In order to be successful in the business world we鈥檙e often told to become more efficient, knowledgeable, and hardworking. This has especially been the case when it comes to acquiring 鈥渉ard skills,鈥� those technical and computer-based skills hailed as keys to guaranteed success in the world of work both today and tomorrow. And while it鈥檚 true that these hard skills will remain critical (in some industries more so than others), there is another set of overlooked skills that are becoming increasingly important. In fact, it鈥檚 these particular types of skills that are being sought after by the top businesses and organizations in the world.
There is a great demand for human skills.
That鈥檚 right. With the increase in automated jobs thanks to technological innovation, it鈥檚 the very skills and attributes that separate us from machines that are becoming the most valuable. It鈥檚 these human skills 鈥� communication, emotional intelligence, ethics, resilience, grit, and genuine love and compassion 鈥� that will separate the mere mediocre from the uniquely great in our workforce.
It鈥檚 precisely as the world becomes less human that the best employees, managers, and entrepreneurs will thrive by being more human.
The Growing Demand for Human Skills
An details how U.S. companies are having difficulty finding 鈥渁pplicants who can communicate clearly, take initiative, problem-solve, and get along with co-workers.鈥� With companies automating or outsourcing more routine and technical tasks, skills like critical thinking and empathy, which can鈥檛 be emulated by computers, are becoming all the more important. In fact, many companies are starting to hire consultants to develop tests and screening methods for candidates with the aim of determining whether or not they have these types of skills. Organizations across the country are worried about the lack of these skills in candidates, often referred to as 鈥渟oft skills.鈥� The article explains: 鈥淚n a Wall Street Journal survey of nearly 900 executives last year, 92 percent said soft skills were equally important or more important than technical skills. But 89 percent said they have a very or somewhat difficult time finding people with the requisite attributes.鈥�
That means that nine out of 10 executives not only consider soft skills extremely important, but rare to find in job candidates.
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Who are you called to be?
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Another echoes the importance of these skills, citing that 鈥渟kills 鈥� especially soft skills 鈥� are the most important foundation to build upon.鈥� The article clarifies that by soft skills, they mean 鈥渢hings like the ability to communicate and work well with others, solve problems, and think outside of the box, as well as other aspects of emotional intelligence.鈥�
That means that nine out of 10 executives not only consider soft skills extremely important, but rare to find in job candidates.
And the confirms that these types of skills are not going to be outsourced to technology anytime soon 鈥� skills, again, like communication, having context within work settings, emotional competence, effective teaching abilities, being able to forge connections with others, and cultivating an ethical compass.
Aside from articles like these in major publications relaying the importance of soft skills for the future of work, we also spot their growing importance via the sprouting of new programs across the country centered around organizational leadership 鈥� highlighting the market demand for professionals with these skills. 国产剧麻豆剧 has invested in two programs of this kind, an accelerated undergraduate program in Organizational Leadership for those looking to finish their bachelor鈥檚 degree in a non-traditional setting and a graduate program in Organizational Leadership.
Pete Thurman, MBA, teaches the Group and Organizational Behavior and Effective Interpersonal Relations courses in the Organizational Leadership program at 国产剧麻豆剧. Additionally, he has an MBA from USC and has notched over ten years as a project manager in the healthcare industry. He believes there is a major shift occurring with how people are being hired.
鈥淚 think employers are moving toward having better screening processes for the soft skills in candidates,鈥� Thurman said. 鈥淚 have a feeling, if we don鈥檛 already see it now, there will be a higher level of sophistication to screening soft skills in candidates for hire across industries.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 to say the hard skills aren鈥檛 still important, but that they鈥檙e not enough for long-term success.
鈥淭he hard skills get you into the door, and they are still very important, but the soft skills are more sustainable and long term,鈥� Thurman said. 鈥淪kills related to communicating effectively with others, conducting presentations in front of large groups, developing emotional intelligence, being able to resolve conflicts, and reading the personalities in a room, these skill are more relevant in today鈥檚 workplace.鈥�
One specific example he gave was working on conflict resolution with his students, something that becomes absolutely necessary for those who want to be managers and leaders in organizational and business settings.
The key takeaway is that these types of skills can only be developed through exercising them in intentional ways 鈥� through committed practice.
鈥淲hen it comes to conflict resolution, I work through live examples with the students. We鈥檒l start with a long-standing conflict of some kind that one student is experiencing, and it doesn鈥檛 have to be work-related, like a conflict with a parent or son or daughter,鈥� Thurman shared. 鈥淚 let them do most of the talking and I鈥檓 just there to facilitate, but what I try to do is walk them through alternate ways of approaching that given situation. Then we鈥檒l transfer what we discussed over to the business world. It can involve a conflict regarding an assignment that needs to get done, or perhaps feeling discriminated against in the workplace. Whatever it is, we work through ways to mitigate these conflicts.鈥�
The key takeaway is that these types of skills can only be developed through exercising them in intentional ways 鈥� through committed practice. Thurman shared that he encourages his students to volunteer at their workplaces for opportunities to develop these skills 鈥� to offer to give a presentation to fellow co-workers or have a difficult but professional conversation with a manager.
The term 鈥渟oft鈥� is misleading, spurring the false belief that using these skills requires little effort or difficulty. But, in reality, most of them are quite difficult to master, and can only occur through their repeated use, both in practice settings like Thurman鈥檚 classroom, in actual professional settings, and even within the personal domain.
鈥淚鈥檓 always considering how my students can sharpen their soft skills in the classroom. Whether we鈥檙e talking about active listening, emotional intelligence, or conflict resolution, how do we practice those? I challenge students to practice those skills at the workplace, or at home even; it doesn鈥檛 matter where they practice them,鈥� Thurman explained. 鈥淟et鈥檚 practice them and talk about them in the classroom.鈥�
The X-Factor of Emotional Labor
In Seth Godin鈥檚 book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? he writes about the concept of emotional labor. Godin is a best-selling author and marketing entrepreneur. Unlike intellectual or manual labor, emotional labor is what can set you apart in the workplace from others because it entails the challenging and overlooked work that most people aren鈥檛 willing to do. Godin writes: 鈥溾�楨motional labor鈥� was a term first coined forty years ago by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in her book The Managed Heart. She described it as the 鈥榤anagement of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display.鈥� In other words, it鈥檚 work you do with your feelings, not your body.鈥�
Godin views most of the modern workforce as no different than a factory, though instead of hovering over a conveyor belt with supervisor-approved bathroom breaks, we sit in ergonomic chairs in front of pale blue screens all day. Whether we鈥檙e answering routine emails, combing an Excel spreadsheet for errors, or filling out yet another form with company letterhead, most people expend all of their effort doing work that is easily replaceable, either by other people or, as is becoming increasingly the case, machines. The result, he writes, 鈥渁re legions of frustrated workers, wasted geniuses each and every one of them, working like automatons, racing against the clock to crank out another policy, get through another interaction, see another patient.鈥�
Here is where 鈥渆motional labor鈥� comes into play. Emotional labor, as Godin details, is the effort we put into a genuine smile with a customer even when we鈥檙e frustrated and tired, the refusal to give up on a meaningful work project despite the roadblocks or naysayers, the cultivated self-awareness to admit to ourselves when we鈥檙e not doing the high-quality work of which we鈥檙e capable. It鈥檚 always easier not to go out of the way to treat that client with above-and-beyond service and kindness, to add humor and creativity to that staff presentation, to stand firm in your convictions when it might challenge a static organization or business to operate differently.
It鈥檚 precisely in engaging in emotional labor that makes us most human and, consequently, Irreplaceable.
Another example Godin offers is the emotional labor required to be courageous in seeking to acquire professional goals, even when it means risking failure. Are you willing to sacrifice hours of Netflix to develop a business plan for that arts and crafts business you鈥檝e always wanted to start? Are you willing to you say no to leisurely weekends and summer vacations to attend night school and pursue that more meaningful career? Are you willing to try that new product idea, even if its failure means you might lose your job? The easy and convenient answer is always no. But it鈥檚 the people who have honed the very human skills of resilience, courage, discipline, and self-awareness who ultimately have the most successful careers.
