2020 really showed us what soft skills are critical to business success today. Companies that could pivot quickly and adapt to new challenges were more able to ride out the disruptions and challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The past year was also a time when many people slowed down and focused on building new skills. To help employees and companies stay at the top of their game, Udemy analyzed the fastest-growing skills of 2020.
These were the 10 soft skills for 2020:
- Growth Mindset
- Creativity
- Focus Mastery
- Innovation
- Communication
- Storytelling
- Culture Awareness
- Critical Thinking
- Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
Looking at this list, the skills people focused on in 2020 were clearly impacted by global events, from the pandemic to political controversies and calls for more diversity and inclusion in all industries and leadership positions.
The good news is—these are all skills that can be taught.
The fastest way to bring your workers up to speed with these soft skills is through off-the-shelf courseware.
Off-the-shelf courseware is a fantastic option when you don’t have subject matter experts or instructional designers available in-house to create specific training, or when you don’t have time to wait for a course to be storyboarded, developed, approved, and finally deployed.
A course library like BizLibrary® provides you with many options for courses covering the top soft skills of 2020 and is constantly updated with new courses to keep the information current.
Your learners can choose from courses like Communication for Leaders & Managers, Delegation & Empowerment, Leading Change, and others. These all speak to the top 5 soft skills of 2020 and can help improve your company’s bottom line.
The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) reports that miscommunication can cost a company anywhere from $420,000 to $62 million.
Now, more than ever, the decisions we make around investing in professional development and soft skills training will determine how our workforce navigates the volatility that the new year seems determined to continue on bringing.
Chief Learning Officer recommends asking yourself these questions when deciding what skills to train for:
- Are skills more durable or more perishable?
- Are skills transferable across roles, job families, or industries?
- Are skills in demand, and will they be so in the future?
The most durable skills are often soft skills.
Creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills help workers develop mindsets and attitudes that stay with them no matter what new job role or task they face. Tech skills become outdated quickly, but soft skills endure.
Ready to deliver soft skills training to your team? Contact us for a free demo of our off-the-shelf courseware options.
