Have you ever heard this term ‘soft skills’? It is really surprising that more than 80% medical professionals in India do not even know what soft skills are. We are in one of the most educated field and call our profession as ‘Nobel profession’ but are still unaware of something which would make it more Nobel.

Soft skills are the skills pertaining to our personality, attitude & behavior. It is about ‘How we speak’ rather than ‘what we speak’. Soft skills constitutes communication skills, leadership, team building, interpersonal skills, presentation skills and management skills like time management, stress management etc.

It is really surprising that more than 80% medical professionals in India do not even know what soft skills are. We are in one of the most educated field and call our profession as ‘Nobel profession’ but are still unaware of something which would make it more Nobel.

Importance of Soft Skills

A research by Harvard University presented a very stunning graph about the role of soft skills in order to succeed in any form of life.

The graph very well explains the stupendous importance of soft skills in a person’s success. Isn’t it surprising that we spend about 25 years of our life and huge amount of money to acquire Domain skills which actually contributes to only 1/8th portion of success whereas almost all the success is directly proportional to the depth of soft skills we possess & our ability to use them effectively.

Soft skills are not a replacement for hard- or technical-skills. They are, in many instances, complementary, and serve to unlock the potential for highly effective performance in people qualified with the requisite hard skills.

According to psychologist Daniel Coleman, a combination of competencies contribute to a person’s ability to manage his or herself and relate to other people-matters twice as much as IQ or technical skills in job success. Soft skills essentially help in increasing productivity & performance.

This is what exactly explains why few of our colleagues do much better professionally than many scholars even though they were mediocre academically in the collages days. This is what precisely explains why in spite of having same academic qualification, few dentists have got roaring practice than many others. This is what perfectly proves the importance of soft skills.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t possess soft skills. All of us definitely have & use them, may be subconsciously. But a small professional touch can give you more powerful results in using them. We all therefore must make all the efforts to enhance our soft skills as much as we can. It is the level of soft skill we have would ultimately determine the extent of our success may it be in professional or personal life. This would then lead our way to the desired destiny of ours. One should always remember that ‘Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional’…Choice is yours!