Assertiveness Must have Soft Skills in the Workplace

Assertiveness Must have Soft Skills in the Workplace
Dr. Aparna Sethi
Corporate Trainer and Author

There are many soft skills on which companies can conduct training sessions; however, assertiveness is the one which organisations should not ignore. 

At workplace when employees move from one level to another they require different sets of soft skills. Soft skills, interpersonal attributes, or non-technical skills are essential for success in any workplace. Unlike hard skills, which are very technical and are job specific, such as a company secretary, lathe machine operator, engineer, salesperson, or human relations head, soft skills make them a better fit in the organisation.

Communication ability, social skills, and critical thinking are some soft skills that are sought after, and training helps develop and enhance soft skills in the organisation.

However, in my corporate training experience, I found that assertiveness is the most critical soft skill employees must have. 

Assertiveness is a skill regularly referred to in social and communication skills training.

Being assertive means standing up for your or other people’s rights calmly and positively, without being aggressive or passively accepting ‘wrong’. Aggression, however, typically hurts others or doesn’t bear their well-being.

Assertive behaviour includes:

 Assertive people express their thoughts openly and encourage others to communicate too. 

They listen to respond. If assertive people disagree with their thoughts, they respond appropriately without hurting another person. 

Generally, assertive people express appreciation. 

Assertive people accept their mistakes.

Top 3 Benefits of Assertiveness Training: 

Getting things done becomes easy: Post-training managers find it easy to get thongs done by their team members without threat. 

Improved negotiation: Assertiveness training helps managers find common ground with other people. They try to achieve a win-win situation. 

Less stressed: Employees who do not share their feelings end up overthinking, which leads to stress. After assertive training, they understand how to express their feelings, which lowers their stress level. 

Effective time management:  Assertiveness training trains employees in the art of saying NO. They get clarity on where to say yes and when to say no. This clarity helps them to prioritise their tasks. 

Improved interpersonal relationships at the workplace: Assertiveness training trains the employees without hurting people how to express feelings, achive win win situtaion which brings the conflicts down at workplace. This helps employees to improve interpersonal relationships. 

It’s often easy to lose one’s temper or patience and act aggressively. However, responding with assertiveness is essential in the workplace. So, stay away from aggression when you find yourself in a difficult conversation. Taking a pause and introspecting the conversion’s goal help you remain assertive. There are many soft skills on which companies can conduct training sessions; however, assertiveness is the one which organisations should not ignore. 

To know techniques of assertiveness, click on the following link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_lU3ag8tDE

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *