Significantly Improve Your Soft Skills and Find Your Cape
Why soft skills hacks? Well, technical expertise alone is no longer enough to secure success in today’s world. Jack Ma, founder of founder of Alibaba – China’s billion-dollar company, has long advocated for the importance of soft skills—traits such as caring for others (emotional intelligence) and teamwork.
If the machine can do better, you have to think about it.’ – Jack Ma
In essence, soft skills are the key differentiators that will enable humans to stand out in an era increasingly dominated by machines and AI, safeguarding you from the threat of redundancy.
Research supports this: a recent study on SMEs in Cameroon found that improved communication and emotional intelligence significantly boost job performance.
Similarly, LinkedIn’s latest analysis shows that employees with both hard and soft skills are promoted faster—by as much as 8%—compared to those who focus solely on technical competencies.
Greg Lewis, Sr. Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn, concludes the report on a clear note. Though soft skills may be harder to quantify than hard skills, it’s important to remember that they can sometimes count for more.
So Here Are 25 Soft Skills Hacks
With the above, here are 25 actionable tips that can help you enhance these crucial abilities and advance in your career. Whether you’re looking to boost your current job performance or increase your chances of promotion, developing a well-rounded skill set will make all the difference.
1- Time Management
Set your desktop’s timer, phone or shout at Alexa, ‘Timer 20 minutes’ for every time you don’t want to start what is important.
Then, do 20 minutes.
I promise you that you’ll feel amazing afterwards (the endorphins flow!).
Read more on Time Management for soft skills hacks.
2- Eat That Frog
Choose your biggest and most important task and do it first thing.
Mark Twain said, ‘If you have to eat a live frog, do it first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.’
Read more on Eat that Frog for soft skills hacks.
3- Cabbage Butterfly
A cabbage butterfly flutters around nibbling holes in each cabbage and never eating a whole one. This is us at work, flitting from one task to another. Never completing any task.
Don’t be a cabbage butterfly! Start a task and finish it. Then do the next.
Read more on Cabbage Butterfly for soft skills hacks.
4- Eisenhower’s Matrix
President Eisenhower said, ‘I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.’
Use this matrix to identify first what is important & urgent, and then what is important but not yet urgent.
Read more on this time management matrix for soft skills hacks.
5- The Push and Pull Influencing Technique
Push: To share what’s in your head with someone else.
Pull: To find out what’s in the other person’s head.
Are you a pusher or a puller?
Read more on the Push and Pull Influencing Technique for soft skills hacks.
6- The Power of ‘Because’
Because it has been proven to influence, even if the reason is hollow. So try using ‘because’ a bit more.
7- 78 Persuasion Techniques
Getting other people to do what you want is a superpower. The majority of us use 7 techniques, like ‘please’ or logic or ‘I’ll be your best friend’.
But there are 71 other persuasion techniques you don’t use. Read more on the 78 Persuasion Techniques for Soft Skills Hacks.
8- Your Screen Influence
On average people only take up 12% of their screen which decreases their influence online significantly. It’s better to take up as much of your screen as possible.
Read more on Screen Influence for soft skills hacks.
9- 4 Negotiation Stages
There are 4 stages of a negotiation:
- Prepare
- Explore
- Propose
- Summarise
…we added the ‘i’ so you’d remember them! Just remember the ‘PEPSI’ acronym for negotiation.
Read more on this soft skills hack with negotiators.
10- Find the Hidden Meanings When You Negotiate
Learn to identify the keywords…
- Little in, ‘A little bit lower’.
- Exactly in, ‘It’s not exactly where we want to be’.
- About in, ‘I need about £500 less’.
These keywords give away their real intent or hidden meaning.
11- Don’t Prepare for Negotiations with PowerPoint
Most people prepare for a negotiation by opening PowerPoint. But it is NOT a negotiation preparation tool.
So here’s a negotiation preparation tool. Download a free A4 tried and tested negotiation preparation template. Just Google: ‘negotiation preparation squaredance’.
Read more on negotiation preparation using squaredance for soft skills hacks.
12- ‘If you… then I…’
The most taught negotiation tool in the world because it is so simple to use and very effective.
You’re buying a secondhand car:
“If you can accept £2,500, then I will pay in cash.”
Read more on If you then I for soft skills hacks.
13- Three Leadership Qualities
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Big Picture:
They strive to see the bigger picture. Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, wanted to create a consistent burger. That was his big picture.
