How to improve your soft skills

Whether you’re studying, at work, or somewhere in between – there’s never a bad time to develop or enhance your soft skills. Improving soft skills is a worthwhile effort because you can use them at school, work, social or any other occasion throughout your life and career. 

Keep reading to learn how to get started and maximise your soft skills for success. Here are five ways to improve your soft skills fast!

ASK FOR FEEDBACK

Being open to feedback is a great way to understand your strengths and weaknesses. There are different people and opportunities to gain input from and collect others' suggestions. For example, you can ask your teachers, career advisors, sports coaches, work supervisors or managers, or even family and friends for their insights. The more perspectives you hear, the better. 

Receiving feedback can help you objectively assess where you are at. If the feedback you receive is not positive, try not to take it to heart, but instead, focus on what you can do about it and change it for the better, that is how you can grow, evolve and brush up your soft skills.

TAKE AN ONLINE COURSE

With so many free online courses available, there’s no better way to learn and build your soft skills than from the comfort of home. Lucky for you, they are easily accessible and often very affordable. 

You can look up courses on public speaking, presenting, writing, adaptability, teamwork, communication and many more other soft skills. Some of the most popular online platforms include Udemy, Coursera, EdX and Open Universities Australia. 

To learn about online course platforms that can boost your career, click here. Check 'em out and find something that will help you become a soft skills superstar! 

COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY

Practice your communication skills by talking to different people across a range of situations and scenarios. This might be teachers, peers, advisors, mentors or employers. Ask questions, listen carefully and try to keep eye contact.

Many people have an intrinsic fear of speaking either to one person, a small group or a large audience. So, having fear is normal to a certain extent. That's why it's important to practice, to push yourself out of your comfort zone and develop your skills. Next time your teacher or boss asks for someone to step up and speak - put your hand up and dive in! 

LISTEN MORE

Good listening skills will be handy and valuable in any future work. You'd be surprised about the amount of information you can grasp if you focus purely on listening - and not answering, continuing the conversation or asking further questions. 

Practising and focusing on listening will help you in job interviews, making better impressions and making friends because everyone appreciates being heard. 

GET WRITING

Solid writing skills will support your overall communication skills. Practice writing clearly and concisely, and always give your work one final read through. Good writing is critical because it's an inevitable aspect of everyone's career journey. You need good writing from the moment you're in school, uni, in applying for jobs or on the job, such as emails and texts. 

A great place to start is to have a refresher on grammar, punctuation and spelling. After that, think about the language and vocabulary you use and if it's work-friendly. Lastly, have a look at how you structure your sentences and combine paragraphs. If you find it difficult to do on your own, ask someone (preferably someone with decent writing skills already) to read it and share their opinion.