why is critical thinking a soft skill

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Critical thinking is the one skillset you can't afford not to master

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What is critical thinking?

5 characteristics of critical thinking, what are critical thinking skills, and why are they important, 6 key critical thinking skills, critical thinking example in real-life, 13 ways to start thinking critically.

Whether you’re aiming to improve your performance at work or simply trying to live a more fulfilling life , you’ll need a variety of hard and soft skills to move the needle. Some skills come naturally to some people, while others need to develop them actively.

One of these skills is critical thinking. But critical thinking itself is made up of several types of skills that contribute to solving problems more effectively.

Let’s explore the different types of critical thinking skills and how you can start improving them to level up your career.

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze facts objectively and form a judgment. It is a form of emotional intelligence .

Someone with critical thinking skills can think clearly and rationally when the situation demands it. It allows them to perform problem-solving and decision-making more effectively. 

As a result, you can look further than what you see at face value. You’re able to analyze what you see from a situation and gain some insight that goes further than what’s obvious to anyone from the outside.

Critical thinking also requires being able to understand the logical connection between two or more ideas or concepts. For example, a team working on a company’s pricing strategy needs to think critically about several concepts. 

Both the marketing and sales teams must work together. They need to analyze how to maximize sales. But they need to do so while also meeting profit goals. It’s important to understand the logical connection between sales strategy and marketing logistics. It’s the only way to get a good outcome.

Critical thinking is different from creative thinking . Creative thinking is the ability to generate brand new, innovative ideas. On the other hand, critical thinking requires you to carefully and logically analyze what information is given to you. Both are important to maximize results in any given situation.

What defines critical thinking? How does it affect the decision-making process? Here are five characteristics that make up the ability to think critically.

1. Dispositions

Critical thinkers have specific traits that allow them to think the way they do. Some people are predisposed to these traits, while others need to develop them actively.

Some of these dispositions include:

• Open-mindedness
• Respecting evidence and reasoning
• Being able to consider different perspectives and points of view: in other words, having cognitive flexibility
• Not being stuck in one position
• Clarity and precision

2. Argument

Good critical thinkers need to make solid arguments. 

An argument is making a statement aided by supporting evidence. It’s important to use well thought-out arguments when you’re in a constructive conflict . When analyzing a situation critically, you’ll need to make several arguments in your own mind to come to a judgment. 

3. Reasoning

In addition to arguments, critical thinking also requires inferring conclusions. From the facts and arguments presented to you, you need to use reasoning skills to come to a logical conclusion. 

This conclusion will determine the best course of action to take.

4. Criteria

Critical thinking is sometimes a matter of discerning truth from fiction. Not all facts presented to you may have the same level of truth. Certain conditions need to be met for something to be considered believable, and a critical thinker needs to be able to understand that.

5. Metacognition

Metacognition is the ability to think about your own thinking. Critical thinkers should be able to analyze their thoughts so that they can judge whether or not they’ve thought everything through. This helps them come up with better hypotheses.

The critical thinking skills definition is: soft skills that help you in the critical thinking process. Developing these skills can improve your ability to think critically.

Critical thinking skills are considered one of many durable skills in the workplace . Many of these are soft skills that are also useful in other situations.

According to research by America Succeeds, critical thinking is in the top five most requested durable skills in job postings. Those top five durable skills get requested 2.6x more often than the top five hard skills. This goes to show that soft skills like critical thinking skills are in demand in the workplace.

Critical thinking skills are important for several reasons. These include helping you work independently and solve problems . Not all positions require ongoing critical thinking. But, those skills definitely matter to anyone who wants to uplevel their career. And even the most easygoing positions require at least some level of critical thinking skills.

For example, working as an accountant can be straightforward in most cases. But it may require critical thinking skills. For instance, what if certain expenses aren’t easily distributed in simple categories? Without critical thinking skills, an accountant will struggle to work independently and solve problems on their own.

Critical thinking abilities also matter in everyday life. Having a foundation for critical thinking can help you analyze several possible solutions for problems that pop up in the home. It can also help you:

• Analyze different viewpoints
• Come up with the best solution for complex problems
• Become a better learner

The key critical thinking skills are identifying biases, inference, research, identification, curiosity, and judging relevance.

Let’s explore these six critical thinking skills you should learn and why they’re so important to the critical thinking process.

1. Identifying biases

This critical thinking skill is necessary for metacognition, which is the fifth characteristic of critical thinking. It involves knowing when others have a cognitive bias and when you have one yourself.

Biases can influence how someone understands the facts presented to them. But when you’re aware of those biases, you can question yourself on those biases and consider other points of view.

Identifying biases is especially important for people who make hiring decisions. That’s because biases against groups of minorities can lead to inequalities in the workplace when not identified. 

For example, imagine a hiring manager comparing two resumes. Their gut feeling could guide them to discount one of the resumes due to a bias against the opposite gender. But let’s say this hiring manager realizes they have this bias. They can then question themselves on whether or not this bias is influencing their judgment. 

2. Inference

Inference is the ability to draw conclusions based on the information you have. Without inference, it can be difficult to take action once you’ve analyzed the facts presented to you. Processing information is key to coming up with a reasoned judgment.

For example, let’s go back to the accountant struggling to assign the correct category to a business expense. They can analyze other similar situations and infer the most logical category based on that information.

3. Research

Before you analyze facts and infer a conclusion, you need to find out what those facts are. Researching skills allow you to discover facts and figures to make an argument.

Not all situations will have the required information available to you. Researching skills are necessary to dig into a situation and gather the information you need to think critically.

Some situations don’t require further research. For example, a first responder who arrives on the scene of an automobile accident won’t perform further research. They’ll have to analyze what they see in front of them and decide which injuries are the most urgent to care for. 

On the other hand, someone performing a market analysis will need to research competitors and gather information before coming up with an opinion. 

4. Identification

Identification is different from inference and research. It involves being able to identify a problem but also what’s influencing that problem.

In short, identification is necessary for someone to realize that they need to think critically about something. Without proper identification skills, it will be difficult for someone to know when it’s time to analyze a situation. 

For example, let’s say you’re entering numbers in a spreadsheet. The numbers aren’t coming out as they usually do. Without identification skills, you could easily keep going without realizing there’s an issue. But when you identify what’s going on, you can see that something is broken in the spreadsheet’s formula.

Only once you identify the fact that the formula is broken can you start analyzing what’s going on to solve the issue.

5. Curiosity

Don’t be afraid to question everything and explore what you’re curious about. That’s because intellectual curiosity is a valuable skill, especially when it comes to critical thinking.

One way to practice curiosity is to adopt a beginner’s mindset . When you come into every situation with the mindset of a beginner, you’re able to keep an open mind. You’ll be able to perceive things you may not have noticed when keeping your mind closed.

6. Judging relevance

Not all information is equally pertinent. In order to make a critical judgment, it’s important to be able to judge the relevance of the information you have.

Take, for instance, basic online researching skills. You have access to a plethora of information on virtually every topic imaginable. But performing online research requires you to constantly judge the relevance of what you see. 

Without judging relevance, you’d spend too much time on details that don’t matter as much for the final desired outcome. But when you’re able to discern what’s most pertinent, you can give that information more weight as you’re thinking critically.

So what would critical thinking skills look like in a real-life situation?

Let’s imagine you’re working in software quality assurance (QA) as a team lead. But every time your team needs to enter bug regression, everyone gets bottlenecked because you must manually populate the spreadsheet used for the regression. While you do this task, your team cannot be productive without you.

This process happens once a week and easily wastes half an hour for each team member.

First, you must identify what’s going on. The team gets bottlenecked because only you, as the team lead, can access the information required to fill in the regression spreadsheet.

Next, you can research information. You can inquire to higher-ups about the reason why only you have access to this information. You can also speak to other teams about what potential solutions they’ve come up with to solve this problem.

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to analyze the information and judge relevance. Some teams have solutions that don’t apply to you, so that information isn’t relevant anymore. 

Figure out if there are any personal biases before you analyze your information. 

For example, it’s possible that you don’t get along with one of the other team leads. As a result, you could discount the information they’ve given you. But by identifying this bias, you can look past your personal opinion of this person and see how valuable their solution is.

Based on what you’ve analyzed, it’s time to brainstorm and come up with a solution. You realize that creating a simple, automated script will save your team’s time. And it will do so without consuming too many resources from the engineering department.

Next, present your solution to your manager. Explain how you came to this conclusion. 

Now, let’s say your spreadsheet automation solution is approved. It’s important to go back and analyze what happens after implementing the solution. But only do this once the spreadsheet has been in place for long enough to gather plenty of information. 

Here’s an example. You could realize that the solution did solve the bottleneck. But, the script also slows down the spreadsheet and makes it difficult to work with. This would require you to go back to the drawing board and start the process all over again.

Want to start improving your own critical thinking skill sets? Here’s how you can improve critical thinking skills using 13 techniques:

• Play games that require critical thinking skills
• Ask more questions, even basic ones
• Question your assumptions
• Develop your technical skills so that you can identify problems more easily
• Find ways to solve more problems (at work and at home)
• Become aware of your mental processes, like the availability heuristic
• Think for yourself: don’t adopt other people’s opinions without questioning them first
• Seek out diversity of thought
• Start developing foresight
• Try active listening
• Weigh the consequences of different actions before you act
• Seek a mentor who can help you develop these skills
• Get professional coaching

How to improve your critical thinking skills 

Critical thinking skills aren’t always easy to develop. But it’s much easier to start thinking critically when you have someone to work with. Try a custom BetterUp demo to see how a coach can help you develop your critical thinking skills today.

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Maggie Wooll, MBA

Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.

How to develop critical thinking skills

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Critical Thinking Is All About “Connecting the Dots”

Why memory is the missing piece in teaching critical thinking..

Updated July 23, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer

• Critical thinking requires us to simultaneously analyze and interpret different pieces of information.
• To effectively interpret information, one must first be able to remember it.
• With technology reducing our memory skills, we must work on strengthening them.

I have a couple of questions for my regular (or semi-regular) readers, touching on a topic I’ve discussed many times on this blog. When it comes to power, persuasion , and influence, why is critical thinking so crucial? Alternatively, what are some common traps and pitfalls for those who prioritize critical thinking? It's not necessary that you go in to great detail—just any vague or general information that comes to mind will do.

Great! Regardless of whether you recalled anything specific, the key is you made the effort to remember something. Like many questions I pose here, the real purpose is to illustrate a point. If you aim to be influential and persuasive—i.e., successful—in both work and life, you must be proficient in critical thinking. To achieve this proficiency, you need to cultivate and exercise your memory , a skill that is increasingly at risk in a technology-saturated age.

Remembering Is the Foundation of Knowing

Learning and remembering something are often discussed as if they are two separate processes, but they are inextricably linked . Consider this: Everything you know now is something you once had to learn, from basic facts to complex knowledge and skills. Retaining this information as actual knowledge, rather than fleeting stimuli, depends entirely on memory. Without memory, there is no knowledge. Consequently, there can be no critical thinking, as it relies on prior knowledge, which in turn relies on memory.

Students sometimes tell me that they want to learn how to be good critical thinkers but complain about having to “memorize stuff.” On these occasions I will often say, in a playfully teasing manner, “What I hear you saying is that you're bothered by having to remember stuff.” This usually helps them see how silly and unreasonable it is to complain about memorizing information, as there isn’t a single course in existence that doesn’t require remembering something . The ability to remember is at the core of critical thinking, and I often use the simple visual demonstration that follows to illustrate this point.

Collecting Dots and Connecting the Dots

Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist, developed a model known as the “Taxonomy of Learning.” Originally intended for educational psychology, this model also highlights why memory is the foundation of critical thinking—or any kind of thinking at all.

Humans are creatures of interpretation, constantly processing the information we perceive. This ability has made us the scientists, inventors, and artists that we are today. To interpret information, however, we must first remember it—not all information, obviously, as that’s impossible. Thanks to technology (which we’ll get to momentarily) we have vast amounts of information potentially at our fingertips. But how do you know what information to look up in a given situation? To know where to start and avoid endlessly searching irrelevant data, you need to remember enough of the right kind of information.

