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INTRODUCTION



Soft skills is a term often associated with a person's Emotional Intelligence Quotient)the cluster of
personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism
that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills which are the
occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. They are related to feelings, emotions,
insights and an Inner knowledge that: provide an important complement to 'hard skills'.
A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an
organization. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and
conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization. For this reason, soft
skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.
The example one of the softskill is a planning skills that more important over the long term than
occupational skills. It has been suggested that in a number of professions, soft skills may be.











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PLANNING SKILLS









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DEFINATION OF TERMS


1- Planning
Planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a
desired goal that involves the creation and maintenance of a plan. As such, planning is a
fundamental property of intelligent behavior. This thought process is essential to the creation and
refinement of a plan, or integration of it with other plans that is it combines forecasting of
developments with the preparation of scenarios of how to react to them.

2- Skill

Skill can be defined as an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and
sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions involving
ideas, things, and/or people.

3- Planning Skills

Planning Skills is systematically develops plans, prioritizes, organizes and manages resources in
order to accomplish business goals within a defined timetable. Planning skills are the key skills
that are part of ability to plan group of basic management skills. Planning skills are the ability to
conceive, develop and implement plans with purpose of accomplishing short and long term goals.










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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD PLANNING AND A BAD PLANNING


Good planning is the development of a dual plan system. It shows alternatives. Never create a plan
based on current variables until you also develop a plan to counteract the likelihood of opposite variables
appearing.
A good plan should also be seen as a guide, and never something for people to abide by in the
stricktest possible sense. The plan should be flexible as new information is received over time.
Good planning is necessary to ensure a few good decisions are made to help solve many problems
and so reduce the uncertainty in a changing environment. This is what good managers should do.




GOOD PLANNING EXAMPLE


There are some example of good planning skill including ;
Accurately estimate time and effort required to complete a task.
Identify and organise systems and required resources.
Organise personal time to carry out responsibilities.
Maintain adequate preparation time for scheduled meetings/deadlines
Develop schedules and timetables with clear, specific milestones and deadlines.
Establish how to measure results and milestones for self.





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THE PLANNING PROCESS

The essential planning process is as follows:
Set goal
What are the social responsibilities and management values.
Gather information
Do an analysis on the internal and external environment using SWOT.
Establish promoting and restraining factors
Establish opportunities and threats/problems facing your organisation.
Develop plan or set of actions to reach goal
Create the strategy to help fulfil the goal. You do this by stating specific objectives to take
advantage of those opportunities and then the actions for achieving those objectives. Develop
contingency plans for dealing with the threats. Develop an alternative plan in case something
should go wrong.
Evaluation and review
What were the results after a period of time and is the plan accurate and useful. What changes do
you think you will need to the plan?





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THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING


Planning skills helps an organization chart a course for the achievement of its goals. The process begins
with reviewing the current operations of the organization and identifying what needs to be improved
operationally in the upcoming year. From there, planning involves envisioning the results the organization
wants to achieve, and determining the steps necessary to arrive at the intended destinationsuccess.

Efficient Use of Resources
All organizations, large and small, have limited resources. The planning process provides the information
top management needs to make effective decisions about how to allocate the resources in a way that will
enable the organization to reach its objectives.
Establishing Goals
Setting goals that challenge everyone in the organization to strive for better performance is one of the key
aspects of the planning process. Goals must be aggressive, but realisticThe goal setting process can be a
wake-up call for managers that have become complacent. The other benefit of goal setting comes when
forecast results are compared to actual results.
Managing Risk And Uncertainty
Managing risk is essential to an organizations success. Even the largest corporations cannot control the
economic and competitive environment around them. Unforeseen events occur that must be dealt with
quickly, before negative financial consequences from these events become severe.
Team Building
Planning promotes team building and a spirit of cooperation. When the plan is completed and
communicated to members of the organization, everyone knows what their responsibilities are, and how
other areas of the organization need their assistance and expertise in order to complete assigned tasks.
Creating Competitive Advantages
Planning helps organizations get a realistic view of their current strengths and weaknesses relative to
major competitors. The management team sees areas where competitors may be vulnerable and then
crafts marketing strategies to take advantage of these weaknesses.


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CONCLUSION


Soft skills are important for fine tuning the students attitude to learning, motives, value and deal with
different situations responsibly and diligently. Emotional intelligence and soft skills strengthen students
from within, which makes them a good predictor of academic success.
These skills empower them to understand who they are and how best they can come across as competent
individuals in any given situation. Because studying and gaining qualifications is often embarked upon to
enhance employment prospects, it Is inevitable that employers will factor this into their criteria when
selecting suitable candidates. Thus, the skills that students are exposed to and expected to practice in
academia should be representative of, and full fill the requirements of the business world.






















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REFERENCES



1) INTERNET REFERENCE : The Importance of Planning,
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-planning-organization-1137.html

2) INTERNET REFERENCE : Basic Skills Planning,
http://www.biz-development.com/HumanResources/Basic-Skills/3.16.06.Planning-And-
Organisizing.htm

3) INTERNET REFERENCE ; Plannig Skills,
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/plan.htm