It鈥檚 precisely in engaging in emotional labor that makes us most human and, consequently, irreplaceable.
Godin acknowledges that fear is what keeps us comfortable, machine-like, and unwilling to engage in the hard work of emotional labor. But those who resist the 鈥渇light or fight鈥� response by standing firm in their convictions and dreams, of learning to rephrase failure as a learning experience, of being honest about the negative voices in one鈥檚 life and choosing not to give into them, are the ones who make the best employees, leaders, and entrepreneurs in business.
It鈥檚 in choosing to be kind, thankful, joyful, humorous, caring, compassionate, courageous, honest, and selfless even 鈥� in fact, especially 鈥� when we don鈥檛 feel like it where we convert our emotional labor into a gift, be that a smile shared with a customer, a well-crafted presentation, or an empathetic conversation with a co-worker, employee, or manager. It鈥檚 the people who go out of their way to connect with others and serve them with their gift of emotional labor, no matter how small, who end of up being the most fulfilled.
In other words, it鈥檚 the people who are most human who often end up achieving their goals in both their professional and personal lives.
Why Soft Skills Are So Hard
Yet, these types of skills are not only often overlooked, but rarely talked about as important.
鈥淚n high school, I didn鈥檛 learn any of these soft skills. People aren鈥檛 always prepared to apply them in high school, or even college,鈥� Thurman said. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 introduced to the importance of these types of skills until my first course in graduate school at USC. Our society has put less of an emphasis on soft skills and more on hard skills. And I think it鈥檚 now going in another direction for soft skills. It鈥檚 much more difficult to invest in relationships, and engage with them, then it is with a machine.鈥�
Tonia Herndon, Ed.D., developed the course content for the Effective Interpersonal Relations course in the organizational leadership program at 国产剧麻豆剧, of which she is also a professor. She explained that one of her students 鈥� a former communications major no less 鈥� told her she hadn鈥檛 ever been introduced to many of these skills.
鈥淣ot only did I have a woman with a communications degree tell me that she hadn鈥檛 been taught authentic listening skills, but I鈥檝e been told by several students that they鈥檝e never even heard of the term 鈥榚motional competencies,鈥欌�� Herndon shared. 鈥淭hat it was a foreign concept.鈥�
Aside from the sheer lack of exposure that many of us have, there is another, perhaps more pressing reason why so many haven鈥檛 developed these necessary human skills for the future world of business.
These skills often require great risk, vulnerability, and as we saw with Godin鈥檚 concept of 鈥渆motional labor,鈥� we have been able to merely 鈥済et by鈥� without them, even if it鈥檚 stunted the development and fulfilment of our professional and personal lives. However, as the job market continues to emphasize the importance of these skills, this might become less likely.
鈥淒eveloping these types of skills is deeply connected to self awareness, and that鈥檚 hard to cultivate because it requires honesty.
In addition to teaching, Herndon has many years of professional and personal life coaching experience, and she sees this pervasive lack of soft skills in our workforce stemming from a more fundamental issue.
鈥淒eveloping these types of skills is deeply connected to self awareness, and that鈥檚 hard to cultivate because it requires honesty. Anyone can go to a weekend seminar, or read a leadership book with tips about forming certain skills, but if they don鈥檛 have the ability to look within, nothing is going to change,鈥� Herndon continued. 鈥淭hey might walk away with a bunch of cool ideas, and maybe even feel super motivated, but then that person is going to come home and still not know how to talk to their spouse or employees or boss, let alone respond well when someone cuts them off on the freeway.鈥�
She offered an example of working with a difficult manager, and how those who find a way to be successful in spite of the challenges are the ones who ultimately thrive the most.