Think of a crime movie where an investigator, while reviewing evidence, suddenly has an epiphany and rushes off to confirm their hunch. These scenes illustrate that while the investigator needs more information, they remember enough to know what to search for.

Here’s a visual demonstration I use in class to help my students understand. Imagine you have pieces of information represented as five dots:

Now let’s say that any coherent shape or picture you can draw using these dots is an interpretation of the information. When examined together, what might these five dots mean? Here’s one way to connect the dots.

What does this shape represent? Many people will quickly say it’s a house, a common and reasonable interpretation. But not everyone sees it as a house. Some might say it’s the home plate used in baseball. Even when people connect the dots (i.e., interpret a cluster of information) the same way using the same lines, they don’t necessarily interpret the picture the same way. The situation becomes more complex when people connect the dots differently, creating a completely different shape or picture.

Now, having connected the dots differently, instead of a house, we have a star. Or at least some would consider it a star; others might say it’s an occult or magic symbol—these are all very different interpretations. This shows that with the same pieces of information, people can “connect the dots” differently, and even when they connect them the same way, they see different things.

Now what happens when additional information is added or an alleged “missing dot” is perceived by others?

With just one additional dot, what could have previously been interpreted as a 5-pointed star can now be reasonably interpreted as the Star of David.

Finally, sometimes the additional information can lead to a completely different shape or image, resulting in a “eureka” moment of insight. What previously appeared as different types of stars now looks like a circle.

I use this classroom demonstration to illustrate how people can interpret the same objective information in highly subjective ways, creating different narratives for themselves and others. This is a crucial point to remember when aiming to influence or persuade others—i.e., the need to see things from their perspective. Additionally, this activity powerfully underscores the importance of “collecting dots”—that is, the importance of remembering crucial bits of information. Without enough such dots, you lack the basic information needed to form meaningful ideas. Without meaningful ideas, you can’t think critically, influence, or persuade. It’s as straightforward as that.

Memory in the Age of Omnipresent Technology

Why is it so crucial to recognize that memory is foundational to critical thinking, power, influence, and persuasion? Partly because this fact isn’t widely acknowledged—and it needs to be. Additionally, we live in an era where memory is under unprecedented assault. While technology allows us to achieve remarkable feats unimaginable to previous generations, it comes at a cost. One such cost is “digital-induced amnesia,” where our memory capabilities atrophy due to information overload and technology taking over many of the cognitive tasks we used to perform ourselves.

Memory doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s closely tied to traits like the ability to focus and pay attention . If you’re not paying attention, you can’t absorb the information that you want or need to remember. Unfortunately, technology also impacts our ability to focus , and this doesn’t even touch on the dramatic ways AI ’s explosive development might undermine our thinking skills .

This article won’t delve into specifics on improving focus and memory in an age of tech ubiquity. Fortunately, resources from Psychology Today can help with that. My goal here is to convince you why memory is so vital for anyone who wishes to be a critical thinker and a persuasive, influential person. Now you know. Whether you’ll remember or not...only time will tell.

Craig Barkacs, MBA, JD, is a professor of business law at the University of San Diego School of Business and a trial lawyer with three decades of experience as an attorney in high-profile cases.

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Critical Thinking

Why This Is an Essential Skill

Dawn Rosenberg McKay is a certified Career Development Facilitator.

Critical thinking is the process of carefully and systematically analyzing problems to find ways to solve them. It involves identifying several possible solutions and then logically evaluating each one, comparing them to one another on their merits, and then selecting the one that you conclude is the most promising.

Why Should You Become a Critical Thinker?

The ability to think logically about a problem in order to solve it is a valuable soft skill. Employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate a history of using critical thinking skills. They want to have employees who can solve problems quickly, but more importantly, they want ones who can solve them effectively.

Tips to Help You Develop Critical Thinking

You may think there isn't enough time to take a slow and measured approach to problem solving. After all, time is scarce, and quick and easy answers are appealing. However, rushing to make a decision is less productive than using critical thinking.

Critical thinking is one of several life skills you should try to develop while still in school. Sign up for science classes, for example. Your assignments will require you to generate hypotheses and then test them before coming to conclusions.

Students taking art classes also use critical thinking. To complete projects, you will have to select media and techniques that will best allow you to achieve your artistic vision. 

Join a debate club. Examining issues, adopting stances on them, and then arguing your point will force you to think critically.

Graduates aren't out of luck. Practice your critical thinking while performing everyday activities. Before voting, for instance, learn about each of the candidates. When deciding where to have dinner, weigh your alternatives regarding the type of food, healthfulness, and cost. If making a purchase, do your research and read reviews of different brands.

Careers That Require Strong Critical Thinking Skills

While you can expect to use critical thinking in most occupations, there are some in which they are a primary part of the job. These occupations involve regularly making decisions and solving problems:

• Judge :  Judges preside over criminal and civil legal cases, making sure they are handled fairly. 
• Attorneys :  Attorneys represent people who are involved in civil and criminal legal cases.
• Actuary :  Actuaries estimate the probability of certain events occurring and assess how much it will cost their employers or clients if they do.
• Doctors :  Doctors examine patients in order to diagnose and then treat illnesses and injuries.
• Operations Research Analyst :  Operation research analysts solve problems for companies and organizations using their knowledge of mathematics.
• Principal :  Principals manage everything that goes on inside school buildings. They establish educational goals and make sure their faculty meets them.
• Biomedical Engineer :  Biomedical engineers first analyze and then solve problems having to do with biology and medicine.
• Biochemist or Biophysicist :  Biochemists study the chemical composition of living things. Biophysicists investigate how electrical and mechanical energy relates to living cells and organisms.
• Medical Scientist :  Medical scientists research the causes of diseases and find ways to treat and prevent them.
• Financial Examiner :  Financial examiners make sure banks and other financial institutions adhere to government laws and regulations.
• Engineer :  Engineers use their scientific and mathematical expertise to solve problems.
• Physician Assistant :  Physician assistants, under doctors' supervision, examine and treat patients.
• Dentist :  Dentists diagnose and treat problems with patients' teeth and mouth tissue.
• Special Agent :  Special agents collect information in order to determine if people or organizations have violated any laws.
• Geoscientist :  Geoscientists study physical aspects of the earth and may search for natural resources.
• Clinical or Counseling Psychologist : Before developing a treatment plan, clinical and counseling psychologists assess patients for mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.
• Anthropologist :  Anthropologists study the origin, development, and behavior of human beings.
• Optometrist : Optometrists diagnose and treat eye diseases and disorders.
• Audiologist :  Audiologists diagnose hearing difficulties and balance disorders.
• Archaeologist :  Archaeologists excavate and analyze artifacts left behind by earlier civilizations.
• Chemist :  Chemists use knowledge about chemicals to create products that improve our lives. 
• Occupational Therapist :  Occupational therapists help patients recover their ability to perform daily living and work activities.
• Pilot :  Pilots fly planes and helicopters for airlines that transport people and cargo on a fixed schedule or companies that offer charter flights, rescue operations, or aerial photography.
• Dietitian or Nutritionist:  Dietitians and nutritionists plan food and nutrition programs, supervise the preparation and serving of meals, and promote healthy eating habits.
• EMT or Paramedic :  EMTs and paramedics treat ill or injured people who need immediate care.
• Marriage and Family Therapist :  Marriage and family therapists provide therapy to families, couples, and individuals. They work from the perspective that those with whom we live have an impact on our mental health.
• Health Educator :  Health educators teach individuals and communities how to live healthy lifestyles.
• Computer and Information Systems Manager :  Computer and information systems managers coordinate companies' and other organizations' computer-related activities.
• Financial Advisor :  Financial advisors help clients plan for their financial goals.
• Physical Therapist :  Physical therapists help rehabilitate people who received injuries in accidents or who have disabling conditions.
• Fashion Designer :  Fashion designers create clothing and accessories.
• Marketing Manager :  Marketing managers formulate companies' marketing strategies.
• Pharmacist :  Pharmacists dispense prescription medications to patients and provide them with information about how to use them.
• Human Resources Specialist :  Human resources specialists select job candidates who are most likely to meet their employers' needs.
• Urban or Regional Planner :  Urban and regional planners help communities figure out how to best use their land and resources.
• Survey Researcher :  Survey researchers design questionnaires and other tools that are used to collect data about people.
• Assessor :  Assessors determine the values of multiple properties for cities, counties, and other municipalities.
• Forensic Scientist :  Forensic scientists gather and analyze physical evidence from crime scenes.
• Desktop Publisher :  Desktop publishers produce publication-ready materials using computer software.
• Event Planner :  Event planners coordinate conventions, business meetings, trade shows, and private parties for organizations, businesses, and individuals.
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Critical Thinking Skills and Why You Must Develop Them

by Nelly Kgoadi-molaba | Sep 7, 2023 | Alison in Action | 0 comments

Critical thinking skills are essential in today’s complex and rapidly changing world. Across every industry and in any position, the ability to bring abstract thought and consideration to a problem or situation is a requirement for growth and success. The good news is that critical thinking is a skill that can be honed, and this article outlines everything you need to know about it.

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a cognitive process and skill that involves analysing, evaluating, and interpreting information thoughtfully and systematically. It’s the ability to organise information, question assumptions, consider multiple perspectives, and make informed decisions.

Information is everywhere. Any piece of information can include defects, misinformation, or be inaccurate or incomplete. With critical thinking, you actively go beyond simply accepting information at face value. Instead, you reconsider everything you read, see, hear, or know or misinformation, all to make more informed decisions and have a deeper understanding of the world around you.

The Importance of Critical Thinking

In today’s world, where everyone can publish information, true or false, we must learn how to navigate through the overwhelming amount of information available in today’s digital age. Here are a few reasons you should develop your critical thinking skills.

Problem Solving:

Critical thinking is a key component of effective problem-solving. Individuals with strong critical thinking skills can break down complex problems and situations into bite-sized parts, analyse each aspect, and come up with creative solutions.

Decision Making:

Strong critical thinking skills help you make informed decisions. Here, you can assess the evidence or information before you, explore alternatives and different perspectives, and anticipate and mitigate the consequences before making the final decision.

Avoiding Biases and Assumptions:

Another way critical thinking can benefit you is that it challenges you to face and overcome your biases, assumptions, and other false beliefs. Doing this opens your mind up to new perspectives and see things you may otherwise have missed before.

Promotes Creativity:

Regardless of whether you work as a creative or not, critical thinking skills and creativity work together. When you can think critically about existing ideas and concepts, you see things from a new angle and position yourself to come up with innovative and original solutions.

Improves Communication Skills:

We interact with individuals from all walks of life every day. Communication is not just a good skill to have, but coupled with critical skills, it enhances every interaction and communication with others. People rely on strong critical thinking skills to be able to articulate their thoughts, substantiate their views with support and evidence, and engage in constructive and lively discussions.

Additionally, many educational institutions and employers value and seek individuals who can approach challenges with a critical and analytical mindset.

How to Develop Critical Thinking Skills

The beauty of critical thinking is that it’s a learned skill that can be developed and refined over time through different learning opportunities, reading more, participating in discussions, or challenging yourself with problem-solving exercises. Here are some strategies to help you enhance your critical thinking skills.

• Ask questions: Often, people are afraid to ask questions because they’re afraid it will look like they don’t know. But you don’t know what you don’t know until you ask. Begin your journey to developing your critical thinking skills by welcoming inquiry and questioning. Ask “why” and “how” often will help you challenge presumptions and information you receive and help you seek deeper understanding.
• Be curious and inquisitive: Everyone has something to say, and everyone is convinced their way is the right and only way. Examine the legitimacy and conceivable biases of various viewpoints and information sources as you actively connect with them.
• Analyse all information: Don’t just analyse what is being said, but who is saying it. Develop the habit of deconstructing arguments to determine their logical coherence by breaking them down into premises and conclusions. Your analytical skills can be improved by participating in problem-solving activities and discussions with others who have different points of view.
• Take time to reflect: In the same way that others may not always be right, sometimes our thoughts are skewed and need introspection and reflection. Consciously and intentionally reflect frequently on your thought processes and prejudices and challenge them to reveal any underlying presuppositions.
• Embrace healthy scepticism: Become a constructive sceptic by adopting the stance of a person who looks for proof, exercises healthy scepticism, and masters the art of asking incisive questions.
• Collaborate with peers: We learn from others. Begin participating in deliberative conversations that challenge you to clearly state your positions and support them with evidence. When you do this, you will gradually improve your capacity for critical thought, and empower yourself to approach problems and decisions with a more discriminating and analytical mentality, through persistent practice, openness, and a commitment to learning.
• Don’t stop learning: Take and create opportunities to learn. Enrol in courses on online platforms like Alison that teach and equip you to develop your critical thinking skills like:
• Thinking Critically
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Skills
• Diploma in Soft Skill Development
• The Essence of Mindful Listening
• Winning with Communication – Master Your Communication Skills

You must actively participate in your intellectual development if you want to develop critical thinking skills. By immersing yourself in a variety of concepts and thought processes through substantial reading on a variety of topics and genres, you can broaden your horizons. Remember that the development of good critical thinking abilities is a lifelong process of self-reflection, education, and a readiness to change your beliefs based on reason and facts.

In summary, critical thinking is a dynamic and adaptable cognitive skill that enables individuals to approach complex problems, make informed decisions, and engage in thoughtful discourse. It’s a skill that can be cultivated and developed through practice, reflection, and exposure to a variety of experiences and viewpoints.

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Is critical thinking a soft skill or hard skill.

Is critical thinking a skill that can be taught and learned? I must admit I’m intrigued, pondering how to demonstrate critical thinking skill on resume when it can seem so abstract. I know I can’t be the only one wondering what type of skill is critical thinking?

This all started while scrolling through the numerous news articles that pop up on my phone every morning. I stumbled across an opinion piece on critical thinking and how it applies in today’s world of increasing misinformation and constant exposure to current events online. It got me wondering if maybe society thinks too critically when reading the latest news on Facebook or Instagram.

Perhaps people, and I’m one of them, are too quick to be outraged with what pops up online. In that case, is critical thinking a skill that can be learned and enhanced over time, or are some people just naturally much better at critical thinking than others? To figure this out, I’m going to look at soft and hard skills and where critical thinking fits in for the  165 million workers  in the U.S.

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• 11 Principles Of Critical Thinking  

What Are Soft Skills?

When it comes to critical thinking and other essential qualities for the workplace, I hear a lot about soft skills. According to the  U.S. Department of Labor , soft skills offer “a competitive edge” and are used by employers to evaluate work readiness. Soft skills include:

• Professionalism
• Communication (written and oral)
• Problem-solving
• Organization

Critical thinking is often grouped in with soft skills, which 21st-century employers rely on to support collaboration and project management. While it’s advantageous to have workers who know their reading and math skills, employers need well-rounded workers and team players. Employees should support one another, be willing to keep learning, and work hard to get the job done.

What Are Hard Skills?

Academics, particularly those specializing in humanities, have long since argued that critical thinking can be taught in schools. After all, the education system is responsible for teaching hard skills, namely the three “R’s” – reading, writing, and math. These skills are tangible and can be measured and taught, unlike soft skills that are harder to teach.

Here are some examples of hard skills:

• Foreign language

In other words, hard skills are easier to evaluate and track and are typically developed during school and work experiences. Many educators emphasize hard skills and let soft skills and personal traits speak for themselves.

What Type of Skill Is Critical Thinking?

So, is critical thinking a skill that can be learned and taught in educational and professional settings, or is it something that can’t be measured? Considering the soft vs. hard skills debate, it seems like critical thinking itself is more of a soft skill – a personal trait that plays a huge role in how you approach your daily life. Some people are quicker to think critically and apply such thinking to their everyday life, both in and out of work.

However, not everyone agrees that critical thinking is a soft skill. Some place it more in the middle, as critical thinking isn’t necessarily taught the same way as technical training, but it can be enhanced over time through educational experiences and professional development.

I read an article on  thebalancecareers.com  that listed logical problem-solving and critical thinking as valuable soft skills employers look for and ultimately prefer in job candidates. The author did go on to describe critical thinking as something that can be practiced and developed in school, listing science, art, and debate classes as ways to strengthen critical thinking.

I tend to agree that critical thinking falls into both camps, although it’s more of a soft skill on its own. Nevertheless, many aspects of critical thinking and the skills it supports are more on the side of hard skills. For example, risk assessments, performance monitoring, and decisive communication are all hard skills that go hand in hand with critical thinking.

Given such tangible outcomes of critical thinking, it makes sense to me why most professionals list this ability among other soft skills, as it’s so broad and difficult to pin down. A world-class debater may exhibit excellent critical thinking on the stand, but can that be measured the same as risk-benefit analysis or credibility assessments? I don’t think so, as many employees are unsure how to demonstrate critical thinking on resume when it’s so broad.

Read More: Is Common Sense a Skill in the Workplace? (+How to Cultivate It)

Final Thoughts: Can You Learn Critical Thinking?

At the end of the day, yes, I think critical thinking is a skill that can be learned, at least to some extent. I don’t think it’s the same as learning a foreign language or data management, as the training is much less technical and more abstract. To be good at critical thinking, you must force yourself to examine topics in a new light.

Let’s look at it this way: what is the opposite of critical thinking? That would be emotional thinking, subjective to each individual’s thoughts, emotions, and biases .  Critical thinking requires logical analysis, as you need to look at an issue objectively to form an opinion.

For the most part, it takes time and practice to become confident in your critical thinking skills. Sure, there are natural-born debaters who are always up for discussion, but even they need to work at critical thinking to ensure they maintain objectivity and see each issue from both sides. For those who view the world through a more subjective lens, critical thinking can be strengthened with applicable lessons during school and work.

It may actually be better to forgo the soft vs. hard skills discussion altogether when looking at critical thinking. Depending on your viewpoint, critical thinking falls into both skill categories or could stand on its own as neither a hard nor soft skill. Like other hard skills, critical thinking may be taught and measured, but it requires specific details and background depending on the subject matter.

Similar to soft skills, critical thinking is difficult to quantify or demonstrate on a resume, as this trait varies with individual experience and practice. The best thing you can do when trying to advance your career is prioritize critical thinking as a top skill and look for specific examples that demonstrate your logical analysis skills to impress future employers. Remember, they will be looking for a mix of hard and soft skills, and critical thinking is no exception.

10 Best Books On Critical Thinking And Problem Solving

• Critical Thinking vs Problem Solving: What’s the Difference?
• Is Critical Thinking Overrated?  Disadvantages Of Critical Thinking
• 25 In-Demand Jobs That Require Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
• Brainstorming: Techniques Used To Boost Critical Thinking and Creativity
• 12 Common Barriers To Critical Thinking (And How To Overcome Them)
• How To Promote Critical Thinking In The Workplace
• What Is The Role Of Communication In Critical Thinking?  

Jenny Palmer

Founder of Eggcellentwork.com. With over 20 years of experience in HR and various roles in corporate world, Jenny shares tips and advice to help professionals advance in their careers. Her blog is a go-to resource for anyone looking to improve their skills, land their dream job, or make a career change.

Further Reading...

How To Become a Polymath in 4 Steps  

What Is The Role Of Communication In Critical Thinking?  

10 Self-Help Books That Actually Help Improve Your Life and Career

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How To Improve Critical Thinking Skills At Work And Make Better Decisions 

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Technical vs soft skills: differences and role in the future of work.

8 min read August 24, 2023

Our modern workplaces have gone through significant changes and have become more flexible, human-centric, and global than ever before. In these diverse and interconnected environments, skills have emerged as the driving force behind adaptability, resilience, and innovation — which inevitably leads to questions like: technical skills vs soft skills, what’s the difference between them? And which ones are more important?

Both employers and employees need to better understand these two categories of skills in order to start investing in actions that will keep them relevant and successful in the long run.

In this article, we explore the key differences between technical and soft skills and explain their roles and importance in the world of work. Let’s dive right in!

Technical skills vs soft skills: definitions

Let’s start by understanding what defines each skill category and how they serve modern-day employees and organizations:

What are technical skills?

Technical skills are specialized abilities and know-how , which enable employees to perform their core tasks and meet the performance requirements associated with a particular role in a given industry.

Thanks to technical skills, workers can effectively use specific techniques, machines, and tools to improve their work rates and automate routine tasks, which also plays a direct role in minimizing potential errors.

Usually, technical skills are acquired through formal education and training. However, they can also be developed through informal education, hands-on experiences, or even personal habits that are (more) technical in nature.

While technical skills are also referred to as hard skills , one should distinguish between them and digital skills — which are, in fact, a subcategory of the former.

Examples of technical skills

Some of the most in-demand hard skills in the current world of work are:

• programming and coding
• cloud computing
• cybersecurity
• data science
• machine learning and AI
• UI and UX design
• video editing

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are the abilities and personal qualities that help individuals integrate into various work environments and interact harmoniously with their peers and managers. These are the skills that make people great team players, excellent communicators, and capable to navigate a wide range of social situations in their work or personal life.

In essence, soft skills determine how a particular employee works, either individually or with others, and they become exponentially important as one progresses in their career and moves into managerial or leadership positions.

Soft skills are also known by other names, including human skills, power skills, essential skills, or people skills among others.

Learn more about the importance of soft skills .

Examples of soft skills

Nowadays, some of the most desirable soft skills are:

• adaptability
• communication
• problem-solving
• critical thinking

Technical skills vs soft skills: characteristics and differences

Having established the defining elements of each skill category, it’s now time to take a closer look at their essential traits and relevant differences:

Transferability

By their nature, hard skills are focused on a particular area or industry, which makes them less transferable. This is why people who want to make career changes or lateral moves often need thoughtful preparation, training, and support to adjust their skill set to the requirements of the new role.

Soft skills , on the other hand, are much more versatile and applicable across a wide range of roles or professional situations. This makes them valuable and desirable for both employees and employers and can lead to more dynamic and fulfilling career paths . Fulfilled employees are engaged employees, which will also reflect in lower attrition rates for HR departments.

Technical skills are usually acquired through traditional education, professional training, or learning in the flow of work. They are less likely (although not impossible) to be developed through personal or leisure activities.

This does not apply to human skills , which are often either innate abilities or related to personal behaviors and attitudes defining each unique individual. While soft skills can be developed over time, they require a more human or personal approach and often benefit from coaching or mentorship initiatives.

Tracking and measurement

Organizations can easily and objectively define, measure, and track the hard skills of their workforce through various methods, including previous work, assignments, self-assessment, skill assessments, performance evaluations, etc.

Evaluating soft skills is more subjective, and often relies on perceptions or input based on interactions and interpersonal dynamics at work. Peer feedback and 360-degree surveys are great tools in that direction. During the hiring process, behavioral interview questions and the overall image of how the candidate presents themselves can also be good indicators of their human skills.

Certification

Depending on the industry or local regulations, some hard skills can only be used in a professional environment after being validated by specific institutions or boards. This is especially the case for engineers, architects, lawyers, doctors, and others.

Human skills , on the other hand, aren’t usually backed by certificates. Instead, they can be revealed by activities unrelated to work, such as a candidate’s volunteering efforts, side hustles, or career choices.

Still, it’s not uncommon to encounter certifications that target soft skills, including leadership, corporate communication, team working, and so on.

Due to the rapid pace of technological advancements, technical skills need to be updated regularly or even replaced when they become obsolete. That’s why internal upskilling and reskilling initiatives are increasingly important and necessary.

The opposite is true for soft skills , which aren’t negatively impacted by the new AI-driven world we’re entering or by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In fact, as automation and robots replace simple tasks and roles, soft skills will become the key asset that will allow future members of the workforce to remain relevant and provide value by solving more complex challenges.

Technical skills vs soft skills: importance in the modern workplace

For most job roles, a combination of hard and soft skills is required — the proportion will vary, of course. But in an ideal world, the best-fit candidate should have a comprehensive skill set, which includes both technical and interpersonal abilities.

