6 Key Skills You Need for Workplace Well-Being6 min read

6 Key Skills You Need for Workplace Wellbeing - Geeta Ramakrishnan

Struggling with Team-Building?

Are you part of a team or lead a team at your workplace, and are you struggling with the delicate dynamics it entails? Are you amongst those who allocate work to your team but end up doing their work as well, just so that you stand perfect? Then this blog is just for you. Being an Ontological coach and having worked with people from Dubai and India, especially women in business, I have listed the top 6 skills you need for workplace wellbeing, helping ace your professional life.

Since your workplace is where you spend the maximum amount of your time, it’s crucial that you feel comfortable, secure, and happy. Though wellbeing is a subjective term, it usually emerges from your thoughts, attitude, and actions on which you have control. Whether it is handling the work-life balance or finding your purpose, the skills you practice create a healthy work environment and help you be more confident and thriving at work. You can quickly adapt your learning to apply it to your home front.

Naming the Skills:

Your ability to climb the rungs of the career ladder and stay there hinges on more than just your qualifications. Soft skills are the added talent that managers look for in candidates before hiring them. Although difficult to measure or define, they dictate your attitude and conduct to shape your workplace wellbeing. These soft skills can also be classified as a personality trait or habit. Adaptability, creativity, enrolling your team, taking ownership, and conflict resolution are excellent team-building skills.  Effective communication and a growth mindset are the more specific high-impact ones.

1. Effective Communication

The ability to communicate involves knowing how to speak with others in different situations or settings. For instance, when working with a team on a project, you may find an idea or process ineffective and may need to communicate with your team. Finding a way to disagree with others on the job without creating conflict tactfully is an essential skill of value. Enrolling the team-members from the beginning helps rather than instructing the process to be followed where they are unaware of the end goal. You will be surprised with unique ideas team members you least expect to bring out.

2. Adaptability to Change

Another team-building tool is that of adaptability. How easily do you adapt to changes? Changes in processes, environment, or from the client’s side can happen quickly. A good leader is capable of adapting to new situations and finding new ways of working. It goes a long way in creating an energetic workplace environment rather than a low team spirit that one often encounters. When you are curious and open to new ideas, you can adapt quickly. Try applying the same skill at home and see magic unfurl. Of course, it is equally important to know how much you can extend yourself and when to say ‘No’ in a powerfully creative way.

3. Learning with a Growth Mindset

Just as an equanimous mindset helps us function smoothly globally, a curious learning approach helps build a growth mindset. It enables you to perceive work tensions as challenges to help overcome obstacles. The idea of learning from failures allows you to focus on finding solutions to problems rather than getting demotivated by them. The will to grow instills a positive attitude. It helps in setting team goals and audit the process once in a while.

Active learning at the workplace is vital to promote the overall personal growth and that of the team. You are learning and developing these skills that will enable you to navigate your ship through tricky waters and is imperative to achieve growth.

4. Creating a Supportive Environment

It is vital to create a supportive and encouraging work environment to thrive at your workplace. Taking ownership of your team’s performance is imperative. A healthy environment is created by focusing on some core values. Workplace safety, small acts of gratitude, recognition of effort for both for you and your team, exercising flexibility in project commitment are ways of encouraging a happy workplace. Workplace safety is not just the responsibility of the management; it is yours as well. Sexual harassments are not to be taken lightly and need to be voiced at any cost. A positive environment encourages commitment to excellence, open and honest communication, respect, compassion, and empowerment. It also increases self-motivation, innovation, and creative thinking, which enable the organization to expand the business, optimize quality and increase profitability.

5. Creative and Critical Thinking

As a team member, do what you’re told at work is not always the right approach. It is a must to reconfirm shared understandings of instructions and processes. Evaluate the information available. As much as a logical quotient is essential, allow your critical thinking ability and letting your creative juices flow is important. Speaking your mind out in an excellent way can improve processes, innovate in your field, and spot pain points.

Use critical thinking along with problem-solving. When you are asked to, or you see a particular problem, don’t immediately start looking for solutions. Take a step back and analyze the situation by researching and reviewing the information available. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The radical out-of-the-box thinking helps create a win-win situation for you, your team, and your company. 

It reminds me of when I used to get so excited and involved in problem-solving and felt if I didn’t step in, both at work and home, the problems can’t get resolved. Little did I realize that I was indirectly passing on the message of distrust to others around me. The best way is to involve the team and ask them to come up with solutions. You are creating the energy of equality and respecting every member’s capability of solution-finding.

6. Celebrate and Share Your Successes

A common reason people leave their jobs is that they do not feel appreciated. We also have a miserly attitude when it comes to respecting our efforts. Whether it’s your first day at work or you’ve been around for a while, you’re not expected to be perfect. Instead, look at yourself as ‘work-in-progress.’ Learn to appreciate your small wins.

If you achieve a small milestone, learn to celebrate it. A “pat” of appreciation from yourself will push you to do better and motivate you. The same applies to your team. Since a simple reward is fulfilling, rewarding, and uplifting, celebrating and sharing the success with teammates will only improve performance and encourage further growth. I am talking about small treats like a coffee break or just loud cheers. The brain recognizes and craves such appreciations.

Workplace need not be all work and no play. Quite the opposite offers a great workplace environment of growth and wellbeing, where teamwork is a consequence. According to TLNT, 80 percent of workers agree that having the opportunity to learn new skills at work makes them more interested and engaged in their job.* Supporting and uplifting others can spurt your personal growth.

*Ref: https://www.tlnt.com/how-to-make-learning-a-top-priority/

In Conclusion

Soft skills are incredibly essential to organisations across industries. In today’s constantly changing world, organizations need people who can adapt to new situations, apply their thinking and skills to evolve and develop new skills when the environment around them is constantly changing. If you are looking to establish workplace well-being, it is important to develop and practice good soft skills that will influence the way you work, your interpersonal relationships, and your overall success. No matter where you are at in your professionally or personally, you need soft skills to complete your everyday tasks effectively.

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