While your technical skills and knowledge are important, your people skills are essential for being an effective team leader. Soft skills do matter. The problem is, the importance of these soft skills is often undervalued. Sometimes you are expected to know how to motivate others to achieve, be an effective communicator, be able to team build and handle conflict.

Traditionally, people don't receive adequate soft skills training – either during vocational instruction or as part of on-the-job training.

Soft skills are increasingly becoming the hard skills of today's work force. Learn how to develop these skills to help your team produce the right results and remain productive.

1. Build a stronger team - Figure out how to build a team that works well together. That can be a difficult task. After all, creating a team can mean bringing together people with different skillsets and varied personalities to work towards a common goal.
2. Understand how to address under-performance and the role motivation can play - Identify actions that can address underachievement. By understanding what makes your team ‘tick’ you will be able to better play to their strengths and recognise how to develop them as individuals and remain productive.

• Understanding the organisation’s requirements in relation to team performance
• Aligning your team’s goals to achieve organisational targets
• Know what makes teams effective
• Understanding the reasons for under performance and techniques for managing it
• Effectively manage conflict with individuals and the team
• Work to and build on individuals’ strengths
• Techniques to recognise achievement and motivate others to improve performance