However, many organizations and HR recruiters are more inclined to select someone with strong or proven soft skills over a candidate whose main strength is represented by hard skills. Why? Because soft skills, being related to personal behaviors and traits, are more difficult to develop or change over time.

The complementary nature of technical and soft skills is also supported by insights from LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report , which reveals that:

4 out of the top 10 skills companies need the most are human skills: management, communication, leadership, and teamwork.

The growing importance of human skills is also fueled by external events, like the pandemic, which has seen businesses shift to fully remote or hybrid work. In these environments, where face-to-face interactions aren’t an option, soft skills like communication and empathy become essential in maintaining positive interactions and a supportive atmosphere.

Organizations that are shifting (or at least considering) agile approaches will also value soft skills more than hard ones, since these act as a foundation for internal mobility programs and the development of a more resilient and adaptable workforce.

Why soft skills are considered the skills of the future

There are two main reasons why human skills are expected to become critical in the (near) future:

• automation, robots, and AI will make (some) technical skills less relevant over time
• soft skills aren’t likely to become obsolete any time soon and cannot be replicated by machine learning or intelligent algorithms, at least for now

While it’s easy to talk about the inevitable disappearance of jobs, we should instead focus on the new types of jobs that will rise thanks to the AI revolution.

For most of these roles, candidates will need more well-rounded soft skills that enable them to solve complex problems and provide the critical human touch, which is necessary in many areas, such as healthcare, sales, marketing, etc.

Final thoughts

So, technical skills vs soft skills — which deserves more attention? Although technical abilities will remain important, the spotlight is quickly shifting toward soft skills in the realm of employment .

As AI and robots evolve from mere tools into cooperative partners, both businesses and ambitious individuals must emphasize nurturing these essential abilities. This strategic focus will guarantee a strong foundation, enabling them to remain relevant and successful regardless of what the future of work might bring.

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What Are Soft Skills? Importance, Types, Examples

Home Blog others What Are Soft Skills? Importance, Types, Examples

You may have an elaborate set of hard skills such as coding, design, web development, editing, or management abilities as an employee. But hard skills are considered technical knowledge in a particular field and are insufficient to sustain in the workplace. You need  soft skills  to maintain interpersonal relationships with your colleagues and move upward in the hierarchy in your department and the organization. The  best soft skills  include critical thinking ability, problem-solving strategies, creativity, emotional quotient, and attitude toward other employees.

The importance of what is soft skill in the workplace  is often underestimated. But they are essential to sharpen hard skills. Many organizations provide  soft skills training  to their employees. It creates an inspirational environment and encourages employees to improve their interpersonal skills. Moreover, some of the  best online courses  chart the  importance of soft skills, its types,  and  examples of soft skills  for all job roles.

What is Soft Skill?

What is Soft Skill? Soft skills refer to an employee's workplace behavior, character, and personality traits. Employers and recruiters of every organization seek out candidates who possess both interpersonal skills and communication skills. At its core, soft skills are unique individual attributes that a person requires to accomplish their role in the job. Some  examples of soft skills  are active listening, time management, networking, good relations with a team, rational thinking, and problem-solving.

Importance of Soft Skills in Workplace

Soft skills are crucial to an organization's overall prosperity. It creates headway for the employees to improve their workplace abilities by honing their personalities and teaching good behavior. Below are some of the fundamental reasons why soft skills are important.

1. Career progression and promotion

Timeously, recruiting professionals have preferred hiring employees with strong, soft skills. What is Soft Skill?  It is said that candidates with an impressive set of soft skills are more likely to be recruited and receive promotions in the long run than those with more professional experience but a lack of soft skills. Thus, a person needs to modify their personality if they wish to move up to a leadership role because soft skills make you stand out in an interview or during your job tenure.

2. The modern workplace is interpersonal

Workplace etiquette is changing by the day. Leaders, senior professionals, and recruiters appreciate an active listener, team worker, creative personality, and strong communication tactics. Soft skills are necessary for increasing productivity and creating an efficient and healthy work environment in this challenging industry.

3. Customers and clients demand soft skills

A huge part of working in an organization demands presenting yourself to clients and interacting with customers. The market is competitive, and clients have a variety of businesses to look into or buy from. In such a scenario, customer service is vital in attracting potential customers. However, ease of access and low costs take a back seat when communication skills and the importance of soft skills dominate the organization's success.

4. Improve your workplace productivity

Soft skills have a great impact on your productivity and professional accomplishments. Soft skills like time management and a positive approach toward challenges help you share your goals with your colleagues. It accelerates the pace of work and increases efficiency. Most recruiters check the candidate's range of soft skills as expertise in different domains works for the organization's benefit.

5. The future workplace will rely on soft skills

Due to artificial intelligence seeping into the workplace increasingly, jobs will pay more attention to soft skills. Automation has enabled technology to carry out tasks that were once fulfilled by a mastery of hard skills. And it has made soft skills a massive dealbreaker for leaders to filter professionals. With robots taking up the jobs of manufacturers and developers, soft skills like communication, creativity, logical reasoning, and teamwork will be in more demand.

6. Build professional relationships    

Building healthy professional relationships helps you go a long way. Whether it is team members, shareholders, clients, or business partners, communication skills and workplace behavior greatly impact how the people associated with the company value you. Out of all soft skills, empathy is of the greatest importance. What is soft skill and its importance cannot be overstated as they encourage candidates to form sustainable workplace relationships, understand their peers' perspectives, and value their opinion. It also helps you build a respectable image of yourself.

7. Soft skills are hard to automate

Automation will take over the technical side of businesses, but emotional intelligence is hard to bring into practice by machines. This makes soft skills highly valuable. But at the same time, soft skills cannot be taught or measured. As a result, so many companies take the help of  soft skills training  to  improve soft skills .

8. Soft skills are in optimum demand by recruiters

As discussed earlier, recruiters look for soft skills over job experience and technical knowledge. This is because, in a work environment dominated by personnel, jobs demand noteworthy communication skills and the ability to interact remarkably in social conditions. According to  LinkedIn  research, the most desirable soft skills are communication, organization, teamwork, social skills,  logical thinking , creativity, adaptability, and interpersonal communication.

9. Complement your hard skills

You need soft skills and a solid set of technical skills to advance in your professional career. Recruiters consider your hard skills during an interview, but how you inculcate your soft skills to boost your performance gets high regard. For example, a web developer with unparalleled coding skills won't be able to strike deals with potential clients if their communication and interpersonal skills are at par. Thus, soft skills should help you upgrade your position in the company as a tech professional. In addition, soft skills such as creativity, active listening, teamwork, leadership qualities, and firm decision-making help you stand out in an organization.

10. Make well-rounded hiring decisions

If you're an employer recruiting a sales professional, you will prefer a candidate who has a thorough knowledge of the market and is skilled will sales and marketing. Additionally, if the candidate is resilient, has impressive communication skills, and has a striking personality, it will become easier for you to make the hiring decision.

11. Measure your teamwork capabilities

In every department or technical domain, one must work with colleagues and in teams. Having a bunch of people around you keeps you motivated and helps you finish your tasks quickly. Generally, employers look out for candidates who blend in with the company's overall vibe. This is calculated using your soft skills. Teamwork, listening abilities, strong communication, adaptability to change, and empathy are excellent soft skills.

12. Showcase your desire to work long term

Recruiters seek professionals who will stay in the organization for years to come. An employee eager and enthusiastic about working long-term represents loyalty, commitment, and encouragement toward the organization. Soft skills portray the employee's approach to work. Often, employers choose a resilient and enduring candidate over one who is more qualified and experienced.

13. Increase your self-confidence

Owning soft skills benefits your profession, and your company revamps your personality and makes you self-confident. Your confidence reflects your workplace behavior and helps you tackle problems and resolve conflicts without wavering. It also encourages your team members to work efficiently and speak their minds. In addition, a confident personality automatically attracts employers as it demonstrates the candidate's ability to stay calm and focused.

Take a deep dive into the trending  KnowledgeHut's Category Courses:

Importance of Soft Skills for Students  

There are several importance of soft skills for students, some of them are given below:  

• Enhance academic performance through critical thinking and problem-solving, enabling students to tackle complex subjects and projects effectively.  
• Improve communication for presentations and group projects, fostering better understanding and collaboration with peers and teachers.  
• Boost confidence with leadership and teamwork skills, encouraging students to take initiative and lead projects, creating a supportive and engaging learning environment.  
• Prepare for future careers with adaptability and creativity, making students flexible in facing new challenges and forming valuable connections for future job opportunities.  
• Develop emotional intelligence for a balanced academic life, helping students manage stress, understand diverse perspectives, and enrich personal growth and social interactions.  

Different Types of Soft Skills

Soft skills are an elaborate set of personality traits that help a professional worker stand out in the company and achieve tremendous success. Some of the  top soft skills  necessary in an organization are:

1. Time management

Time management concerns your potential to use your time in productive affairs and work efficiently. Time management includes the following sub-skills:

• Stress management
• Organization
• Prioritizing
• Goal setting  

2. Communication

Communication entails speaking your mind, sharing your creative ideas, and providing insight into a company's operations. It is one of the most marketable soft skills in every industry. Some common communication skills include:

• Verbal communication
• Written communication
• Presentation
• Constructive feedback
• Active listening

3. Adaptability

Your ability to adapt to unusual situations and advancing technology reflects your attitude toward change and your desire to embrace it. Large companies undergo constant changes in their operational activities. New recruitments enter the workspace, professionals bid adieu, and companies merge, liquidate, and reform. Adaptability to various scenarios includes owning soft skills like:

• Self-management
• Self-motivation

4. Problem-solving

Problem-solving entails an analytical and innovative thinking approach toward workplace issues and conflicts. Every role in every industry presents an unforeseeable set of problems, and creative and confident problem-solving skills help you deal with them efficiently. Some skills related to problem-solving that are significantly in demand in the market are:  

• Logical reasoning
• Observation
• Brainstorming
• Decision making

5. Teamwork

Teamwork is another necessary soft skill. It assists you in creating interpersonal relationships with one another and achieving goals with respect and a spirited attitude. Some soft skill examples associated with teamwork are:

• Conflict management and resolution
• Collaboration
• Coordination
• Idea exchange

6. Creativity skills

Creativity is not just confined to the arts or the fashion industry. Creativity refers to the extensive idea of innovation, canvassing, and exploring new ideas and concepts. Professionals from every field can use creative skills such as:

• Imagination
• Mind-mapping
• Experimentation
• Questioning

7. Leadership

Great leaders have the elaborate skillsets. But leadership in itself is a fundamental soft skill. It indicates a person's ability to guide, advise, educate, and inspire. Every organization tends to favor candidates with leadership abilities because such employees are more enthusiastic about taking charge and dedicating themselves to the prosperity of the business. Moreover, the most incredible perk of having leadership qualities is a higher scope for promotions. Leadership skills are of the following types:

• Management skills
• Authenticity
• Cultural intelligence

8. Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills refer to your behavior with peers, interaction with clients, and relationships with other business professionals. A moral sense of social behavior makes you seem inviting and approachable in the company and creates positivity. Interpersonal skills include:

9. Work ethic

Employees who prioritize work are the assets of an organization. Work ethics emphasizes putting work over everything else and giving constant effort into achieving tasks. Professionals in every industry are impressed by a strong work ethic. Soft skills corresponding to work ethic are as follows:

• Responsibility
• Dependability
• Professionalism

10. Attention to detail

Attention to detail refers to your potential to be meticulous and comprehensive in your work. Every employer appreciates a candidate who pays attention to minute details. It shows dedication, intelligence, and the ability to work hard. Some soft skills examples associated with attention to detail are:

• Introspection
• Critical observation

How to Improve Soft Skills?  

If you are looking to improve your soft skills, here are some things to consider:   

• Practice active listening by engaging in conversations and focusing on understanding others' viewpoints, which enhances interpersonal relationships.  
• Seek constructive feedback from teachers and peers regularly to identify areas of improvement and develop a growth mindset.  
• Join clubs and extracurricular activities to develop teamwork and leadership skills, providing practical experience in collaborative settings.  
• Take  online courses , like those offered by KnowledgeHut, to enhance specific soft skills and gain structured learning experiences.  
• Set clear, achievable personal goals for skill improvement and track progress regularly to ensure continuous development and self-improvement.  

