Let’s Stop Giving Soft Skills a Hard Rap

I received my master’s degree in business at a university highly respected for its rigor with “hard” business skills. I spent many late nights learning finance, accounting, statistics, strategy, economics, and business law. So much that the left side of my brain was perpetually exhausted and overworked.

There was not even one of the 52 credit hours that enriched the right side of my weary brain. There was not even a whiff of “soft skills”. As graduates we were well equipped to manage money and supply chains. But not people.

My grad school is not alone in the way that some “businesspeople” underestimate the value of “soft skills”. As a professional who makes my living helping people get better at soft skills, the disdain is obvious. The work I do gets described as squishy, “nice to have” and sometimes as that “woo woo” stuff. I cannot count the number of times I have been warned not to do any of that crazy Kumbaya stuff.

Contrast this with “hard skills” that get characterized as valued, sharp, strong, quantifiable, solid (and dare I say it more masculine). We know that degrees in accounting and engineering and computer science and finance are where the money is. Interesting that in today’s complex and fast changing world we are finding that degrees in liberal arts, communication (and other “soft” studies) may pay off over the long term.

What Exactly are Soft and Hard Skills?

Let’s start by sorting out what skills are typically classified as soft and hard.

Soft Skills: · Communication, Organization, Teamwork, Self-discipline, Critical Thinking, Social Skills, Creativity, Interpersonal Communication, Adaptability, Problem solving, Conflict Resolution, Approachability

Hard Skills: Programming, Accounting, Web design, Finance, Math, Legal, Writing. Engineering, Actuarial work. Coding, Statistics, Research, Information Systems, Physics

What does the Data Tell Us?

First of all, that hard skills are valued by hard money. Take a look at this Glassdoor report on the 50 highest paying college majors and you’ll see the hard skill majors are the clear winner on the salary front.

But dig a little deeper and review a recent comprehensive Google internal study that explored what contributed to the most innovative and productive groups. A quote: “The highest performing teams were interdisciplinary groups that benefited from employees who brought strong soft skills to the collaborative process. Further research revealed that important predictors of success within Google were skills like good communication, insights about others, and empathetic leadership.”

A few data points from this source indicate:

• Sanofi-Aventis, an Australian pharmaceutical firm, enjoyed a 12 percent increase in sales after soft-skill training.

• According to the Hay/McBer Group, insurance agents trained in soft skills sold policies averaging $114,000 compared to less trained associates who sold policies averaging $54,000.

• At L’Oreal, sales agents with soft skills training sold $91,370 more than their less trained counterparts, resulting in increased revenue of $2,558,360.

• Recruiters trained in soft skills save the U.S. Air Force $3 million per year, according to a General Accounting Office report.

Another study from MIT Sloan in five Bangalore factories was a controlled, twelve-month trial. It found that training in problem solving, communication, and decision-making yielded a 250 percent ROI in eight months. Success factors included an overall boost in worker productivity, faster turnaround on complex tasks, and even improved employee attendance.

I could go on, but the data is clear that soft skills (and training to acquire soft skills) is a differentiator for individuals, teams, and organizations.

Balancing Hard and Soft Skills

Don’t get me wrong. I am a fan of hard skills. We clearly need them. I want bridges designed by vetted and capable humans who understand all the variables of safe bridge design. We need accountants who understand GAAP. I’m thrilled that supply chain experts move goods efficiently. Companies need people with the hard skills to get the work of the organization done.

Yet I am also advocating that hard skills need to be balanced by other skills. For example, when we know that the exponential growth of technical knowledge makes obsolete much of what a new college grad has learned in short order. No matter how “hard” your college major is, you will need the soft skills of learning agility to stay current in your field.

One of the things that differentiates hard and soft skills is the ability to quantify (most of the time) a right answer. Math equations have correct answers. The scientific process is repeatable. IT coding either passes the testing process or fails.

On the other hand, soft skills have a lot of “it depends”. What is the best way to approach a difficult conversation? It depends on the person and the situation and your relationship and your power dynamic (and most likely 10 other factors). How to create a new product? It depends on your resources, the market, your imagination, your ability to connect with and understand your customers.

What Do I See in My Work?

As I work with leaders, teams and people across organizations, there are some clear themes that emerge. I don’t have hard research, merely years of personal experience and observation. In no particular order, this is what I observe:

· The skills we deem soft are hard to acquire and hard to become proficient at.

· A shortcoming in soft skills are the ones the hold people back the most. Conversely, those who are the best at soft skills are usually the most successful.

· The most profound and transformative change happens only with “soft” skills and never with data, logic, or reason.

· Soft skills are a long-term asset — to the organization and to every employee that is the recipient of a training investment in them.

· Teams that are good at the soft skills can organize their work, get amazing work done together, and have fun in the process.

What Needs to Change

I am not diminishing the value of hard skills. I am, however, advocating that we give “soft skills” their due. Here is a short list of things I recommend:

1. Stop calling these valuable skills “soft”. Instead call them “power skills” or “critical skills” or “interpersonal skills“ or “social skills” or even people skills”.

2. Teach these skills with more rigor and focus from kindergarten all the way through college (or beyond).

3. Recruit and hire for both hard and soft skills. Stop thinking in binary terms and instead of searching for only that person who is great in the hard skills, look for “whole” people who are good at both. Show that value in job offers and salary levels.

4. Offer effective ways for employees to develop these type skills. Recognize that developing them takes more than a few moments in a classroom or an email exhorting people to work together well. Invest in mentoring. Nurture role models. Value these skills in performance reviews. Continually coach.

I’m hopeful that companies continue to research how these skills we’ve labeled as “soft” truly impact performance and that we use that knowledge to make our workplaces not only more effective, but more human as well.