18 WRITING SKILLS

FCMG company Blog: Festival specificcontent

Ramadan has always been about generosity, charity. spirit ual
reflection and connecting with family and friends-even if we
can't physically be together. To help ourcommunityaround the
world celebrate,we're launching the #MonthofMore initiative
on our Instagram account as well as all our other social
mediaplatforms to inspire everyoneto come together, spread
kindness and do good.
Here's what we're doing at our company and how youcan b
part of it :
We're inviting our Instagram community to share their
acts of good-big or small- over the course of the month
and to encourage others to do the same, using the hashtag
#Monthofmore
It can be something as simple as gving thanks to healthare
professionals, posting apositive comment, or hosting avirtua
iftar to bring together friends and fam1ly from around the
world.
We've put together a few ideason how you can spread
kindness on to help get you insp1red' Check out account
welovefcmg for more
We're starting Instagram challenge #zdaysofg1ving,
where for each day of Ramadan we highlight and donate á
month's profit to chosen NGOS, individuals and philanthropic
organisations who are doing their utmost to help those wha
have nothing
Throughout the month on HYPERLINK "https://www.
instagram.com/instagram/" @lnstagram, we will feature
content creators from around the world, who will share
moments from their Ramadan celebrations and their ways o
giving back.
We can't wait to be inspired by the creative ways our giobal
community comes together to celebrate and spread kindness
during the #Monthofmore.
Wishing our community a very Happy Ramadan.
 UNIT [II:
SOFT SKILLS AND
PERSONALITY
DEVELOP MENT
 1

|NTRODUCTION TO SOFT SKILLS

To besuccessful in one's career, we needtwo kinds of competence.
Possessing subject-related knowledge alone is not competence.
Being able to perform and get results using that knowledge is
competence. Competence thus has two parts: knowing what to
do and knowing how to do a job in the best possible manner. The
first part ispart of the educationalcourse one studies at school and
college, called 'hard skills: The second part is a person's attitude
towards work, as well as 'people skills' and 'communication
skills': these and some other kinds of behavioural knowledge
comprise 'soft skills:
Hard skills are the educational background, experience and
expertise that a person has in the relevant field; the content areas
that students studyin universities, such as, commerce, economics,
technical
life sciences, engineering, law or medicine; and a person's
Forexample,
skillset andability to perform certain functional tasks.
doctor cannot.
an engineer can carryout certain jobs that a by
On the other hand, soft skills are practised and used
across
all types of professionals, and are broadly applicable skills' is a
different types of jobs, titles and industries. Sott social
termoften associated with a cluster of personality traits,
friendliness,
etiquette, communication skills, personal habits,
and optimism that characteriserelationships with other people.
These soft skills or behavioural competencies encompass
such as
personality traits, and are retlected through qualities
soft skills are
empathy, leadership and sociability. Because tormal training,
linked to an individual's personality rather than
than hard skills.
they are considered more ditticult todevelop through training
However, many of these skills can be acquired various contexts.
and being aware of how you need to behave in
The following table illustrates the basic differences between
hard and soft skills.
124 SOFT SKILLS AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

HardSkills Soft Skills

Domain-specific Non-domain specific
Rule-based Experience-based
Specialised Attitudinal/Behavioural
Procedural/ Methodical Non-technical
Replicable Trans-situational
Predictable People-related
Tangible Intangible

IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS

today's globalised world, the workplace is becoming

inclusive, multicultural,multi-ethnic and gender sensitive place.
Thisis why being aware of the types of soft skills and practising
them becomes even more important. In a workplace, being able
to interact successfully with different types of people, whether
clientsor colleagues, is an invaluable skill. Not only does it make
it easier to do your job but also helps you build relationships in a
constructive manner, take on leadership roles and become more
successful. In fact, soft skills are useful not only in the workplace
but in allother areas of your life.
For instance, if you have a positive attitude towards your
work you will find it easier to get your work done on time and to
the best of your ability. This positive attitude will also help you
approach setbacks in life with more ease.

TYPES OF SOFT SKILLS

In addition to core competencies like strong analytical skils.
reasoning skills and an ability to manage difficult situations.
employers also look for the following soft skills to help the
efficient functioning of their organisation.

Communication Skills
Communication is a twO-way process in which two people
transmit and receive ideas, information or emotions that must
be received, interpreted and reacted on. In its simplest form
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFT SKILLS 125

communication consists of the following loop: information is

sent from asender or encoder to a receiver or decoder. In a more
complexform feedback is provided back to the sender. Agood
communicator is aware of the following:
What to say
When to say it
Whom tosay it to
How to say it
Communication skills may be verbal (oral and written)
or non-verbal. Oral communication is the ability to explain
and present your ideas in clear understandable language, to
diverse audiences. It includes the ability to tailor delivery to a
given audience, using appropriate styles and approaches, and
an understanding of the importance of non-verbal cues in oral
communication. Non-verbal communication is the ability to
enhance the expression of ideas and concepts through the use of
body language, gestures, facial expression and tone of voice, and
also the useof pictures, iconsand symbols.
Verbal skills

Oral: presentation, audience-focused, critical listening,

discourse markers, sequencing
Written: academic presentation, revision and editing, critical
reading, variety of data presentation
Non-verbal skills
Audience awareness, body language, personal presentation
Written skills are something that most of youwould have been
taught in school and university. However, oral communication
skills and the ability to pick up non-verbal cues is equally
mportant. For instance, if you have a colleague who is not in a
Teceptive frame of mind for whatever reason, trying to get them
to listen to your point of view at that time is not going to work.
At that point, getting into an argument with them is an easy
Lning to do if you are inattentiveto their body language or lack of
Communication. Instead, make your point, walk away and keep
the discussion for another time.