What’s the Easiest Soft Skill to Develop?

Important Soft Skill: Listening Skills

We’ve seen this question on Quora – What is the easiest soft skill to develop? This question stumped me at first as soft skills by nature are a bit more difficult to develop. With this said, from our list of soft skills, our vote is that listening skills are perhaps the easiest to learn and develop.

You have to be intentional and understand what active listening skills really mean. It’s the easiest to develop for four reasons:

1. You have plenty of time to practice at work and in your personal life. People are talking to you all the time.
2. You can practice without putting yourself in center stage. It’s harder for other people to notice if you are a making a “mistake” and didn’t actively listen all the time.
3. Improving in this area is foundational to many other soft skills, such as communications skills, interpersonal skills, influence skills, and networking skills. The better you can listen the better you can understand the person you are speaking with and their needs.
4. You can see improvements right away with this skills. Once you are actively listening to others, you will better respond to their needs and build better relationships..

Also, Fast Company published an article called “Five Ways To Improve Your Listening Skills” that can help. You can read the article here.