Advantages of Soft Skills

• Soft skills allow an individual to evolve and adapt to change in the workplace.
• Soft skills become sharper and more enhanced as individuals move up the hierarchy.
• Soft skills are common to every organization and highlight an individual's hard skills and technical knowledge.
• In addition, soft skills reflect an individual's personality, behavior, traits, and attitude.

Disadvantages of Soft Skills

• Soft skills cannot make up for hard skills or technical proficiency.
• Having proper qualifications and accolades to work in a particular field is crucial.
• Soft skills enhance an individual's performance but aren't as competitive compared to expertise.
• Soft skills are qualitative skills, so they cannot be calculated unless exhibited or proved.

Soft Skills Examples

Different types of soft skills are relevant to different industries. However, an individual must have a defined and extensive set of soft skills to excel in their profession and help their company reach new heights. Some examples of soft skills pertaining to different industries are as follow:

• Customer Service: Communication, positive attitude, listening abilities, empathy, taking responsibility.   
• Healthcare: Work ethic, teamwork, flexibility, time management, receptive attitude.   
• Digital Marketing:  Curiosity, willingness to learn, creativity, honesty, accepting criticism.   
• Education:  Written and oral communication, stress management, patience, enthusiasm, motivation.   
• Design: Visual communication, active listening, attention to detail, aesthetics, verbal communication.   
• Web Development: Open-mindedness, adaptability, critical thinking, confidence, time, and project management.     

What is Soft Skill Training?

Soft skills training  is educating and teaching employees about communication skills, learning abilities, teamwork, and problem-solving tactics. In addition, training includes several  soft skills , such as work ethics, positive behavior with colleagues, emotional intelligence, and the desire to take the initiative.

While hard skills are specific to industries and give focus to theoretical knowledge, soft skills refer to personality and attitude. It is comparatively easier to learn hard skills. For example, data analysis, mathematical calculation, architectural designing, and web development are hard skills that can be taught using pen and paper. But  soft skills training  is way more demanding, including training employees to develop work-friendly behaviors and enhance their critical thinking abilities.

The importance of soft skills lies in their qualitative nature, making it relatively hard to record progress throughout the training.  That is why it is essential that a company's soft skills training program is effective and efficient and helps an organization to succeed through its employees' growth and development.

With an increasing professional environment, what is soft skill and its importance has become a high-demand topic in every organization.  Recruiters monitor candidates' behavior, attitude, and communication skills while interviewing them for a role. It is always essential to build interpersonal qualities. They will help you accomplish goals, take you forward in your profession, and land you a fundamental leadership role in management.   

Soft skills can be obtained and developed with years in the business and experience in the industry. In addition, some platforms offer professional resources to improve soft skills. For example,  KnowledgeHut provides the best online courses  to build and hone personality traits and social skills in budding employees. After all, a striking personality attracts better job opportunities and boosts your self-confidence.   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Soft skills are essential to creating a positive workplace environment. In addition, social abilities such as communication, time management, critical thinking, and teamwork help an individual stay motivated and increase the productivity of those around them.   

Hard skills are technical expertise in a particular field. They are qualitative abilities that can be measured through qualification, training, and academic accomplishments. On the other hand, soft skills are social skills that are earned through life and personal experiences.   

Soft skills make you a better individual and help you stand out in a professional workplace. They refer to your potential, ability to interact with peers and clients, attitude towards responsibility, and how you work within a team. All these attributes dictate your career growth, as recruiters prefer candidates with various soft skills.

Developing soft skills does not require an educational certification. They are non-technical skills like personality traits and a career-oriented approach. They can be revamped with time and effort. Moreover, experience acts as the best teacher.   

Abhresh Sugandhi

Abhresh is specialized as a corporate trainer, He has a decade of experience in technical training blended with virtual webinars and instructor-led session created courses, tutorials, and articles for organizations. He is also the founder of Nikasio.com, which offers multiple services in technical training, project consulting, content development, etc.

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Why These 10 Soft Skills Should Matter to You

From adaptability to zeal, cultivating emotional intelligence can level up your career.

Specialized digital skills are becoming increasingly important and yet jobs are not becoming hypertechnical. Instead, they are becoming increasingly hybrid, mixing human and technical skills—and employers and workers alike are still struggling to keep up. For example, job postings are cropping up with qualifications in data analytics, project management and critical thinking. But those same postings are also requiring excellent communication skills, problem solving and time management. How do you balance the hard with the soft?

You need to have strong soft skills —that is, emotional intelligence (EI), interpersonal skills, social communication skills, however you wish to describe them—to work well with colleagues and potentially open doors.

But why exactly would you need to develop or enhance your soft skills when you’ve spent so much time perfecting your technical prowess either in school or on the job? Well, for starters, if you are thinking about a career change to a new field of interest, hard skills might not help you as much as “soft” ones.

When choosing between two seemingly equal candidates, organizations are now prioritizing soft skills as the key differentiator, according to a peoplescout.com article.

Empathy—Good for the Employee, Good for the Employer

Soft skills help people navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well and achieve their goals by complementing their hard skills.

While there are many different soft skills a person can have, an all-important thread is empathy. It is not only important for you to have as a job candidate or someone looking for a promotion, but empathy is also important for companies to practice in order to attract and retain great employees.

That 2020 Global Trends LinkedIn article goes on to say that companies must realize that the company needs to work for the employees and not just the other way around. To have a welcoming work environment, they must consider empathy in their employee experience, people analytics and internal recruiting, and celebrate everyone’s strengths in a multicultural, multigenerational workforce: “The 2020s will be all about putting people first.”

10 Soft Skills to Have No Matter Your Role

Adaptability

Collaboration/teamwork

Communication skills

Conflict resolution

Decision making

Problem solving

Time management

While these skills are all important, their relative weight to each other depends on who’s asking.

According to a 2019 Global Trends LinkedIn article , “Employees expect more transparency, flexibility and accountability from the companies” and companies need employees “to think creatively, collaborate effectively and adapt quickly”—especially in these times of AI and automation.

Soft skills matter in developing new, innovative ideas and for tasks where machines can’t play a major role to complete the job. Your hard skills—even those that mean masterfully manipulating software, hardware or machinery—might get your foot in the door, but it is your mastery of soft skills that will throw it open wide.

“Soft skills are absolutely crucial for job seekers, especially those who are at the beginning of a new career or a career shift and who are looking to secure internships or entry-level roles,” affirms Heather J. Mason, a program specialist on our Career Services team.

“Soft skills are important in helping people articulate why they are good candidates and good fits with a company. No technical skills experience for a role? Not an issue if you know how to speak about your transferable skills! In the four years I’ve worked with the Professional Internship Program , I’ve seen companies select interns who are less technically skilled than other candidates time and time again. When I ask managers why, they always give me the same types of answers: ‘This person seemed coachable,’ ‘I liked their attitude/approach toward learning new skills,’ ‘It seems like we could teach them,’ ‘I just felt like they would get a lot out of working with our team.’”

Surprisingly, these are the top five soft skills that companies are having a hard time finding in job candidates, based on LinkedIn data :

Collaboration

“Technical skills of course are important, but they are just part of the story,” Mason says, “and when it comes down to it, they are seemingly not as important as being coachable and willing to learn. Technology changes frequently, and technical skills can be taught on the job. Supervisors know that they can rely on training to fill many technical skills gaps, but soft skills are seemingly not as easy to come by. This is probably because soft skills are often viewed as personality traits gained through attitude or experience.

“Don’t worry though, soft skills can be learned! This is exactly what we’re here to help with.”

Shine Bright Like a Star

As a job candidate, showcase your hard and soft skills with specific stories from your past experience that directly relate to this potential new position. Make sure you’re using the STAR technique .

STAR: Situation, Task, Action and Result

Begin your story by “presenting the situation , describe the task at hand, explain the actions you took and end with the result you achieved.”

Here are some examples of STAR questions that can help you prepare for this interview scenario:

Share an example of a time when you faced a difficult problem at work. How did you solve it?

If you ever had to make a hard or an unpopular decision at work, how did you handle it?

Explain a situation where you used data or logic to make a recommendation.

Describe a time when you disagreed with your boss or a coworker. How did you resolve it?

Tell me about a time you worked with other departments to complete a project.

Share an example of a time when you failed. What did you learn from the experience?

Have you ever had to motivate others? How did you do it?

Ways to Build Your Soft Skills

According to business leaders interviewed by the Department of Labor , “While the three ‘R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) are still fundamental to every employee’s ability to do the job, employers view soft skills as even more important to work readiness.”

In Monster’s The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook , employers cited “dependability, teamwork and collaboration, flexibility and problem solving” as the top skills they want in employees.

Your response in emails, your involvement in team meetings, and your attitude and mindset when issues arise are all soft skills that managers are on the lookout for. They give you “career durability,” says Alexandra Levit, a workforce futurist and author of Humanity Works: Merging Technologies and People for the Workforce of the Future (Kogan Page, 2018).

But you don’t need to worry if you think you haven’t been the most engaged team member in the past. There is always time and room for improvement.

“Self-assessments and 360-degree feedback reports can be used in combination to prioritize the soft skills employees need to work on,” says Di Ann Sanchez, SHRM-SCP , founder of DAS HR Consulting LLC in Hurst, Texas.

“The lowest score in my 360 was always communication, which shocked me because I think I’m a great communicator.”

In Kate Rockwood’s SHRM.org article , she cites another type of situation where an employee may have lacked opportunity to grow previously. “Sometimes an employee is deficient in a certain soft skill because of a lack of experience or a previous situation. (Abby) White cites the example of one of her employees who appeared unable to solve problems independently. But it wasn’t because the employee lacked the ability to make decisions. It was because she had previously worked for a micromanaging supervisor who never allowed her to offer solutions. White encouraged the employee to come up with a potential solution or two when an issue arose before bringing the problem to her attention.”

Utilizing the STAR technique can be not only effective in initial interview scenarios, but also in scheduled job and performance reviews. In order for all parties to work toward empathy, it’s important that both managers and employees get soft-skills training and professional-development opportunities.

Take the Next Step

So if you’re looking to fill your soft skills toolbox, we offer numerous courses to fill that gap. Are you looking to invest in your employees? Peruse these courses, share them with your staff and consider a tuition-reimbursement program .

Advanced Human Factors: Improving Personal Effectiveness and Influence Effective Performance Management Business Negotiating

Effective Leadership and Management: Understanding and Influencing the Dynamics of Organizations

Making Power Moves: Women and Leadership Organization and Management Managing Change and Ambiguity in the Workplace Business Communication: Writing and Speaking Power and Influence in Organizations Writing Skills Workshop Effective Writing in the Workplace Project Management

2-Day Career Boot Camp: Get Your Next Job (August 13 and 14 with Vaneese Johnson) 10-Week Professional Job Search Strategies Program (September 21, 2022, through November 30, 2022) Two-Semester Professional Internship Program (Applications due by September 11, 2022)

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The Hard Facts About Soft Skills

Why you should teach employees to be more resilient, communicative and creative.

​Being gifted at performing the technical aspects of a job can take an employee only so far. To become a stellar employee or an admired leader requires an arsenal of skills that are harder to measure but critical to success.  

Dubbed “soft skills,” they are behaviors, personality traits and work habits, such as collaboration, critical thinking, perseverance and communication, that help people prosper at work. Think of it this way: A talented graphic designer might wow people with her creations, but if she constantly misses deadlines or doesn’t listen to feedback—leading to costly project delays or upset clients—her career might stall. 

There are many ways a lack of soft skills such as dependability, time management and critical thinking can derail an employee with solid technical skills. According to LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends report, 89 percent of recruiters say when a hire doesn’t work out, it usually comes down to a lack of soft skills.

Perhaps realizing this, many employers are prioritizing soft skills during hiring. Monster’s The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook reported that when employers were asked to name the top skills they want in employees, they cited soft skills such as dependability, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility and problem-solving. 

