Softskills in IT: Increasing the value of the IT professional

Soft skills refers to the personal attributes that a individual has that let them interact in a successful way, both in terms of effectiveness as in harmony, with others.

When this is referred to the workplace, soft skills should balance the hard skills (the person’s knowledge on their specific profession). Soft skills must be taught by different people, influencers, coaches, family members and teachers during the lifespan. Therefore we talk about Lifelong Learning. Nevertheless soft skills are sometimes neglected in favor of hard skills thinking that a person will develop capabilities and behavioral concepts by its own, which is a mistake,

Soft skills are broader than hard skills, therefore can be applied to different jobs, industries and throughout the organizational chart and we truly benefit when they are applied to our IT profession, since it makes as better professionals, better service providers, actually very valuable assets for the organization.

From my point of view, some of the key soft skills that we as IT professionals should all master are listed below. I made a short summary of general view of each just to introduce the subject. There is no specific knowledge on how to apply them to IT at this stage but I have tons of info and examples that I will be happy to share as we take the next steps. Still I think it does a nice reading; I hope you think the same way too: :)

Presentation skills: In today’s professional world many things are seen as a “given”. Every individual is expected to perform above average in its area of expertise and it is a "given" “that it will excel in interpersonal skills, including presentation and communication skills. Unfortunately this is not the norm.
Presentations skills can be developed over time by exposure as with most other activities in life, but without proper guidance and advise, anyone may develop wrongdoings that may unconsciously end up being seen as appropriate and may at the end limit the desired outcome, whether to entertain or educate the audience, or succeed in “selling” an specific idea or project. 

Communication skills: Miscommunication is a very extended problem that can affect the outcome of any situation in every day life. When we consider the effects that communication, or the lack of it, can have in the professional environment, we understand how important it is to get it right from the start or fix it without delays.
Have you ever miscommunicated yourself? Have you ever asked someone to do something and did not go as planned, because you did not communicated well or what you said was misunderstood? What happens when you not all vital information flows from one department to another?
There is enough evidence in today’s business world of the cost of miscommunication in time, effort and money lost.

Non verbal communication: Every time we face somebody we talk even without words. The body has many ways of communicating which are subtle and extremely complex: gesturing, how we stand or sit, whether we cross our legs or not, our head’s direction, our eyes or facial expressions and even without any thought a good observer could pick up a hidden message out of the minimal contraction of a muscle.
Independently of the words we decide to voice is inevitable to talk with the “language" of our body at the same time. Still, most people are not aware of this and do not benefit from “listening” to what others are saying with their behavior.
2000 years ago there were already suggestions that our body could express our inner feelings but in the last 30 years the non-verbal communication has flourished and consensus reached while experiments have proven that from all communication, non-verbal accounts for more than 50% and sometimes even as much as 95%. 

Negotiation skills: Have you ever found that you had differences with another individual, whether a partner, a colleague, a friend, a child, a boss or even a complete stranger? Then you have been confronted to the need of putting your negotiation skills at work. Yes, negotiation is the way by which people settle disputes of any kind. You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand how powerful is to be in control and have clarity of mind to approach a certain negotiation scenario.
While trying to settle a situation, even a disagreement we aim to achieve the best possible outcome for us, for the team we lead or the organization we represent. And we are at the same time influenced by our sense of honesty, fairness, well-being, time constraints, organizational bylaws and principles among others. So we clearly understand that just bubbling out the first thing that comes to mind will not be the best way to negotiate.