Self-discipline is as important for success as is eating our everyday meal. Without this, even the greatest of people with the best of background and opportunities can rarely rise.

Self-discipline is an art, and to master this art we need to win a battle with our own mindset. The battle to make a choice between doing what is easy and fun and doing what is hard but correct. For long term success, this battle has to be won by the second choice every single second of the day.

Successful people make a habit of doing the things that unsuccessful people don’t like to do. Because they know that this is the price they have to pay if they want to enjoy greater success.

IMPORTANT POINTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.

Here come the points that we, who want to be entrepreneurs or are already in this amazing journey need to keep in mind for consideration.

Here we would slate out the points that big corporations follow in order to create loyal and best-performing employees which will make loyal customers in due course and ultimately grow the company’s reputation.

• Maintain a good quality working environment which will enhance creativity and will to work.
• Focus on employee satisfaction, this will automatically make satisfied customers.
• Promote the concept of a Pay-for-performance reward system. This will encourage employees to take responsibility for the result of the work.
• Reduce the obstacles that come in front of the performance of the employee.
• Promote corporate culture and management style that includes factors like flexible work arrangements, encourage teamwork, and offer equal rewards for everybody.
• Telecommuting enhances profitability. That is practice work from home, as this reduces absenteeism and tardiness.
• Embrace work-life balance.
• Train employees with the skill of how to listen and help other employees resolve problems on their own. This will reduce lost-time in revolts and enhance productivity.
• The focus must be given on employee health and wellness.
• Support should be given to employees who are creative in their work as this produces growth in them as well as the company.
• Don’t hesitate to pay employees slightly more than the market price. As, if the employees are responsible than this extra will act as the motivation for them to give that extra bit for the benefit of the organization. Also, they will find motivation because it would be hard to find a similar opportunity and wage elsewhere.

Apart from many differences in their strategies of the business. All the top companies of the world have few things in common. That is there selective recruiting, fair compensation, clear direction, and purpose.

PEOPLE’S SKILL THAT WE ALL NEED.

This section will provide us with the qualities, skills, and thoughts that we should develop which will help us in bringing our best that we have.

The good thing is that some of these skills in human relations will already be present within us. We just need to add some in order to differentiate ourselves from the crowd and take ourselves to greater heights of personal and professional success. So, let’s begin.

Always Smile. Smiling helps us stay positive. Force a smile when facing any challenging situation- it’s invariable that we will start feeling good.

Communicate. It should be practiced as we practice our religion. It should be simple and meaningful and consistent.

Practice Patience. It is essential as it gives us self-control, be more loving and strength to achieve what we want.

Practice Humility. This skill makes a person from good to great. It’s about being grateful for what we have and for the challenges as these challenges leave us stronger.

Always stand for what is right and not for what looks to be correct.

Gather Courage. Its important since future is uncertain.

Develop Prudence. Knowing about when to keep quiet increases the value of our words when said.

Master Presentation skill.

Develop Emotional Intelligence. It’s the ability to manage emotions and resolve conflicts positively.

Nurture Adaptability. It’s the ability to be flexible and adjust to changing situations.

Be Approachable. Because it’s a fact that approachable people are the first to seize chances due to their confidence.

Develop Critical Thinking skills.

Maintain Good personal Appearance.

Keep the Learning attitude.

Take responsibility for our lives and do not blame others.

Learn to say “Sorry”.

Develop Public Speaking Skills.

Learn to Speak-up.

Value Diversity in every individual.

Strike a Balance in life.

Take Initiative.

CONCLUSION

With this, we come to the end of the blog. I hope it has instilled in all of us an eagerness to change whatever we lack personally and professionally.

This blog has an answer to what all changes that we need to do in terms of our business and our personal lives.

It gives us the ways that will be effective in dealing with people both in business and our personal lives. It shows us the way on how to plan our day in order to achieve more in a given time.

This blog points out one of the most desirable skills to become a successful leader in today’s time. We also see the importance of selecting the right people and how to prepare them for bigger challenges.

After all these points of recommendation, we come closer to our objective by providing some points on how to manage our entrepreneurial journey in the most effective ways possible.

At last, we end with the people skills that we all need in our day to day life. The skills that will make us more desirable and above all a good human altogether.

Before going off, I want to keep reminding my readers that we all are stronger than we think. It’s just about taking that initiative and with persistence, we will WIN.