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Big Decisions:
The courage to make decisions about what the vision is and how it is achieved, and to accept the consequences, good or bad.
-
Big Belief:
Imagine if every failure had James Dyson questioning what he was doing to the point where he couldn’t move forward. Dyson wouldn’t be outselling Hoover 4:1 in the UK.
Read more on Leadership Qualities for soft skills hacks.
14- Five Levels of Listening
Pay attention to level 5!
- Ignoring listening – we completely ignore what has been said.
- Pretend listening – we use body language and eye contact to show that we are listening, but the reality is we are not.
- Selective listening – we listen to the parts that interest us and switch off for the parts that don’t.
- Attentive listening – we pay attention and really take on board what has been said.
- Empathetically listening – we concentrate and listen to understand the intent behind the message (Leaders do this more!).
Read more on Listening for soft skills hacks to listen more empathetically.
15- Leaders Don’t Need to Be ‘Leaders’
When we think of leaders, we think of Directors and alike. But leaders don’t need to be leaders by position.
They can be leaders just because they choose to do the right thing, the important thing, or they make the best choice, even when their title says that they don’t have to.
Enhance These Soft Skills Hacks with Leadership Training
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Now back to the article…
16- Feedback is the ‘F’ word
We think of feedback, and we think of conflict. Let’s change that…
Leaders, please simply add a because to your ‘well done’, ‘great job’ or ‘loving ya’ work’.
From: ‘Loving ya work’.
Becomes: ‘Loving ya work because you looked much more confident in the presentation with the client.’
Because if we tell people what they do well, they’ll do more of it.
Read more on constructive feedback for soft skills hacks.
17- Ground Yourself With Strong Roots
Often when presenting, you are nervous, breathing shallowly, and high in voice. So ground yourself like a tree.
Imagine your feet digging into the ground like the roots of a tree. This will bring you confidence when you present.
18- Proper Presentation Preparation
Do not prepare for a presentation by opening PowerPoint and typing.
Use the STRETCH mnemonic to help you to prepare much better for presentations.
Just Google ‘Do Not Start with PowerPoint – 7 Pieces of Preparation‘.
19- Use the Presentation Compass
Monotone presentations are about as engaging as eating cardboard.
So engage your audience by presenting with variety. See the below diagram for the 7 options to help you do this.
Of the 7 options, change at least one thing when you present, to improve your engagement. (Pause is the centre of the compass).
20- Complement Your Images in Your Presentations
In your presentations make sure you complement your images, instead of just using the words to simply says what the image is.
Which image below is better – the left or the right?
21- Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model
Two bright sparks created this model which tells us that there are 5 ways we can behave in conflict. Based on two axis; How assertive we are and How cooperative we are.
We all default to one of these 5 behaviours. Well, each behaviour has its advantages and disadvantages.
Which one are you? Read more on Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model for soft skills hacks to find out.
22- Treacherous Tightrope
Sometimes people put us on a treacherous tightrope. This is because they can’t make a decision and want to see us fall, saving them the need to make a decision. Learn to conquer this!
Read more on Treacherous Tightrope for soft skills hacks.
23- The Drama Triangle
The drama triangle is one we have all experienced.
For example, the Kid is the victim, Mum is the rescuer, and Dad is the persecutor ‘when he gets home’.
Knowing that you have been in each role of the 3 roles, at one time or another in your life, will help you to stop entering into this triangle.
Read more on Drama Triangle for soft skills hacks.
24- Resolve Conflicts by Knowing Your Options
When you are in conflict, there are 8 ways to solve it. Know these 3 things:
- Negotiation is one way.
- Haggling and negotiating are different.
- All are valid options. Choosing the right one for the situation is the key.
Read more on resolving conflict for soft skills hacks.
25- GROW Coaching Technique
Google’s very large project, Oxygen, found two things when it analysed many people’s performance documents:
- Line managers’ worst soft skill is coaching.
- The soft skill that line managers need to be excellent at is…coaching.
The GROW Coaching technique:
- G Goal: What do you want to achieve?
- R Reality: Where are you right now?
- O Options: What are your options?
- W Way Forward: What is your next step?
Read more on GROW Coaching Technique for soft skills hacks.
Concluding Our Soft Skills Hacks
In this article, we’ve explored 25 essential soft skills hacks, ranging from time management to negotiation, along with additional resources to help you unlock your full potential. To take the next step in your personal development, assess your progress with our free Competency Framework. Simply complete the form below to access it.
