Soft Skills: Are They Innate or Can We Learn Them Over Time? Let's Discuss!

Are Soft Skills Born or Acquired?

Soft skills can be a combination of both innate abilities and skills that are acquired and developed over time. Some individuals may naturally possess certain soft skills such as communication, empathy, and adaptability, while others may need to actively work on cultivating these skills through education, training, and practice.

It is essential to recognize that while some people may have a predisposition towards certain soft skills, everyone has the potential to enhance and improve these abilities through effort and dedication. Continuous learning and self-awareness play a crucial role in developing one's soft skills, regardless of whether they are perceived as inherent traits or learned behaviors.

Mr. Act has very succinctly summed up the issue. You can cultivate these skills consciously if you are determined and passionate about them.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
Mumbai

Mr. Jacob has given you a detailed explanation; hence, I will raise questions and make a general suggestion. What do you do, and why have you raised this question? Did you search CiteHR and read material already available?

I take this opportunity to state that we should read the material available and express what we think about a topic and then seek others' views. For example, there are some links on the side to PPT presentations that have views similar to those made by Mr. Jacob.

All the skills and whatever is needed are within every human being irrespective of capabilities. The difference arises in whether they realize them according to the circumstances they experience, which only results in grouping the known skills. It is just like planting in different types of land areas and under different kinds of weather temperatures and resources. Obviously, you will get different results, but that doesn't change the inbuilt nature of the plants.

So, I suggest that all who feel a bit low in confidence not care about the criticisms of others and confront complex problems, but rather try to provoke the abilities residing within you by giving it time (after all, it takes time to loosen the rusted screws and nuts, the unused or hardly used ones, which we all have in plenty) to get stimulated and articulated for the purpose of recognition. Even your grouping list enlarges by itself. All the very best.

You seem to be having an assignment or a competition! Self-research is always the best; opinions given by others are just that—opinions only. You can never argue on them because they are the results of one's prudence, observation, and experiences, which are never the same for everyone. So, you cannot argue to judge them; you will only have the choice to accept or not accept such views for your own purposes.

So, try to research and frame your own opinion, backing it up with facts and evidence to make it more effective.

Regards

A good poser that has made many think about it... I agree with quite a few of the responses; they make a lot of sense. My response is this: Why this question in the first place? Mere academic point of view? Then I am sorry... But if it is an existential question of the quest for meaning in life, let me share my view.

The Development of Skills

Skill as such is seen in the process of human development. Everyone is given infinite potentials and capabilities. When they are turned into abilities, they become one's capacities. When they are applied consistently, they become skills, and when they are reinforced as a part of one's personality, it is a competence. Do you agree?

Tell me, is flowering caused by the seed or the sunlight? Inborn potentials when nurtured in a supportive environment, you see the talents exhibited as skills that have an impact on self, others, and the world at large.

The challenge for everyone is to search for hidden talents and use them to create an impact on the quality of life.

So Ruby, thanks for the thought-provoking poser.

Regards,
Joe