Author(s): Marzia Dazzi

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Soft skills; Research project success; Communication; Leadership; Team management

Abstract: The key role of soft skills in the success of a research project. Communication, leadership, and team management are essential for reaching the success of research projects, and they can be efficiently developed. Premise: comprehensive coverage of all areas to guarantee a project's success. When a project is successful, whether you may be aware of it or not, it means that not only good “hard” skills (such as specialized/technical knowledge and practical competences) were involved and required to realize said project, but also a sort of “savoir faire” - through the use of soft skills - played an essential part in terms of efficiency and efficacy. This means that the people who were involved indeed used their well-established professional skills but they were also able to gain knowledge with experience and to adjust to – or even take advantage of – changes. It also means that communication was sufficiently clear and so was the comprehension level among people; values, roles and tasks were well shared. People were engaged, inspired, and empowered by the Team Leaders. For instance: a group of people, all equipped with good hard skills, working together on a challenging project could still risk failure, achieve unsatisfactory results, or experience significant delays due to human faults rather than technical issues. Interactions among stakeholders: basics of efficient communication. Since our very first years of life, we interact with others daily; therefore, we are inclined to take for granted the ability to communicate. We assume that everyone is, by nature, able to communicate efficiently. Above all, due to our mindset and our own assumptions, we believe that our interlocutor always understands our mode of communicating. However, misunderstandings are quite common in the social setting as well as in during the development of work projects. To achieve an effective mode of communication requires learning the basics and constant practice. There are many available techniques aimed at making communication more efficient; the basic principle to remember is that nothing should be taken for granted or be considered obvious.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-981-11-2731-1_168-cd

Year: 2018