While most people are hired for their technical abilities, their soft skills give them “career durability,” says Alexandra Levit, a workforce futurist and author of  Humanity Works: Merging Technologies and People for the Workforce of the Future (Kogan Page, 2018). She defines that term as the ability to acquire the skills, knowledge and mindset needed to be an engaged and productive member of the team.  

“For someone to be successful 10 years down the road, they need to be resilient and be able to reinvent themselves in different learning environments,” she adds.

Sorting Soft Skills

The beauty of soft skills is that they’re highly transferable. Creativity, responsibility and excellent communication skills can be applied to any job. But how can HR professionals tell which soft skills need shoring up or matter most in their workplaces? 

Conducting a skills or training needs assessment can be a great way to find out, and the HR team might already have much of the information it needs, says Abby White, SHRM-CP, CEO of Gró HR Consulting, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ask managers to look through their team members’ past performance reviews to identify soft-skill weak spots as well as proficiencies such as how employees respond to e-mail or their attitudes during and involvement in team meetings. 

“Watch for those types of behaviors where there’s a chance for improvement,” White says.

Self-assessments and 360-degree feedback reports can be used in combination to prioritize the soft skills employees need to work on, says Di Ann Sanchez, SHRM-SCP, founder of DAS HR Consulting LLC in Hurst, Texas. She points to the surprising results of her own past 360-degree feedback as an example of how employees can learn from the way others perceive them. 

“The lowest score in my 360 was always communication, which shocked me because I think I’m a great communicator,” Sanchez says.

But after learning that some co-workers found her style intimidating, Sanchez asked to work with a communication coach, who she says helped her to be more aware of her audience. She stresses that it’s also important for companies to consider bias and cultural and gender differences when evaluating soft skills. 

“An aggressive communication style, for example, might be treated as more acceptable in men,” she says. “You need to be sensitive to different gender perspectives but not hold people to wildly different standards.”

To find out which soft skills are most needed in an organization, look no further than your most successful employees. See if there are certain traits they share that allow them to prosper in your workplace. Sanchez also recommends that HR professionals ask executives what their top four or five most-wanted employee soft skills are to ensure buy-in. And when in doubt, reread some of your company’s literature.

“Take a look at your company’s value statements and think about your company’s culture,” Sanchez says. “Those are your company’s priorities when it comes to soft skills.”

Are They Teachable?

The path to teaching someone a technical skill, such as how to drive using a stick shift, is tangible. The process might not be pretty—picture lots of herky-jerky braking and clutching—but it’s fairly clear.

Conversely, teaching someone how to be more patient, a better team player or more innovative may not follow a predetermined formula, but it still can be done. While it’s true that some people have innate personality traits that allow them to evince certain soft skills more naturally, these skills are also honed over time. 

“Companies have a lot to gain by treating soft skills as they would any technical skill,” says Liz Cannata, vice president of human resources for Chicago-based talent acquisition company CareerBuilder.

Sometimes an employee is deficient in a certain soft skill because of a lack of experience or a previous situation. White cites the example of one of her employees who appeared unable to solve problems independently. But it wasn’t because the employee lacked the ability to make decisions. It was because she had previously worked for a micromanaging supervisor who never allowed her to offer solutions. White encouraged the employee to come up with a potential solution or two when an issue arose before bringing the problem to her attention. 

In cases like that, it’s important for companies to foster an environment where it’s OK for employees to make mistakes and be vulnerable. Kristina Johnson, chief people officer for San Francisco-based identity and asset management company Okta Inc., says if such an environment doesn’t exist, organizational culture can be at the root of the problem.

“Imagine an organization where leaders approach questions and concerns and mistakes with empathy and understanding,” Johnson says. “Then consider a workplace that’s aggressive and blame-focused, where employees are afraid to make mistakes and too embarrassed to ask questions. As you can imagine, employees will stick around at one of those organizations much longer than the other.” 

A recent Yale University study found that people with emotionally intelligent supervisors—those who are self-aware and empathetic—were happier, more creative and more innovative. On the flip side, 70 percent of the employees whose managers were identified as having little emotional intelligence said their main feelings toward work were negative.

Getting Started

Like technical skills, soft skills can weaken if they go unused. That’s why it’s important to practice them continuously.

“Developing soft skills won’t be successful in most cases using a one-and-done approach like a single webinar or panel discussion,” Cannata says. “No one really develops their technical skills that way, either.”

Instead, the soft-skills training methods that tend to work best are “flexible, shorter and more frequent,” Cannata says. 

It’s also a good idea for companies to offer a variety of learning experiences. “Some people will do better with written training; others are more experiential,” says Mel Hennigan, vice president of people at education software company Symplicity Corp., based in Arlington, Va. “Whenever possible, we work with the employee to figure out the approach that works best for them.”

While most people are eager to learn, Hennigan finds that gaps between a training program’s design and objective and between a training delivery style and an employee’s learning style often get in the way of a successful outcome.

Cannata recommends using a combination of larger-group training, mentoring programs, and self-guided programming such as short, on-demand videos or podcasts. 

It’s critical to show employees why this training is important. That might mean drawing a direct line between improving soft skills and achieving higher pay or a promotion. 

If the company doesn’t have the resources to start a soft-skills training or development program, it should consider partnering with a university or nonprofit that specializes in social emotional learning, emotional intelligence or conscious inclusion, Cannata says. 

But there are also plenty of inexpensive and less-taxing ways to improve soft skills in the workplace. 

Some methods can be as simple as challenging employees to up their time management game by using the Pomodoro Technique for a week. This method recommends picking a single task or project to focus on, setting a timer for 25 to 30 minutes, and working solely on that task. When the time is up, you take a two- or three-minute break and then get back to work for another 25 minutes.

Companies can also lean on in-house talent for informal training sessions such as lunch-and-learns. Instead of focusing on a technical skill, a session might center on time management or active listening skills. Also leave space throughout the day for employees to talk about what’s going well with their work and, more importantly, what’s not.

“If you want to work on improving communication and connecting within a small team, walk through everyone’s approach to different scenarios, like high-stress or time-sensitive situations,” Johnson says. 

One of White’s favorite recent activities has been holding a weekly book group for her team. Every Friday morning, team members meet to talk about a different chapter of the book they’re all reading and discuss what they learned and how they will apply those lessons at work. So far, the group has read 13 books, including The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace (Northfield Publishing, 2012) by Gary Chapman and Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People (Simon and Schuster, 2011).

“I can hands-down say that someone has gotten at least two major useful items out of each book,” White says. “They’re also really good team-building exercises. People look forward to collaborating with their colleagues on Friday mornings.”

Types of Training

For more-involved training on soft skills, there are formats and technologies to meet every budget and desired outcome. But generally, those that require reflection and interaction from employees work best. 

“If people just listen to a presentation or an online video, they’re not really getting a chance to practice the skills they learn,” Sanchez says. 

Here are some soft-skill training methods to consider:

Virtual reality. Real-world experience is a terrific teacher, but virtual reality might be the next best thing. A 2020 PwC survey found that virtual reality learners were four times more focused than e-learners and felt 275 percent more confident to act on what they had learned. 

Some companies offer virtual reality simulations that mirror real-world scenarios, such as asking employees to react to a customer complaint. Hotel and resort company Best Western attributed a 100 percent increase in its guest satisfaction and loyalty score to its virtual reality employee training program.

Online learning. There’s no shortage of online classes or learning programs that target soft skills. For added benefit, consider ones that provide dialogue simulations that allow employees to practice the skills they’ve learned. 

Coaching/mentoring. Because of the expense, coaching is typically used at only the highest levels of leadership, Sanchez says, but companies would be smart to build employees’ leadership skills from day one—especially considering companies with higher levels of internal hiring have 41 percent longer employee tenure. One way to do that is through mentorship programs. Leveraging the soft skills of company leaders, whether it’s done one-on-one or in groups, is an affordable and beneficial practice. Nine in 10 workers who have a mentor say they’re satisfied with their jobs, according to a  CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey. 

Interactive workshops. “Interactive, instructor-led workshops are the most compelling and impactful methods to teach skills like emotional intelligence,” Johnson says. She recommends workshops that simulate real-world scenarios and give employees a chance to hear actionable feedback based on their responses. 

Gamification. Gamification adds a gamelike element to a training session, which can be done in a number of ways. 

Levit points to the innovative learning approach Slack uses with its employees. The messaging app company created interactive scenarios based on the Choose Your Own Adventure children’s book series by asking employees to pick a character, read the person’s role and job duties, and “then engage with a chatbot to perform tasks and hone skills,” Levit says. “The end result was a learning approach that allows employees to fail or make choices in a safe place and then evaluate and reflect on the outcomes.” One study found that adding a fun element like gamification boosts informal learning in the workplace.

As with any kind of training, it’s important to evaluate the impact of soft-skills training and tie it to your company’s key metrics, such as performance review conversations and goal setting, Cannata says. 

It’s also helpful to evaluate employees before and after a major training session and follow up on their performance at the three-, six- and nine-month marks, Sanchez says.

“Done right, this can be a huge benefit for the company and the employee, especially for retention,” she says. “Even if the employee doesn’t like it at the time because it makes them uncomfortable, they can see you’re making an investment in their future.”  

Kate Rockwood is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

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Training Industry

Why are soft skills so hard.

Most organizations recognize the need to train new employees with the technical skills they need to perform their jobs: how to use equipment, perform work tasks or complete complex procedures, for example. While these “hard” skills are fundamental to an employee’s performance, industry research and surveys show that employers more often have concerns about gaps in employees’ so-called “soft” skills . Some of the most important soft skills that today’s employers desire are:

• Teamwork and collaboration
• Oral and written communication
• Analytical reasoning and critical thinking
• Complex problem-solving
• Agility and adaptability
• Ethical decision-making

When a performance gap exists, it is up to the leadership team to recognize the gaps and partner with the learning and development team to explore ways to fill them. But all skill gaps aren’t equal when it comes time to address them. Why is it easier to develop new hard skills, such as a new procedure or task, than it is to develop a new soft skill, such as active listening ?

Here are five key challenges to soft skills programs and how to overcome them.

1. Soft skills are hard to measure.

It’s easy to know when a learner has mastered a skill such as how to use a software – you ask them to do the task, and they perform it. You can use quantitative measures for these skills. Creating assessments for a soft skill like time management is just as important but more nuanced and contextual.

Overcoming the challenge: When developing training for soft skills, focus on scenario-based knowledge checks; role-plays ; and other context-based, qualitative measurements of learning. For example, you could provide managers with a checklist of observable behaviors to look for in employees.

2. Hard skills training can be “one-and-done.” Soft skills take repeated effort.

For any training program, follow-up and follow-through are key to making a lasting change in behavior. For soft skills, such as leadership skills, real growth will only occur after repeated practice, feedback from others and much reflection .

Overcoming the challenge: Rather than building a short-sighted training event, create a long-term learning program. For example, plan opportunities to reinforce and extend the learning over the course of a year with incentives for continuing to participate, rather than expecting the change to happen overnight.

3. Some skills are harder to learn than others.

While almost anyone can learn certain hard skills, such as computer programming, developing soft skills can feel nearly impossible – but it’s not. Shy people can develop themselves into powerful public speakers. It happens all the time.

Overcoming the challenge: Motivation to change is key to developing soft skills that are not a natural part of an individual’s personality. Soft skill training programs must include a strong, clear “what’s in it for me?”, also known as the “WIIFM.” If learners understand that by developing the soft skill, they will further their personal aims and goals, they can learn anything.

4. You can teach someone to fish, but you can’t teach them to enjoy fishing.

Hard skills such as balancing an accounting ledger do not depend as much on learners’ personality traits. Developing soft skills (like relationship-building) requires understanding themselves, seeing the need for change, having a desire to change and developing the new habits that solidify the change.

Overcoming the challenge : Never rush into soft skills training. Learners must decide for themselves to change, learn and develop new habits. They may not like it at first, but once they commit to the change and practice, the new skill will take hold.

5. It’s not about you; it’s about me.

Soft skills such as communication skills are deeply rooted in people’s personalities and are related to their habits and life experience. Without an understanding of self and how experience influences habits and soft skills, learning could make participants feel inauthentic and fake.

Overcoming the challenge: The best way to learn a soft skill is to be a part of a team. Working with leaders or other experts who can model the skill helps learners see what “good” looks like in action. It also offers opportunities to practice and receive feedback . Rather than trying to force-feed soft skills training, provide experiences where individuals can learn through observation and practice over a period of time, receive periodic feedback, and reflect on their learning and development.

As you think about increasing your organization’s ability to master soft skills, consider the importance of motivating the learners by showing a WIIFM; including modeling, practice, feedback and reflection in activities; building in ways to measure success; and reinforcing training over time. You’ll soon find that soft skills aren’t as hard as you thought they were.

• #measurement
• #soft skills
• #soft skills training

Barb Opyt has been a learning solution architect with Caveo Learning since 2015. She has extensive experience working in a variety of roles using her expertise in both instructional design and learning and development.

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What Is Creative Thinking? Definition, Examples, and How to Showcase It During Your Job Search

Have you ever whipped up a delicious meal using random leftover ingredients? That silly example, friends, is creative thinking in action. In today's job market, where innovation is key, creative thinking is no longer just a bonus skill—it's a must-have.

But what exactly is the creative thinking definition? Why is creative thinking a good skill ? How can you showcase it to potential employers? We’ve got all the answers.

What is creative thinking?

Creative thinking is the ability to look at problems or situations from a fresh perspective. It involves thinking outside the box and coming up with unique, effective solutions. This skill is not limited to artistic fields but is essential in every profession, from business and science to technology and education. (Here are five ways to inject creativity into every single job —even ones that involve numbers.)

A creative thinker is someone who can adapt to changing circumstances and come up with original solutions. It's someone who’s curious, who asks questions and isn't afraid to try new things. They can see possibilities where others might see limitations, and they find joy in the process of exploration and discovery.

Apply your creative thinking skills to a job you love — check these amazing open jobs on The Muse and find the perfect fit for you »

Four different types of creative thinking

Creative thinking comes in various forms, each valuable in different contexts. Here are some key types of creative thinking:

1. Artistic creativity

This is likely the one that springs to mind first—it’s the ability to create something new and beautiful, whether it's a painting, a song, a book, or a well-designed website. Artistic creativity is crucial in fields like graphic design , advertising, and entertainment, where visual and auditory appeal play significant roles.

2. Analytical creativity

Analytical creativity is all about breaking down complex problems and finding innovative solutions through data, information, and logical thinking. It’s essential in fields like data science, engineering, and finance , where identifying patterns and making data-driven decisions can lead to significant advancements.

3. Lateral thinking

Lateral thinking involves looking at a problem from different angles and finding solutions that aren’t immediately obvious. This type of thinking is super important in roles that require problem-solving and innovation, such as product development, marketing, and management. It encourages thinking outside the box and finding creative ways to overcome challenges.

4. Divergent and convergent thinking

Divergent thinking is brainstorming a wide range of ideas, no matter how crazy and unusual they might seem at first. Convergent thinking, on the other hand, involves narrowing down these ideas to find the best possible solution. Both types are important in the creative process: divergent thinking sparks innovation, while convergent thinking refines and implements the ideas.

Examples of creative thinking

Now that we've explored the different types of creative thinking, let's see how these skills manifest:

Open-mindedness

This is the foundation of creative thinking. It's about being receptive to new ideas and new perspectives, even if they seem unconventional at first. For instance, in a team meeting, being open-minded might mean considering unconventional suggestions and exploring their potential before dismissing them.

Innovation and invention

Innovation involves creating new ideas, products, or methods, while invention is about bringing those ideas to life. Thinking creatively can be an asset in environments that encourage experimentation and risk-taking. An engineer who designs a groundbreaking app is a good example of this type of creative thinking.

Problem-solving

Problem-solving is a key aspect of creative thinking. It’s the ability to define a problem, create original solutions, and implement the best one. A project manager who overcomes a significant challenge by following a unique approach is showcasing creative problem-solving skills.

Collaborative thinking

Collaborative thinking involves working with others to generate and refine ideas. It requires communication, empathy, and the ability to build on others' input. For example, a creative thinker might lead a brainstorming session where team members feel encouraged to share their ideas, resulting in a collective, innovative solution.

Bonus tips to embrace your creative side

The more you learn, including outside your work environment, the more fodder you'll have for creative thinking. Take a look at these tips:

• Challenge yourself: Step outside your comfort zone! Try new hobbies , learn a new language, or a new instrument, or take a different route to work. Exposing yourself to new experiences sparks fresh ideas and helps you see the world from different perspectives.
• Embrace curiosity: Curiosity is the fuel that ignites creativity. Ask questions, explore different ideas, and be open to new information. Read books outside your usual genre, watch documentaries on unfamiliar topics, or start conversations with people from different backgrounds.
• Brainstorm like a boss: Sometimes the best ideas come from collaboration. Use brainstorming techniques like mind maps or group brainstorming sessions to generate a wide range of ideas. Don't be afraid to get a little silly—even weird ideas can spark something truly innovative.
• Turn obstacles into catalysts: Believe it or not, limitations can actually boost creativity . Think of a time you had to come up with a presentation using only 5 or 10 minutes. This challenge can force you to create unexpected solutions. So, the next time you face a constraint, see it as an opportunity to unleash your creative potential!

How to highlight your creative thinking during a job search

Employers look for creative thinkers because they can communicate ideas clearly and solve problems effectively. Now that you know the definition for creative thinking and its several types, it’s time to show you how to make this creative side stand out in your job search.

On your resume

When updating your resume , emphasize any creative projects or achievements. Detail the innovative solutions you've implemented and the impact they had. If you developed a new process that increased efficiency or created a marketing campaign that boosted engagement, these are perfect examples of creative thinking skills on a resume.

Using strong action verbs can make these contributions stand out. Try to use words like:

In your cover letter

Your cover letter is a great place to dive into specific examples of creative problem-solving. Describe situations where you faced a challenge and how a creative thought helped overcome them. If you found a unique way to market a product or solve a logistical issue, for example, these stories highlight your ability to think creatively.

It’s also important to personalize your cover letter to the job you're applying for by linking your creative thinking skills to the company's needs and goals. Explain how your ability to think creatively aligns with the job requirements and can help the company achieve its goals.

During interviews

In interviews , be ready to give concrete examples of your creative thinking in action. Discuss past experiences where your innovative ideas led to successful outcomes. Whether it was developing a new strategy, solving a complex problem, or improving a process, these examples will show your creative side.

Prepare to answer behavioral questions—those designed to evaluate how you handle some situations—with stories that highlight your creative problem-solving abilities. For example, if asked about a time you faced a significant challenge, describe how you used creativity and creative thinking to navigate the situation and achieve a positive result.

Put these tips into action! Read this to find your next career adventure: 16 High-Paying Jobs for Creative People in 2024

9 soft skills every criminal justice professional needs

Soft skills are challenging to quantify and measure, but are something that criminal justice employers seek out in candidates.

Correctional officers need soft skills to help them communicate effectively and deescalate situations or resolve conflicts.

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

By Dr. Michael Pittaro, Faculty Member, Criminal Justice at American Military University

The criminal justice sector provides extensive pre-employment and ongoing training to law enforcement and corrections officers. Various training academies, as well as in-house “on-the-job” training programs, prepare criminal justice professionals for the duties and responsibilities of the profession.

The focus of training is often on what we refer to as “hard skills,” which are quantifiable, measurable, task-specific skills needed to perform the basic responsibilities of the job. For example, defensive tactics, critical incident response techniques and threat analysis are considered hard skills. These skills require specific knowledge, skills and abilities that can be measured through a multitude of quantifiable assessments. Employers within the criminal justice sector place a heavy emphasis on hard skills, and rightfully so.

However, “soft skills,” such as interpersonal communication skills, are of equal importance. Soft skills encompass personal characteristics and traits. They are the intangible skills, which are challenging to quantify and measure, but something that criminal justice employers, myself included, seek out in candidates. Unfortunately, soft skills are largely lacking and overlooked within the criminal justice profession, particularly within law enforcement and corrections.

Soft skills deserve consideration

In addition to teaching , I also assist students to obtain internships and job placements within the criminal justice sector. Criminal justice employers, particularly those in law enforcement and corrections, have expressed concern that so-called soft skills are underemphasized since we appear to have shifted away from the important role that they serve in our profession. For example, officers need soft skills to help them communicate effectively and deescalate situations or resolve conflicts.

Most would agree that we have become a nation fixated on academic assessments in grades K-12, and also at the university level. Both students and faculty proudly promote and publish assessment outcomes in newsletters and on social media to highlight academic standing amongst our competitors and to attract new students to our respected high schools and universities. But is academic success a measure of true capability or potential?

A 2018 Bloomberg study concluded that today’s employers have realized the importance of prioritizing a job applicant’s interpersonal skills over their high school/college GPA (grade point average) or academic standing amongst their peers. According to an August 2018 Diverse Education article, employers are acknowledging that a graduate’s GPA is essentially an artificial measure of how successfully the individual will perform on the job.

My comments are not intended, by any means, to discount or dismiss the importance of one’s academic standing or cumulative GPA, but rather to place just as much emphasis on the importance of a candidate’s soft skills. Unfortunately, these soft skills are rarely weaved into the K-12, college/university, or training academy curricula. Nevertheless, so-called “people-skills” are vital in criminal justice because, as criminal justice professionals, we work closely with members of the community , as well as with crime victims, eyewitnesses, suspects, convicted offenders, judges, lawyers, and so on.

Soft skills for criminal justice professionals

According to a 2018 article by Timothy Roufa , a law enforcement subject matter expert, criminal justice careers, particularly those in law enforcement and corrections, demand that you interact with a diverse and varied group of people at any given time. In some of those encounters, tensions may be high and the potential for the situation to quickly escalate is a reality of the job. The best way to resolve potentially dangerous use-of-force situations is to rely on your cognitive and emotional intelligence skills .

Roufa further explains that de-escalation does not involve the hard skills acquired through professional training, but rather the soft skills you need to develop to be truly effective in your day-to-day life as a police or corrections officer. In a 2017 Huffington Post article, journalist Tom Turpin suggested that employers help develop their employees’ soft skills by coaching and mentoring them , creating diversified training programs, strengthening critical thinking skills, and cultivating a culture of innovation. Roufa highlights the importance of the following nine soft skills for criminal justice professionals:

• Empathy : The ability to not only understand someone else’s feelings but also to share those feelings, which allows for a deeper appreciation of what others are experiencing.
• Compassion : Compassion begins where empathy leaves off. If empathy is an understanding and sharing of other’s feelings, then compassion means putting that understanding into action.
• Nonverbal communication : Those cues we send through our tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, and enunciation often carry far more weight in how our messages are received than the actual words we use.
• Active listening : In our profession, most situations involve individuals who just want to be heard. Active listening means interpreting and understanding the needs of others in a conversation.
• Adaptability : Anyone who works in law enforcement or corrections will tell you that your day is going to be largely unpredictable; we must be able to anticipate, adapt, and overcome challenges that we are likely to encounter.
• Building a rapport : As mentioned, we will encounter a number of individuals each day, each with their own wants and needs, so we must establish a rapport with these individuals in order to build a certain level of mutual trust.
• Critical thinking and observation : There is no such thing as a routine day when you work in corrections or law enforcement. Officers must be able to quickly and efficiently assess and analyze facts, observations, and information so they can make informed, sound decisions. Critical thinking is essential to solving problems and resolving conflicts. Keen observational skills require that officers be able to visually, mentally, and emotionally gauge a situation, often quickly. Officers must be detail-oriented, so they can observe and identify small, yet important details.
• Conflict resolution : Because conflict accompanies much of an officer’s job (corrections and law enforcement), he or she must have the ability to resolve that conflict quickly and peacefully.
• Work/life balance : Between erratic shift work, long hours, and the stresses of the job , officers’ physical and mental health can be compromised. Officers must be able to find ways to reduce that stress at home and on the job.

