From Awareness to Action
Practical tools and steps can help us to understand our soft skills level. These are four steps to help understand your soft skills level:
Step 1: Get Feedback
As mentioned earlier, self-reflection builds awareness, which helps us understand ourselves more. However, self-awareness is two types. One of those types is Internal Self Awareness which expresses our perception of our own values, interests, goals, compatibility with our surroundings, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and influence on others. At the same time, the other type is External Self- Awareness1, which means comprehending how others see themselves in light of the same aspects described above. According to our research, people are better at evoking empathy and understanding other people's viewpoints when they are aware of how others perceive them.It's crucial to know how others perceive us as well. Feedback completes the rest of the picture. To get feedback, we need to choose people we trust from our circle. Those could be friends, family, or coworkers. We then need to ask them to provide us with constructive feedback. Feedback about our strengths or weaknesses is both equally important.
(Download the template using the form on the bottom of this page to ease the process and help others provide you with some feedback in an easy and relaxed manner)
Step 2: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
When we feel at ease, most people show stronger soft skills. For instance, we are more observant and self-assured with close friends than in a stressful work environment. In addition, when we take on activities or tasks that we are not used to, it reveals blind areas that we might not have been aware of. For example, taking on the job of heading a committee at work might show strength in leadership. Taking an afternoon acting class might show some skill in that field or not. Stepping out of your comfort zone will help build your resilience, adopt a growth mindset, and actualize yourself as you know more about it.2
Here is a list of things you can do to push yourself out of your comfort zone:3
- Do one thing you've always wanted to
- Take on a fitness challenge
- Change up your routine
- Expand your professional skill set
- Choose fear, and face it
- Travel somewhere new
- Speak up in class or business meetings
- Meet new people
- Learn something new
- Take advantage of new opportunities
- Make changes simply to spice up your life
Step 3: Take a Scientifically-validated Assessment
It's not easy to understand oneself and set developmental goals, but self-assessment is a technique that might be useful. Finding out what matters to you, what your hobbies are, what you value, what you are excellent at, and what type of personality you have, are all essential self-assessment goals. The decisions you make regarding your job path can then be influenced by looking at all these aspects.
Self-assessment exercises can assist in decision-making and development planning. These tests can aid your career education and broaden your thinking to alternatives you might not have thought of. You can narrow your options by using the process of elimination to find areas in which you seem to be mismatched. A self-assessment, on the other hand, can simply affirm what you already know and attest to your professional direction. This affirmation can help you feel more confident in that area.4
Here are some assessments that can help with your self-awareness quest if you are sincerely eager to know yourself more:
- LIFO® Survey: an assessment tool that focuses on strengths and what is positive about leaders, teams, and individuals. It begins by identifying each person's basic orientation to life and work, allowing them to see how to operate more effectively in various situations, optimal as well as adverse situations. Based on this information, LIFO® offers powerful learning strategies for greater personal productivity, increased influence with key people, and more effective teamwork.
- MBTI: By defining personality type, the MBTI® (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) tool builds a robust foundation for lifelong personal development. It provides a constructive, flexible, and liberating framework for understanding individual differences and strengths.
Step 4: Meeting with a Coach5
Working with a coach is similar to having a neutral third party who isn't constrained by mental constraints. Instead, they may evaluate and analyze your challenges, and view them from an angle that you wouldn't have seen otherwise.
As a result, having that outside perspective can assist you in better comprehending what you're going through. A coach can help you investigate the potential root causes of your issue. They can also assist you in adopting a fresh view of your issues.
Here is an example of the soft skills development plan sheet. You can download the template using the form on the bottom of this page to help plan your self-development
1 HBR, 4 Jan 2018, Tasha Eurich, What Self Awareness really is (and how to cultivate it), Accessed 3 Nov 2022, https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it
2Positive psychology, 4 Nov 2020, Oliver Page M.D, How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your ‘Growth Zone’, accessed 3 Nov 2022, https://positivepsychology.com/comfort-zone/
3 Ways to live fully, Marelisa, Accessed 7 Nov 2022, https://daringtolivefully.com/comfort-zone Better Up, 11 Mar 2022, Maggie Wooll, How to get out of your comfort zone (in 6 simple steps), Accessed 7 Nov 2022, https://www.betterup.com/blog/comfort-zone
4Knowing yourself, Guide to self-assessment, Accessed 7 Nov 2022, https://cc.careersportal.ie/careerplanning/self_assessment.php?ed_sub_cat_id=13&parent=11
5Raising self-awareness, How can a Life Coach Help Me?, Accessed 7 Nov 2022, https://raisingselfawareness.com/how-can-life-coach-help-me/
For more about this topic, download our latest book " The Soft Skills Treasure Quest" for FREE:
Download our Feedback Questions Sheet and Soft Skill Development Plan Template to kick-start your journey of self-awareness and soft skill development today!
Use the form below to download: