Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs often focus all of their time and effort on learning the technical skills needed to operate a commercial entity. While skills, such as accounting and bookkeeping, are essential to keep a business running smoothly, not giving soft skills, the proper attention can be a disadvantage to entrepreneurs. Here’s five that you should try to build:

The Ability to Communicate With Others

And it’s not just able to instruct employees or pass on information; strong communication is about learning how to deliver information to your intended recipients best. It’s about knowing when to inspire and motivate your workforce and when to keep it short and subtle.

The Ability to Solve Problems

Successful entrepreneurs thrive in the face of challenges. They use their superior analytical skills, creativity, and resourcefulness to develop solutions that can sometimes be viewed as unconventional.

The Ability to Empower Others

Good business owners empower the people around them through delegation. They don’t just assign menial and redundant low-level tasks to their employees and handle the high-pressure decisions independently. They learn how to trust people’s judgment and expertise and are not afraid to admit when their employees know more than they do on a particular subject matter. By entrusting your employees and empowering them to make decisions that directly impact the business, you create a more skilled and self-sufficient workforce.

The Ability to Empathize With Others

Many successful entrepreneurs, including Oprah Winfrey, can attest to this essential soft skill in business. The ability to connect with others on a personal level is vital to inspire and empower them effectively. People can sense when you genuinely understand what they are going through. It shows in how you talk to them and how you react.

The Ability to Listen

As a business owner and leader, you are inundated by information daily. Amidst the dozens of phone calls, executive meetings, and lunch dates, it can be challenging to slow down and listen attentively. When conversing with someone, whether it’s an entry-level employee or a board member, try to actively listen to the words they say and their tone and body language.

The great thing about soft skills is that anyone can master it. Enhance your business processes by encouraging your employees to train their soft skills as well.