In today’s working environment, soft skills are becoming the new hard skills. Traditional hard skills are still necessary, but soft skills are invaluable to be effective.

For this post, I’ve divided the list of soft skills in two parts: personal and interpersonal. It really is not an explanation of all individual items, but a list you can use to reflect on yourself. As you are heading into the second half of 2016, it might be a good idea to take a close look at this list to see if there are actions you can take to grow in a couple of them.

Personal or “about you”

  • communication skills
  • self motivation
  • work ethic
  • reading comprehension
  • creative thinking
  • keeping yourself accountable
  • adaptability and flexibility
  • focus
  • emotional intelligence
  • attitude
  • being positive
  • being on time
  • taking initiative
  • presenting ideas
  • writing
  • problem solving
  • critical thinking
  • active learning
  • structured thinking
  • time management
  • giving presentations
  • taking responsibility
  • making decisions
  • taking a structured approach
  • personal presentation
  • being honest

Interpersonal or “about others”

  • coaching and mentoring
  • how to get along with people, being friendly
  • helping others
  • resolving conflict
  • show appreciation
  • gathering support
  • including others
  • active listening
  • being interested
  • building and retaining relationships with people
  • being polite and pleasant
  • sharing responsibility
  • finding common ground

The good thing about soft skills is that they are transferable between jobs. That makes them an investment that will pay out for the rest of your life, with any occupation you have. Did you miss your favorite soft skill? Let me know!