Stop calling them 'Soft': Embracing the Essential Skills for Leadership and Success

Stop calling them soft skills. 

They are essential skills.

'Soft skills' makes me think of doughy hands. 

Fluffy knits. 

Laundry soap.

Why do we call them soft skills?

Friends, I hit the old Google and uncovered that the term "soft skills" was created by the U.S. Army in the late 1960s. It refers to any skill that does not employ the use of machinery. Eventually, the military realized these skills were necessary to lead groups and motivate soldiers.

Ok. Fine. Makes sense. 

Many organizations recruit for hard skills. Project managers must be proficient in agile project management, and content creators must know how to tell a story. These are foundational skills—the chop-wood-and-carry-water type of skills. 

Soft skills include communication, organization, teamwork, empathy, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and influencing abilities. I’m going to call them essential skills. 

Calling them soft ensures we don’t:

• Recruit for them
• Interview for them
• Measured them
• Place them as part of performance plans 
• Hold them in equal importance with hard skills

Recently, I was hired by two different organizations to help them with team development and performance, strategic planning, and talent mapping s In both cases, there were individuals in line for succession who excelled at HARD skills. They were top SMEs.

When I arrived, the atmosphere was charged with palpable unease. Despite their hard skills and expertise, these leaders needed help to lead. Team dynamics were diminished, retention was down, and morale was low.

It was clear that despite possessing technical expertise and HARD skills, they needed help to inspire, guide, and connect with others.

This challenge relegated these individuals to the role of highly compensated operatives rather than true leaders.

I facilitated a series of workshops aimed at fostering a strengths-based organizational culture. My approach was designed to bolster performance, profitability, and productivity and enhance retention by leveraging each leader's inherent strengths, plus hard and soft skills.

As a certified Gallup Strengths coach, my role was to facilitate this process, guiding each leader to reconceptualize their approach to leadership. For instance, a leader with strong attention to detail was encouraged to apply this trait to recognizing and valuing the unique attributes of their team members, resulting in deeper connections. Similarly, a department head with strong analytical skills was coached to channel this expertise into understanding the motivations and aspirations of their colleagues.

You have to get to the root cause of the problem.

You can’t have hard skills without essential skills. You need both. These essential skills—encompassing emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, and the ability to motivate—are not ancillary but foundational to the exercise of technical expertise. They are what transform knowledge into action and action into results.

The journey towards effective leadership and productive teams is rooted in the acknowledgment that hard skills, while indispensable, must be complemented by essential skills to truly flourish. 

By fostering an environment that values and develops both hard and essential skills, companies can unlock their teams' full potential and drive innovation, engagement, and success. 

The results? We conducted team surveys to track changes in morale and well-being. I was the proudest coach ever when I witnessed these leaders tap into their technical acumen and newly developed leadership capabilities.

By fostering a strengths-based culture that values the holistic development of leaders, organizations can navigate the complexities of the modern workplace, turning potential challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation. The transformation from a "highly paid do-er" to an inspirational leader is not only possible but essential for the sustainable success of any organization.

If you are a leader looking to boost your performance and leverage your strengths, please schedule a consultation HERE.

If you'd like to create a strengths-based culture to boost team performance, confidence, communication, and decision-making, please schedule a call HERE.