Mission Critical

The number one challenge with today's young talent is a problem hiding in plain sight: the ever-widening soft skills gap. Today's new, young workforce has so much to offer—new technical skills, new ideas, new perspective, and new energy. Yet too many of them are held back—and driving the grown-ups crazy—because of their weak soft skills.

Here's what managers say:
"They just don't know how to behave professionally"
"They arrive late, leave early, dress inappropriately, and spend too much time on social media"
"They know how to text but they don't know how to write a memo"
"They don't know what to say and what not to say or how to behave in meetings"
"They don't know how to think, learn, or communicate without checking a device"
"They don't have enough respect for authority, and don't know the first thing about good citizenship, service, or teamwork"

Soft skills may be harder to define and measure than hard skills, but they are just as critical. People get hired because of their hard skills but people get fired because of their soft skills.

Managers ask: "Why should it be my problem to teach these soft skills? They should have learned these things from their parents or in school. How can teach these soft skills when I don't even remember how I learned them myself?"

Here's the bad news: Setting a good example or simply telling young workers they need to improve isn't enough, nor is scolding them or pointing out their failings in an annual review. Here's the good news: You can teach the missing basics to today's young talent. This will be done using exercises to do the following:

• as take-home exercises for any individual or group
• to guide one-on-one discussions with direct-reports
• in the classroom as written exercises or group discussions

Here's the bad news: Setting a good example or simply telling young workers they need to improve isn't enough, nor is scolding them or pointing out their failings in an annual review.

Here's the good news: You can teach the missing basics to today's young talent.

Technical abilities or hard skills may be important to get you a good job, but when it comes to advancing in your workplace, it is one’s personality that counts, especially where people with similar technical expertise, proficiency and competitiveness are vying for the same promotions as you.

Increasingly, success in today’s workplace now depends not only on technical abilities, but on relationships with others. It’s not just “who you know,” it’s “How you are able to know” that matters – you need to be able to relate to people, influence people, “read” people to anticipate their needs and wants; you need to know how to understand and adapt to the culture around you; you need conflict resolution and mediation skills to dissect problems before they arise and proffer solutions. Most of all, you need to know how to talk to people. All of these “soft skills” are increasingly important for anyone who wants to succeed in the 21st Century workplace.

For decades employers as well as educators frequently complain about a lack of soft skills among graduates. Predominantly missed is communication skills, but additional knowledge in business or project management is also ranking highly on the list of missing skills desirable for graduates entering the world of work.

Interestingly, more and more business executives are turning to life coaches to help improve their “soft skills.” Because the business world is putting an increasing premium on “softer” styles of leadership – it’s not all about the traditional, hierarchical “command and control” model of leadership anymore. Instead, many businesses want their top executives to be able to draw ideas out of people, persuade teams to generate productivity gains (rather than just “order” results to occur), and generally exercise a softer and people-oriented style of leadership. What are some of the “soft skills” that a life coach can help you develop?

Employers are now looking for people who can do more than just perform a set of tasks. Qualifications are vital to building a successful career, but it is also important to remember the significance of basic skills and talents that do not necessarily require formal training. These skills seem so basic they are often overlooked, but employers are increasingly searching for more than a qualification, and highlighting your soft skills can put you at a considerable advantage over similarly qualified candidates.

More and more corporations around the world recognize that, in order to gain a competitive advantage, they must ensure that their people know how to handle themselves at work and how to relate with their peers and customers.

It’s often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get and keep the job. It’s no longer enough to be an expert in a field of knowledge. Competition is fierce; it’s your soft skills that make you stand out.

If you’re in sales, soft skills are critical for survival. As a Realtor, 92% of all sellers to whom I presented my services selected me over my competitors. It was my soft skills that were responsible for this success.

Soft skills aren’t just important in the obvious positions that deal with customers. They are important for every person in an organization. Take IT professionals as an example. When they acquire soft skills, better relationships are built between other business units resulting in increased productivity.

Look at the people at the top in your profession and ask yourself, “Is it their hard skills or soft skills that got them to the top?” If you define their personal brand, you will quickly realize that the people at the top of the pay scale are those who excel in their soft skills.