All Roads Lead to Soft Skills: The Core Competencies You Need To Succeed

You can’t succeed without them….
by Sue Mackey

Core Competencies are soft skills. Soft skills are those skill sets that we begin learning from birth and continue to acquire and master throughout our adult life. All roads to success require proficiency, if not mastery, of these all important skills. You can’t sustain a positive attitude, sustain motivation or sustain optimism, achieve goals or do any job well without them.  High level achievers use these skills in everything they do.  

WHAT versus HOW

How many times have you listened to a speaker, read a self help book or an autobiography and thought: I can do that? Or, you were so motivated and energized by positive thoughts that you became excited and optimistic about your future? You identified your goals and had a fierce determination to succeed. Days later though, you notice that you’ve settled back into your old and not too confident self? Frustrated, you struggled with sustaining the new positive you but couldn’t make it stick. Having no clues why this was happening, you wrote it off as just not being you – not the successful type. Your confidence waned even more when you reflected upon the past. This wasn’t the first time you tried a new you and failed to have it stick. Once again, you conclude that successful people must know something you don’t. Maybe they have a magic or talents you just don’t have and can’t get. You’re ready to give up trying but that’s defeat – you hate to succumb to failure just in case theirs is a chance.

You’re right about those successful people though. They do have something you don’t have – at least not right now. Hold on. Fear not, it’s only a temporary situation.

The good news is that what they have, you, too, can have. The only difference between you and them is they know HOW to do what it is they talk about. That’s the magic. Knowing what to do is only part of the success process. You have to know HOW. That’s what you’re missing. That’s their magic. Learn HOW and you’ll discover you can do exactly WHAT they do and you’ll be able to do it as well as they do too. And, you’ll also discover that knowing how will give you the ability to sustain positive, motivated and optimism.

It’s simple. All roads lead to acquiring and becoming a master in the use of core competencies, soft skills or street smarts. Whatever you call them, they are the magic that makes what to do work for you. For example, if you’re in sales and you interact with people knowing how to do it well, like other successful people, is the key. Interaction with people is the – what - part. The magic is in - how - well you do it. That’s were your skill smarts come in – the magic is in how well you use your core soft skills.

What are core soft skills, core competencies or street smarts? Some of the critical ones are: Problem Solving, Decision Making, Courage, Integrity, Honesty, Trustworthy, and Respect for Self & Others, Communication Skills, Interpersonal, Self Development, Teamwork, Personal Responsibility and Accountability, Observation, Managing Adversity, Optimistic and Positive. There are many more but proficiency in these skill sets will get you well on your road to success.

Remember: Knowing WHAT to do won’t get you the results you want and expect. You must Learn HOW to do it well.  

How to acquire and master these skills are found in our book: Living Well, Working Smart: Soft Skills for Success by Sue Mackey and Laura Tonkin.