Your Intangible Skills

When it comes to the day-to-day work that providers do, many of us think about all the specialty hard skills, the tangible, technical proficiencies we have mastered or need to master.  #BoardCertified #DoubleBoardCertified.  However, soft skills are just as important, if not more essential. Provider teams, especially professionals that no longer have the benefit of working in the same office location or at the same time as other providers within the practice, department or system, need to depend on different aspects of our soft skills to continue feeling engaged and achieving goals.  Even if your role is easily performed from afar or in isolation, it is likely that someone depends on your work.  This is where your soft skills can make or break your success and even your career. Doubtful? Let’s look at how…

No matter your role within a company, CEO, administrator, clinical director to an entry-level position, soft skills are essential in helping you thrive in the workplace. They are so important that when something isn’t working or feels off, it is often rooted in a soft skillset vs. a technical skill mishap.  They are used and beneficial in any company, in any industry. If you find yourself with new work responsibility or the chance for one, soft skills are often one of the drivers for your newfound success, the reason you were hired, or why someone is trying to recruit you into a position.  #KnowYourStrengths #UnderstandYourWeaknesses #DoTheWork 

Here are some of the top soft skills that recruiters, hiring managers and business owners are looking for to drive success in a remote work environment:

• Accountability: Take responsibility for outcomes. This could be for an action you’ve done yourself, participated in as a team and most importantly, for your direct reports. The buck stops here – and you are the here.
• Assertiveness: Be confident in yourself and allow yourself the grace to not always be right. Don’t let fear of being wrong stop you from sharing and participating.  Acting courageous and enthusiastic with your communications and actions isn’t always easy, and it is often necessary. And don’t forget to balance your newfound assertiveness with respect, it will take you and your good work farther.  If you need to fake it till you become it, practice. 
• Collaboration & Teamwork: Do not be afraid to ask for help or to help others. Some tasks are better done together and partnering can get work done faster. Combine your efforts and resources toward a common goal and be respectful of others if they have a different viewpoint or method of getting a job done. In some instances, you may need to compromise. In others, do not be afraid to swallow your pride if the task gets completed in the desired outcome. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets credit.
• Conflict Management: Maintaining a healthy relationship with your coworkers is crucial to have a productive work environment. Conflict management is a skillset that helps you compromise and resolve disagreements in a respectful manner. Don’t let little things build up into big issues, and work to solve misunderstandings on a one-to-one basis first, in-person, video chat or over the phone – not in email or text.  
• Practical: Have calm, commonsense thinking. Think realistically when it comes to goals and outcomes and the time it will take to reach them. Setting unrealistic goals in unrealistic timeframes to often leads to failure and disappointment. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dream and push, if simply means that big visions need a level of practically to come true. 
• Creativity: Think, do, and express in ways that are outside of the box. This could be by creating new design ideas, processes or simply variations of current techniques to get tasks done. 
• Critical Thinking: Think in a disciplined manner that is clear, rational, open minded, and evidence based. Looking at problems from different points of view often opens new paths to solutions.  Take the side you disagree with most and argue for it – exercises like that will open your mind and allow you to determine options more openly.
• Enriching Others: Give positive reinforcement and support to those around you. Help create a healthy positive work environment. Be accepting of other’s differences. Mostly, find ways to contribute to the greater good of a project and others.
• Problem Solving: Hone the ability to identify obstacles. Discuss, analyze, and solve for challenges in both conventional and unconventional ways. 
• Productivity: Set and meet goals. Work hard but smart. Prioritize, plan, and manage tasks to knock them out of the way and to achieve your best results.
• Relationship Management: Build relationships with those around you. Be aware of their emotions and take them into consideration if they’re having a bad or unsuccessful day. Stop the often-natural tendency to think the worst and give everyone the benefit of the doubt.  You’ll appreciate it when they do the same for you.
• Self-Assessment: Self-reflect. Determine your strengths and limitations. See where you would add value to a situation or where you could improve and reach out for help. Often understanding your biggest weakness
• Service Orientation: Anticipate and meet people’s often unspoken needs. This can be done by helping them, introducing them to products, or services. Strive to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Show them how you stand out from other places by being attentive and insightful. 
• Stress Tolerance: Be able to endure pressure and uncertainty without becoming negative toward self or others. Be able to handle fast-pace or changing environments or excessive workloads through proper management methods. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help when needed. 

As you read that list, did any skills resonate as talents you feel you may already possess?  How about those that stick out as opportunities for improvement? First, you should identify the soft skills you naturally align with or that you feel you already have mastered. These should appear under Strengths on your resume, during interviews, and as you look for ways to add value to your current team. 

Are you uncertain about what these might be? It’s sometimes hard to understand your strengths, particularly if it is something that comes more naturally.  A good way to identify the skills that should already be listed in your Strengths Column is to ask your current or former boss, talk with coworkers and close friends or take online assessments. Next, to strengthen the skills you feel are important but may lack mastery, read about them, inquire about training that may be available through your current job, or even take an online class. There are many online or in-person classes that vary in length and depth. It is also useful to interview someone who has the skill or skills you’re hoping to start working on. There is a lot to learn from those that are already practicing what you hope to develop.