The study presents an innovative, proprietary concept of identifying soft skills predisposing individuals to occupy a forestry position, along with the definition and discussion of key factors constituting the assessment criteria. The authors provide their individual perspective on the specific personality traits and attitudes relevant to the assessment of an employee's soft skills concerning their suitability for the given position. Six fundamental categories of skills and attitudes within the realm of soft skills for foresters were identified and proposed for evaluation. These categories included the following:
Collaboration and information flow management: This category assessed the ability to effectively collaborate with other company employees and the sense of responsibility for achieving the team's goals. Special attention was paid to how information was communicated, facilitating planning, making changes and executing task effectively.
Initiative and engagement: This category focused on the ability and willingness to seek and implement new solutions. It identified and proposed an assessment system for actions such as the forester's submission of new ideas and solutions to emerging problems, their engagement and identification with the company, their drive to improve existing work methods, and their adaptability to new tasks and working conditions resulting from changes.
Shaping a positive company image: This category involved evaluating the attitude that leads to dignified and ethical representation of the company through appropriate appearance, behaviour and attitude. It encompassed aspects such as building strong relationships with customers, business partners and the company's environment, making agreements aligned with the company's interests and taking active steps to enhance the positive image of the forestry operation.
Collaboration with external entities: This category analysed constructive actions defined as the interaction of the forestry district with external entities aimed at creating a favourable business climate for forestry operations.
Independence and decision-making: In this category, competencies for independently managing the Forest District were discussed, without the need for direct supervision. The proposed assessment system considered the traits predisposing the forester to make quick and accurate decisions, anticipate their consequences, take personal responsibility for task execution and accept the consequences of their own or their team's work results.
Developing subordinates: The final category analysed teamwork skills, with a particular focus on actions aimed at the systematic development of subordinates, recognising potential, and identifying areas for improvement and providing subordinates with opportunities to gain experience and enhance their qualifications and professional competencies.
The assessment of the forester's soft skills in each category was based on a descriptive classification of their behaviour, which was assigned to five groups: unacceptable, below expectations, good, very good and outstanding. An illustrative description of employee behaviour facilitating their classification into one of these groups was developed for each evaluation category. The research results are presented in a Table 1, which shows the identified traits, the system for their identification (specified behaviours subject to assessment) and the assessment system. A rating system based on descriptive indicators was proposed to facilitate a homogeneous and repeatable employee assessment process, which is one of the fundamental elements of human resource management.
In today's world, the concept of sustainable development is being replaced by efforts to sustain the system through its regeneration at the economic, social and sociological levels. Therefore, the presented concept of identifying and evaluating soft skills was compared with the principles of management in the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA) environment.
