Soft Skills Are Anything But Soft

In my field of Human Resource Development, I often feel that we have to defend the value of the most important skills that an individual needs to be effective in any organization, in any workplace.

The adjective “soft” implies that these skills are not as relevant as other skills. Soft skills are anything but soft; they are so important. I prefer to use the term “people skills”. When it comes to talent acquisition, people skills are simply what separates an average candidate from one that is ideal. In most competitive job markets, recruitment criteria do not stop at technical ability and specialist knowledge. Strong recruiters will be looking for people who can become leaders, and leadership, itself, depends on several key people skills.

An instructive example of the difference made by people skills is a medical doctor. We would expect that a doctor has an extensive repertoire of hard skills, especially the ability to diagnose and prescribe treatments for an array of ailments. But a doctor who lacks the people skills of emotional intelligence, trustworthiness and approachability is not likely to be very highly regarded by their patients. And if patients are turned off, they will never hear the value that the doctor brings with their knowledge and expertise.

In another example, a person in sales who may have an amazing knowledge of their products, their services and their market may not succeed. What may be missing is the ability to close a deal with a prospect and retain their current clients if they lack the people skills of interpersonal skills and negotiation.

People skills are not just important when facing external customers and clients. They are equally important when it comes to interacting with co-workers and/or internal customers. People skills relate to how you work with others (whereas hard skills relate to you, in isolation, as an individual). Employers value people skills because they enable people to function and thrive in teams and in organizations as a whole. A productive and healthy work environment depends on people skills. After all, the workplace is an interpersonal space, where relationships must be built and fostered, perspectives must be exchanged, and occasionally conflicts must be resolved.

In July, we discussed a person’s buying style and it’s worth repeating to understand how one leads, how one wants to be led, as well as how they may buy or sell. The following describes the behaviors associated with each buying/selling or leadership style:

D-Buying/Selling/Leading Style:

Assertive, results-oriented, fast-paced, straightforward and sometimes just blunt.

i-Buying/Selling/Leading Style:

Upbeat, enthusiastic, friendly, fast-paced, interested in forming personal relationships.

S-Buying/Selling/Leading Style:

Agreeable, approachable, soft spoken, attentive and patient listening.

C-Buying/Selling/Leading Style:

Methodical, fact-finding, interested in details, non-emotional.

Which one are you? How to read your prospects? Better understand yourself & others, with DiSC.