The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its on-going worldwide effects are transforming the way we live, learn, and work across sectors.
Even though the year 2020 was very different from what probably all of us expected, there were many things we had to learn and that made us better professionals. From wearing masks to gloves, to social distancing and being separated from the ones we love, the year was rough in many areas of our lives, but adapting to the new normal presented new challenges, especially in the professional areas of our lives.
Some of the sectors that experienced huge changes and had to adapt to this new normal were sales, customer service, teaching, local commerce, and they had to resort to WhatsApp, Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, E-commerce and so many other platforms to transform their work into an online interaction.
When most of us simply had to stay home and work from behind a computer screen, things didn’t seem they were going to be so difficult. After all, it’s the same job we used to do every day at the office, but now we’re doing it from home. However, adjusting to a new routine where family is still with you as you start working, you didn’t have to spend time commuting, you haven’t even left your house, so our brains had somewhat of a hard time associating that work had begun and this was how things were going to be now.
There was even a research, done with lab rats and published in Nature Neuroscience, offering some suggestions about why doing new things can initially be so difficult, especially in a new or changing environment, but that it can get easier over time.
Lab rats were taught how to perform new actions, such as pressing a lever for food, in one specific place. Afterwards, they were moved to a different place, with different wallpaper, flooring and odors. They were then “asked” to perform the same actions to receive a reward, but they were no longer able to do so. Nevertheless, things were different when the rats were tested again a week later. By that time, they could make accurate choices in the new environment, because they were already familiarized with it.
The research suggests that, for our brains, working from home may be like learning a whole new job — not just doing the same job in a new place. This may help to explain why new behaviors can be so difficult to learn when our circumstances change. But the good news is that it gets easier with time.
Soft skills vs hard skills: What is the difference?
In a simple definition, hard skills are measurable, we can make proof of them with a college degree, a certificate of some kind, or the hours spent on any lecture or workshop.
Soft skills are not so easy to measure on an immediate perception. They are more like traits of personality that can define you as a good leader, a team-worker or even a very efficient employee because of your time management skills, but either way, they are things that only time will help you make proof of them.
The most developed soft skills of 2020:
Adaptability and flexibility
This was actually the first ability we all had to learn. Without it we wouldn’t have functioned when the pandemic started, and maybe some of us actually felt like that – people were scared, population in some places went a little wild – remember the toilet paper shortage? – but for some of us we just couldn’t afford to show it, so we had to quietly learn these skills and deal with the pandemic upfront. This was our way to show that the company could count on us, no matter what.
If you were able to create your work schedule, with children or pets at home, without your morning cup of coffee, while having to cook and manage the housework, and you still managed to get things done, you were definitely able to adapt to this “new normal”.
Multitasking
Undeniably, if you have managed to create an efficient work schedule, teach your children from home, all while keeping tabs on the health of an elder, for example, and making sure nobody was starving or living under a hurricane rubble, you'll be able to say with complete confidence, during any networking session, that you are experienced in taking care of different things at the same time. Multitasking was also one of the skills we had to learn during this hardship, because we didn’t just bring work home, we had more things to do around the house, because, unlike with our old routines, everybody was at home to get the dishes dirty, spread everything around the house and even use more of the utilities. And we all had to jump in and do more chores than normal, while coping with our work / school inside our home.
Communication:
This, for some, was a little more difficult, but then again, we didn’t really have a choice. We had to learn how to communicate online or through the phone. Teachers, for instance, had to develop the ability to jump from one platform to another (Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Teams) or even engage students in activities, while becoming total youtubers and video editors, which was something no one expected or was even prepared for.
In commerce and especially sales, not being able to visit clients was one of the biggest struggles, so the same skills of communication, whether online or on the phone, had to be developed. To become a good communicator and explain your product or service through a camera, or even sell through pictures, became the only option for many.
Interpersonal skills, time management and focus
We might think that these skills only apply within office grounds. But full teams had to learn how to develop empathy and interpersonal skills, as well as time management and focus, because everyone’s routine and house demands were different. Being productive even with distractions at home, especially if you have kids or pets and, all of a sudden, you are at home 24/7, required for a totally different approach to maintain even the most basic of skills.
Decision making
With things happening, literally people dying, and a population living in fear, decision making is what separated the good employees from the reckless ones. With so much to deal with, and their own private lives colliding with their professional ones, leaders became a little less available for everyone at a time, so little decisions had to be made on a daily basis without the normal supervision. And even leaders had to deal with the most unexpected turn of events and decisions of completely changing the course of action, and rethinking strategies had to be made.
Emotional intelligence
By definition: is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. Were you able to keep your cool during this period?
Creativity
As mentioned before, finding new ways to work, developing new strategies, making course-of-action-changing decisions, all involved loads of creativity, once the circumstances we were all experiencing were completely new.
So, were you able to develop these skills in 2020? Are you still working on some? Would you like our teachers to help you learn more about soft skills, while you practice English? Give us a call, or send an email and join us at Brisk!
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