While technical expertise and industry experience are always going to be vital for any business, soft skills are equally important. What are soft skills to a startup? They are intangible qualities that can drive a startup towards success.

These non-technical skills allow you to run a business effectively and rapidly adapt to any changes you may face. Here we'll look at the most important soft skills for a good startup and how you can incorporate them into your business.

Significance of Soft Skills to Startups

Why are soft skills important? Startups usually operate in a highly competitive environment and having the best technical skills or knowledge isn't going to be enough. You need to navigate challenges and build strong relationships, and excellent soft skills will allow you to do this.

Let’s take a closer look at how soft skills can help your business succeed:

Building Relationships – Startups will need to rely on strong relationships with the likes of investors, customers, and partners. You need to have excellent soft skills to get the most out of these relationships so they can effectively collaborate with you and help you grow. 

Adaptability – No startup grows without facing a myriad of problems. Soft skills allow you to overcome any challenges and adapt to any industry changes. With effective problem-solving, you can pivot when required so you can keep looking forward and take advantage of new opportunities. 

Team Cohesion – A startup will usually have a small team and you can’t have people not putting in their full effort. Every team member’s contribution is vital and soft skills are required to keep every member on the same page and pulling in the same direction. 

6 Soft Skills for Startups to Succeed

While there are many different types of startups, here are the six important soft skills you need to master if you want yours to be successful.

Communication

Perhaps the best soft skills example is effective communication. While vital for startups, no business is going to succeed without excellent communication. You need to be able to convey your goals and strategies to the rest of your team with absolute clarity. 

This will prevent mistakes from being made and ensure that everybody is on the same page. It doesn't matter if your company and its staff have excellent technical skills, without communication your startup can't run effectively.

Teamwork/Collaboration

As a startup, you are more likely to work in a small tight-knit network. Harnessing strong collaborative skills is essential to prevent delays in action being taken and getting the most out of the talent available to you.

You want your team to be as close as possible and mesh their diverse talents and perspectives together. Startups can’t afford any inefficiencies so being able to collaborate will help to keep pushing the company forward.

Creativity

A startup often needs to take risks. Having technical skills and experience is great, but a startup often needs to harness those sparks of creativity. It will allow you to innovate and stay competitive when faced with your more established rivals.

Creative minds need to be encouraged to come up with new ideas and approaches. This will help your startup stand out in the market and give you the best chance of rapid growth. Startups often need to think outside the box to achieve a competitive advantage against market rivals.

Problem-Solving

The challenges for a startup are seemingly never-ending. Whether it’s a problem with product development or a financial setback, you need to know how to overcome challenges and plot the best route forward.

Not only is problem-solving important but also courage to make difficult decisions and not be worn down when things aren't going your way. Not finding the right solutions will prevent your startup from growing.

Leadership

Leadership is not about giving orders to your staff. It’s about having the ability to inspire and motivate your staff to achieve your goals. A great leader will set a good example and provide guidance when needed.

A good startup will not only have effective leadership from the start, but it will also work to develop its own leaders. This will develop a culture of trust and accountability but will also allow team members to emotionally invest themselves in the company’s future as its success will be their success.

Active Listening

Active listening is the ability to not just listen, but truly take in what someone is saying. This allows you to soak up the information and reply to it in the correct manner. It will also make those around you feel valued and like their opinions matter.

With a startup, you need your team to work hard and treat the business as if it were theirs. You can only do this if they feel respected and active listening is an important part of that. Running your business in an authoritarian way will likely inhibit growth.

Soft Skills in a Flexible Workspace

In recent years, flexible workspaces have become prevalent in the startup landscape. It has meant that soft skills are even more important as you need to communicate effectively. Flexible workspaces can be a great way to allow you to source the best talent and you can then use your soft skills to mesh those talents together. A great flexible workspace along with excellent soft skills can foster a sense of belonging in your team. 

Conclusion

If you want your startup to be successful, then you may want to master your soft skills. The six important skills for a startup are excellent communication, the ability to collaborate, creative thinking, problem-solving, effective leadership, and active listening.

With those soft skills, you can create a close-knit team, whether you're working in a small local shop or have team members around the globe. While great ideas and technical skills may create a startup, soft skills can be what will keep it going.