The criminal justice sector must focus more attention, training, and education on indispensable soft skills. We must also screen for them in interviews. For example, in some interviews, candidates will be presented with a hypothetical scenario and then asked how they would de-escalate the situation through communication. The ability to control a situation through communication rather than physical force is always preferred. Granted, in some situations physical force will be necessary, but in most situations, the ability to de-escalate the situation by problem-solving and critical thinking are favored.

Soft skills are proving to be the difference between positive and negative encounters, especially when empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution are embraced. Soft skills are not intended to replace or mitigate the value of hard skills, but rather to enhance and improve the quality and performance of our job responsibilities and duties. They provide the balance that we want to see in our criminal justice professionals.

As a university professor, I acknowledge that a student’s academic success depends largely on the student’s understanding of content, especially in core subject areas; however, a student’s future success as a law enforcement or corrections officer also depends on their ability to apply their knowledge in an intuitive, thoughtful, and effective way. All criminal justice professionals should consider how soft skills can be further honed and applied on the job.

About the author

Michael Pittaro is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice with American Military University and an Adjunct Professor at East Stroudsburg University. Dr. Pittaro is a criminal justice veteran, highly experienced in working with criminal offenders in a variety of institutional and non-institutional settings. Before pursuing a career in higher education, Dr. Pittaro worked in corrections administration; has served as the Executive Director of an outpatient drug and alcohol facility and as Executive Director of a drug and alcohol prevention agency. Dr. Pittaro has been teaching at the university level (online and on-campus) for the past 15 years while also serving internationally as an author, editor, presenter, and subject matter expert. Dr. Pittaro holds a BS in Criminal Justice; an MPA in Public Administration; and a PhD in criminal justice. To contact the author, please email [email protected] . For more articles featuring insight from industry experts, subscribe to In Public Safety’s bi-monthly newsletter .

In Public Safety is an American Military University (AMU) sponsored blog that features analysis and commentary on issues relating to law enforcement, emergency management, fire services and national intelligence. This blog features in-depth discussions authored by leading experts with decades of experience in their field.

Essential Guide: What Are Soft Skills in HR and Why They Matter 

July 25, 2024

Soft skills in HR, such as communication, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution, are crucial for fostering effective interpersonal relationships and a positive workplace culture. Unlike technical skills, they require continuous practice and real-world experience. Developing these skills through training, mentorship, and assessment during hiring enhances both individual and organizational success.

HR training, delivered seamlessly online for busy professionals

In the world of HR, soft skills are just as important as technical skills. They’re the intangible skills that help us navigate the workplace, manage relationships and get results. These skills – from communication and teamwork to problem-solving and adaptability – are what separate good HR professionals from great ones. 

Understanding and developing these competencies will make us more effective in our HR roles. They help us connect better with colleagues, improve workplace culture and lead with empathy and insight. Let’s get into what these skills are and why they’re essential in today’s HR world. 

Understanding Soft Skills in HR 

For individual and organisational success, soft skills are key in Human Resources (HR). We’ll get into what they are and why they’re essential in HR. 

Definition and Importance 

Soft skills in HR are the range of interpersonal skills that help us interact with each other and other stakeholders effectively and harmoniously. These include communication, empathy, teamwork and leadership. Because they’re intangible, they can seem impossible to measure; but their impact on the workplace is huge. 

The value of soft skills lies in building relationships in the workplace, team collaboration and better conflict resolution. These competencies help HR professionals manage personnel matters better, leading to higher employee satisfaction and retention rates. Plus, developing soft skills in HR helps drive strategic initiatives by getting the buy-in and trust of the workforce. 

How They Differ from Hard Skills

Hard skills are technical skills or expertise required to do a specific job function, soft skills are about personal interactions and character traits that impact our ability to work and interact with others effectively. For example, hard skills in HR might include knowledge of payroll systems, employment law, and recruitment strategies, whereas soft skills include skills like negotiating, problem-solving, and influencing.

The difference is key as hard skills can be learned and measured more easily through certifications and tests like CIPD courses . Soft skills require continuous practice and are developed over time through real-world experience. Both are important but soft skills are the glue that holds teams together so are critical for HR management.

Avado’s CIPD course Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management, for example, teaches about advanced employment law in practice which focuses on the major principles underpinning employment law.

Key Soft Skills for HR Professionals 

Soft skills are key in HR, alongside technical skills to be effective in all HR functions. They’re essential for building relationships, navigating the workplace and supporting personal and organisational growth.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are essential for HR professionals as it’s the flow of information, ideas and feedback across all levels of the organisation. HR professionals need to be proficient in verbal and written communication to communicate policies, have sensitive conversations and create an open dialogue culture. Clear communication reduces misunderstandings and helps to maintain a harmonious work environment.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and those of others. In HR, high EI means better leadership, better team dynamics and better decision-making. HR professionals with high EI can read emotions and use that to guide their interactions, handle employee issues with care and create a positive workplace culture.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution skills are key for HR professionals as they often act as mediators in workplace disputes and misunderstandings. These skills involve identifying the root cause of the conflict, listening to all parties involved and facilitating a constructive conversation to get to a mutually acceptable solution. Conflict resolution creates a healthier work environment and helps maintain professional relationships which are key to business success.

Avado’s CIPD Level 3 Foundation Certificate in People Practice for example goes over the very fundamentals of human resource practice, this includes an introduction to the core behaviours for people professionals, focusing on ethical practice to create value. It considers how certain ways of thinking and acting should be universally consistent, even in new and challenging situations, to promote a sense of well-being and inclusivity in the organisation.

Developing Soft Skills in Your HR Team

Soft skills are key in HR, improving interpersonal relationships and operational efficiency. Here we look at how to develop these skills in your HR team.

Training Programs and Workshops

Running training programs and workshops are great ways to develop soft skills in HR. Many organisations run workshops on key areas like emotional intelligence and communication. These interactive scenarios provide a safe space for HR professionals to develop and practice their skills.

For example, workshops that simulate communication scenarios help participants practice their responses and develop conflict-resolution skills. Emotional intelligence training can also help HR professionals develop empathy which is key to managing diverse workplace dynamics and creating a supportive culture.

On-the-Joint Job Experience

Practical experience is key to embedding soft skills in an HR team. By putting team members in situations where they have to apply their soft skills (e.g. conflict resolution or teamwork) they will learn how to apply those skills in real life.

Mentorship programs can also play a big part in this development, pairing less experienced HR professionals with experienced mentors. Through regular check-ins and feedback, mentees can learn from real-life examples and gain insight into managing complex interpersonal dynamics. This type of learning is embedded in the day-to-day activities of the HR function so continuous growth and skill application under different work scenarios.

Evaluating Soft Skills During Hiring

Assessing soft skills during the recruitment process is key to identifying candidates who will improve interpersonal relationships and operational efficiency in HR roles. Here we look at how to do this.

Interview Techniques

In interviews open questions allow candidates to show off their soft skills. Asking candidates to describe past experiences where they used specific soft skills like communication or teamwork will give you insight into their skills and working style. Another technique is situational questions where candidates must explain how they would handle a hypothetical scenario.

This measures decision-making, empathy and adaptability. You need to have a structured yet flexible approach so that all candidates are assessed against the same criteria for consistency and fairness.

Behavioural Assessment Tools

Behavioural assessment tools are key to measuring HR soft skills. These tools which include personality tests and situational judgement tests provide quantifiable data on the traits that are important in HR such as emotional intelligence and leadership qualities.

Using tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Occupational Personality Questionnaire can help you identify candidates whose personality fits your company culture and the role. If used well these tools will complement the data from the interview and give you a full picture of each candidate’s potential for HR roles.

Soft skills are key to a positive and productive workplace. We can enhance these skills across our teams by implementing targeted training and using strategic assessment tools. This approach not only improves individual performance but also boosts overall organisational health. Let's continue to prioritise these.

About the Author

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Collaboration skills are necessary for genai success.

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Collaboration is a critical soft skill needed for genAI success.

For most of the history of AI, technical skills such as programming, math, and data science expertise often overshadowed non-technical skills in terms of their importance in making AI systems work. However, as generative AI applications and use cases continue to grow, the significance of soft skills in AI are becoming steadily more important. Of these soft skills, collaboration in particular stands out as one of the key necessary skills for AI success, especially when it comes to genAI. The ability to effectively work with a diverse group of people who bring different skills and experiences to the conversation is crucial to making AI systems deliver the value you are looking for.

Collaboration in AI is not just about people working together. It also involves being able to learn from a wide and diverse group of people with different skill sets in order to drive innovation and problem solving, especially as AI systems continue to rapidly evolve and emerge. As AI continues to transform just about every single industry, the ability to effectively collaborate becomes important for driving successful outcomes and ensuring that AI is developed and implemented responsibly. These soft skills including collaboration allows teams to enhance their problem-solving abilities, create more innovative solutions, iterate more quickly, and ultimately achieve greater success in their projects. It also allows the individual to become a better collaborator.

Why Collaboration Skills Are Needed For AI

Collaboration skills are becoming necessary for enabling teams to deliver high-quality, impactful outcomes with the help of AI, and in particular genAI. Collaboration allows teams to accelerate their learning and understanding, enhance creativity, and improve innovation. When it comes to genAI, being able to collaborate with internal groups within your organization as well as external groups and people will improve your prompt engineering skills. In these group settings, you’re able to share what prompts and prompt patterns have worked or didn’t work, what LLMs work best for different tasks, and collaboratively come up with ways to improve the overall response and behavior of these systems.

Experimenting, testing, and refining your prompts are essential to generative AI success. Seeking feedback and seeing how others implement their AI systems will not only help you improve your own systems but provide inspiration that could clue you into different ways of interacting with the systems to get better results. The more diverse and broad perspectives you can get, the better, especially with different people and roles across your organization, other similar industry organizations, from different industries, as well as people working from their own diverse backgrounds.

Getting perspectives from others on your prompts can help you refine your prompts, spark new ideas and ways to use prompts you never thought of, as well as keep you up to date on the latest prompting best practices and learn new strategies. Collaboration also allows you to see how different prompts are structured to spark innovative ideas and encourage you to think outside the box. For example, others might use LLMs to aggregate or analyze data in ways you never thought of, or use it to quickly generate personalized reports for each stakeholder of a project based on the level of detail needed.

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A best practice for keeping track of different prompts that you’ve tried is the idea of “ hack and track” , in which you use a spreadsheet or other method to track your prompts and identify what works and what doesn’t across different LLMs, prompt patterns and techniques used, while keeping track of the accuracy of the response, LLM version, date prompt was created, and additional relevant information. This document can then be shared with others so they can see your learnings, and you can learn from them as well.

How AI Is Helping With Collaboration Skills

Not only can collaboration help GenAI responses, but GenAI also has the potential to significantly enhance human collaboration by providing tools and capabilities that facilitate better communication, creativity, and problem-solving. GenAI systems can enhance communication and collaboration among colleagues and teams by translating languages in real-time, breaking down language barriers and enabling seamless communication among diverse teams. It can also streamline communication and collaboration by providing quick answers to questions, scheduling meetings, and summarizing conversations. With the rise of remote work, genAI is allowing organizations with colleagues spread out across the globe to collaborate more effectively.

Additionally, GenAI is helping teams improve brainstorming and idea generation. GenAI can generate a vast array of ideas and solutions quickly, serving as a creative partner in brainstorming sessions. Tools like AI-powered design assistants can help teams visualize concepts and iterate on ideas more rapidly, fostering a more dynamic and creative collaborative environment. In this manner, GenAI acts as an augmented intelligence tool allowing teams to iterate on ideas quickly, generate ideas they may never have thought of, and bring different examples to the collaboration table.

There is a dual benefit in integrating GenAI into collaborative processes. On the one hand, teams can leverage these advanced capabilities to enhance their communication, creativity, and efficiency, ultimately becoming better collaborators and achieving more successful outcomes, and on the other hand, genAI is allowing individuals to improve their own collaboration skills.

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