It may be easy to assume that you will learn all about social work on the job. While there are plenty of skills and techniques you will pick up along the way, there are still a few attributes that will put you in a strong position to help people from all walks of life.

So, what are these skills and attributes, and how can you develop them? Let’s take a closer look at some of the skills you should work on developing as you get into social care.

Active listening

As a social worker, you will likely find you spend more time listening to people than actively talking! That’s because much of your work takes place based on what your clients have to say. How are they feeling? What do they want to achieve? What stands in their way?

Active listening is a genuine skill that requires you to carefully analyze what your clients say. Listening actively not only shows people that you legitimately care about their concerns and goals, but that you also want to help.

Listening actively will help you to find ideal solutions for the various problems that people face. Instead of making assumptions about people, start asking questions and follow them up with interest. People engage better with those who ask questions and who show they actually care about the responses.

This is a skill you can pick up through work and general social practice, though it can take time to perfect. If you are a little introverted, it is worth practicing with friends and family, and practicing maintaining eye contact too.

Communication

Communicating effectively is vital in the role of a social worker, and active listening only forms part of this skill set. Effective communication means listening to and respectfully talking to other people and learning how to adapt messages and ideas to different people and their situations.

For example, can you effectively communicate complex healthcare information to people who may not understand or children who are still learning?

Communication is not just verbal either. You’ll need to learn how to pick up on physical cues and body language to determine whether clients feel safe and/or comfortable enough to share details with you and for you to progress with certain plans.

As part of an MSW program online, such as the one available through Cleveland State University (CSU), you will learn how to manage verbal and nonverbal conversations in line with popular and proven social care theories and models.

Remote modules such as those taught through CSU will also help you to practice these skills outside of a classroom setting too – long before you start working on cases for real. Available both part-time and full-time with 100% online coursework, CSU’s Master of Social Work allows you to balance your personal and professional life as you earn your degree.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that revolves around being able to make decisions without external bias. For example, in an urgent situation, such as a client with an addiction relapsing, you must be able to make snap judgments without letting prejudices or opinions interfere.

Critical thinking skills apply in non-emergency situations too. They’re great at helping social workers find workable solutions to complex problems with efficiency. Removing emotion and preceding bias from decision-making makes problem-solving more fluid and predictable.

Learning critical thinking skills is not easy. In fact, you will pick up on it over years of developing study habits and interacting with people in the workplace. 

A critical thinker has incredible control over their emotions and intrusive thoughts. They stay laser-focused on the problem at hand and will find a solution with little encouragement or supervision.

Organization

As a social worker, you are expected to handle multiple cases at once. That means you’ll need to balance a varied workload that includes many different people with varying needs and different backgrounds. You will not only have to manage your time efficiently to ensure everyone gets the necessary care and attention, but you will also have to ensure you keep up to date on each individual case.

Self-organization is a must for social workers once you are out in the field. Without supervision, you are wholly responsible for your decisions and the actions that arise from them.

It stands to reason that with organization comes self-confidence. These are skills and traits that, over time, you will develop through study and through project work. It is not easy to learn organization from scratch, but again, it is something you will come across in social care education, especially as you will need to handle your own coursework and deadlines too.

Patience

Generating results from social care action takes time. Unfortunately, many disadvantaged people in need of social care struggle to wait for results — either physically or mentally — and it is beyond their control.

As their case worker, you must show patience and resilience in the face of working towards solutions. Finding the right support and opportunities for cases often relies on liaising with multiple different people, organizations and filling out extensive paperwork.

With that in mind, social work really is a role for calm, patient and resilient people who thrive on challenges. You will also need to remain patient with your clients, as some of them may even be children or have learning difficulties. 

Developing patience is something many people struggle with, but it is a vital skill that you will build up over time. You may find it comes naturally when on the job, but practicing scenarios and reading up on social case studies will, at the very least, help to prepare your expectations.

Do you need all these skills before you become a social worker?

There’s no denying the above skills and traits come in very handy when starting out in social care. However, if you have not yet mastered any of these traits, do not worry. There is still time for you to build a resilient yet flexible mindset to prepare you for the world of social work.

Whether through direct education or by practicing on the job, you will start to develop an enthusiastic, patient and creative mindset that will help thousands of people and their families in the years ahead.