鈥淗ow do you work with what you have, even if you know your boss isn鈥檛 going to change and you鈥檙e stuck in this position? Well, developing the ability to be aware of that, accept it, and respond accordingly is a soft skill,鈥� Herndon explained. 鈥淓ssentially, how do you make lemonade out of lemons in a tough work situation?鈥�
Fostering these types of skills can鈥檛 be done in a vacuum, as if we can learn to be empathetic, compassionate, understanding, and resilient only in the work setting, but keep them siloed from our personal life. These types of skills are life skills 鈥� not merely job skills. And learning how to live better is often a lot harder than simply learning a new skill from a textbook.
鈥淚t鈥檚 from cultivating self-awareness that we can develop personal responsibility,鈥� Herndon said. 鈥淭hen we can continue to ask ourselves, 鈥楬ow do I bring my ethics into the workplace? How do I bring that same way of being into my friendships? How do I bring honesty into every area of my life, so that if I screw up, I can be vulnerable and admit it to my co-workers?鈥欌��
Soft Skills As Life Skills
For Herndon, until someone is able to integrate these skills as a way of life, they aren鈥檛 going to be able to authentically apply them to their careers. Similar to Godin, who emphasizes emotional labor for the sake of gifting others with time, service, patience, creativity, and love, these skills require both self-awareness and the willingness to choose the way of integrity each and every day.
In , he explains that it鈥檚 by focusing on hiring good people that we can spur thriving business communities. Tjan reviewed 100 case studies and determined that many of the most successful people 鈥� be they CEOs, coaches, artists, or athletes 鈥� cultivate the attribute of 鈥済oodness.鈥� Tjan says that 鈥済oodness is about character. Real goodness, and real leadership, is when you help others become a fuller version of who they are.鈥�
Again, the 鈥渟oft skill鈥� of goodness, as Tjan means it, is something that extends well beyond a professional skill set that can be tabled during non-working hours.
Herndon shared how the development of these skills can have tremendous effects on one鈥檚 whole life. In the classroom, she encourages her students to develop the willingness to be vulnerable and communicate deeply with others, along with the need for courage, whether as an employee or manager. One of her students took this to heart and applied it to her personal life.
It鈥檚 not always obvious what that loss is going to be, but the willingness to lose whatever it is by developing real soft skills can lead to a gain of tenfold.
鈥淭his woman in my class wrote the most beautiful reflection about the course, saying that she had a conversation with her husband like she hadn鈥檛 had in five years,鈥� Herndon shared. 鈥淭hey talked about something going on with his sister, and she wrote that there鈥檚 no way she would have been brave enough to talk about this four weeks ago at the start of the course. And she wrote that it was amazing. They figured out a solution to this problem because she was courageous enough to be vulnerable with him.鈥欌��
It鈥檚 these same types of human skills, being able to navigate difficult relationships through listening, empathy, and conflict resolution 鈥� in addition to other skills like creativity and ethical reasoning 鈥� that will separate the great employees, managers, and entrepreneurs of the future from everyone else. The road, though, remains difficult.
鈥淚鈥檒l say it in the simplest way that I can: many people are petrified to leave their comfort zone because soft skills are really at the core of who they are,鈥� Herndon said. 鈥淐hange requires loss. It requires the loss of what I used to think about myself or how I used to run my life or how my relationships used to work. It鈥檚 not always obvious what that loss is going to be, but the willingness to lose whatever it is by developing real soft skills can lead to a gain of tenfold.鈥�
While developing the soft skills needed to thrive both professionally and personally is, actually, quite hard, it鈥檚 certainly possible for those willing to invest in the journey. Ultimately, being successful in the world of business and beyond is about becoming a more empathetic, humane, compassionate, resilient, creative, and loving person.
Want to Thrive as a Manager or Leader?
If so, 国产剧麻豆剧 offers two programs to help you develop these skills and thrive in your career. The B.A. in Organizational Leadership is for those looking to earn their bachelor鈥檚 degree in as few as 15 months. The M.A. in Organizational Leadership is for those looking to earn a graduate degree in this dynamic field. Both programs can be taken in-person or online, allowing you to continue working in your current role.