Lightness: know this key soft skill in personal development

The way in which we manage the emotions that arise in our path in the workplace is a key aspect without which it is not possible to understand the functioning of companies and organizations in general. However, it is often relegated to the background, an error that gives rise to many problems in leadership processes and professional performance.

For this reason, coaching places special emphasis on the need to enhance soft skills through forms of learning in which the personal overlaps with the professional, and in this sense, lightness is one of the most important. Let's see what it consists of and why it brings us benefits in private life and at work.

• Related article: "Differences between "soft skills" and "hard skills""

What is lightness from the perspective of the coach?

In the context of coaching and personal development processes, lightness is a soft skill linked to the management of emotions. What does this mean?

Let's start with the concept of "soft skill": it is a skill of an eminently applied nature, not reducible to textual knowledge or that can be expressed in words, and that is very useful in most professional roles, regardless of what we are let's dedicate In other words, it is part of what makes us valuable professionally but, at the same time, it is not reflected in the list of titles. and diplomas that we put on our resume, because it is not something that we get from formal education in the University.

There are several soft skills, and all of them are of great importance to perform well at work, but at the same time, they are useful to us in our personal facet, precisely because they are part of us and are not reduced to the set of tasks that we carry out in a job concrete.

Lightness is one of the most relevant, and can be defined as the ability to give the experiences of our life the relevance they have, neither more nor less. In other words, having developed this soft skill allows us not to fall into trivialization or dramatization in the face of the problems and challenges that we must face and to which we must adapt.

On the other hand, although soft skills cannot be integrated into our way of being through the classic "study" of notes and textbooks, they can. they can be learned and strengthened through certain habits and routines, either autonomously or with professional help in psychotherapy or through coaching.

• You may be interested: "The value of training in emotions in HR professionals"

What is lightness for?

Developing lightness as a soft skill goes through adopting a constructive mentality in the face of problems, focusing on what is under our control and on the room for maneuver of the that we have, instead of obsessing about what could have been and what could be if we had many more resources and skills than we will have in the short or medium term.

That is, it makes us connect with a stoic perspective of things. A perspective focused on the here and now, without comparing ourselves with alternative and idealized versions of reality, and without feeding the discomfort that this generates in us, falling into dynamics of self-sabotage (a relatively common mistake and that consists of narrating our own experiences through a very dramatic or even tragic lens, in order to give it meaning and have a clear and “simple” vision of what occurs).

In other words, lightness allows us to stay away from trivializing our problems and pending tasks (because trivializing means not prioritizing or even avoid spending time on it) and dramatization (because this happens by letting anxiety paralyze us or make us make desperate decisions in order to alleviate the discomfort).

For all these reasons, lightness is especially relevant in these areas of professional performance:

• Processes of leadership
• Time management and structuring of the day
• I manage work stress, channeling internal tension
• Mediation and conflict resolution

Are you interested in training in coaching?

If you want to learn more about the theory and practice of lightness as soft skills and its benefits in personal and professional development processes, you may be interested in the training programs offered European School of Coaching, entity with a presence in several countries in Europe and America that offers courses for coaches and professionals linked to the field of management and team leadership, and Psychology.