How Are Your Soft Skills Handling 8 Months of Quarantine?

It’s an ugly necessary question.

For so long, we’ve practiced using our soft skills in physical office spaces and settings. Speaking to an audience was done in-person. Teamwork was much easier to facilitate in actual, not virtual, meeting rooms. We practiced interpersonal skills in face-to-face conversations.

For the foreseeable (and in some cases permanent) future, the standard work day has changed dramatically. BUT, even if you’ve gotten comfortable with Zoom, enjoyed pants-less meetings, and have appreciated not having to speak in front of a live audience, now is the perfect time to up-level your soft skills.

Why? 

As we’ve written in the past, your human skills are crucial for business to succeed. Because of the times we’re living through, adopt and adapt have become the new softs skills watch words. 

It doesn’t matter if you own the company or you’re one of the infrastructure that drive industry. We’re living in a virtual epoch and it’s up to you to pivot the full range of your skills to coincide with the environment. We have to think about not just showing up to the checkerboard squares of a virtual meeting, but being fully present and contributing. 

Teams have to meet to effectively exchange ideas, collaborate, and complete important projects. Since digital settings make meaningful interpersonal communication much more challenging, it’s necessary to talk to the team about talking to the team, in order to continue to adapt your communication styles and efficacy.

Leadership in the time of Covid is whole other uncomfortable conversation. We’ve all seen how the ship can burn when there’s little or no guidance. Throughout the history of the modern workplace, the physical presence of managers has been the expectation. It’s important for ongoing conversations about employee performance, getting help on tasks, and to boost team morale. Video conferencing and messaging channels make fulsome leadership far more difficult, so the question for leadership remains: would your teams agree with your assessment of your leadership skills in this time?

This is a wake-up call looking ahead to the new year. Think about ways you can preserve and enhance the relationships, leadership, and teamwork your organization has worked so hard to build. Whatever your position, those interpersonal skills that are at a premium now, will only become more valuable in the “new normal” to come.

LB Adams is the Founder of Practical Dramatics, headquartered in Charleston, SC.  Her company is responsible for providing stellar training events that utilize theatre strategies to help humans grow more profitable conversations with other humans, To find out more about public speaking & presentation training, please reach out to us at 843-771-073. AND, check out Practical Dramatics’ YouTube channel to see LB’s interviews with business leaders driving industry in her show, Snack-Sized Business.