In defense of soft skills

When I was at uni, I worked at a moderately successful Mexican fast-food chain.

Given that I’ve always struggled with fine motor skills, I absolutely despised being put on food prep duty. I much preferred being on the register, where I could chat with customers and flex my correct pronunciation of the word ‘quesadilla.’

I guess one day I drew the short end of the straw, because I found myself chopping tomatoes (probably haphazardly into imprecise chunks, with all of the grace and finesse of an orangutan).

Witnessing this sight, my manager sighed emphatically and said: “Well, at least you have good soft skills.”

I remember this vividly, because it was the first time I’d ever heard this term: soft skills. I envisioned it meant that I was good at snacking on soft, Mexican-flavoured cheese at the back of the store, which was also true.

But as it turns out, he was actually making an observation about my interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

Now, this was the same manager who felt the need to comment that I had gained weight… and that my leg was going to fall off from gangrene after I sustained a second-degree burn from my heater (a story for another day). So naturally, I didn’t put too much stock into his opinion.

But as it turns out, he was onto something.

Like many sensitive women (especially neurodivergent ones), I’ve always been highly empathetic to the needs and feelings of others.

I’ve never thought of myself as a ‘people person’, per se, but I’d like to think I’m pretty good at reading others and putting people at ease.

These would be classified as soft skills, alongside things like strong communication, teamwork, and dependability.

However, as I entered the full-time workforce, I quickly realised that these skills weren’t valued quite as much as technical, industry-specific skills (or, hard skills). Yes, people cared that you came across as pleasant in an interview setting, or that you were creative. But, they cared a?lot?more that you could write a large volume of high-quality, error-free content, quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, this makes a lot of sense! Unless you’re the office ‘personality hire’ (have you seen that trend on TikTok?), you’re there to do a job, not to be everyone’s therapist.

However, I would argue that soft skills are undervalued in the workplace: especially in male-dominated industries such as tech, finance, and science. They seem to have a reputation for being effeminate, superficial, and unimportant. And let’s be honest, the descriptor of ‘soft’ isn’t exactly helping.

But soft skills are as important as, if not more important than, technical skills.

We need strong leaders (and?self-leaders) to inspire and motivate others. We also need harmonious and diplomatic peacekeepers as the gel that keeps teams together. In other words, soft skills get things done.

Soft skills are also crucial for innovation. After all, the first step of the human-centered design process is literally ‘empathise.’ In order to be able to create truly valuable products and services, we have to be able to step into the shoes of customers. For this reason, sensitive and creative people make excellent inventors and visionaries.

I’m glad to see that slowly, the tide seems to be shifting around the perception of soft skills. The definition has expanded to include things such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptability, as well as the interpersonal competencies.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) even recently redefined soft skills as ‘power skills.’

In their?Pulse of the Profession survey,?they found that when layered on top of strong technical skills, power skills make leaders more effective at inspiring teams to achieve organisational goals.

It’s a great reminder that soft doesn’t have to mean weak… it can actually mean powerful.

So, if you’re a sensitive or maybe even ND person, I hope you’ll join me in being proud to be a softy (even if it means we’re not trusted on food prep duty!)

-Emma Norris, founder of The Progress Co

PS. Another benefit of strong soft skills is that they’re highly transferrable, and allow you to thrive in any endeavour you put your mind to. Curious about how you might be able to use this to your advantage, by creating a super varied, profitable career on your own terms? Grab our free?Extraordinary Empire guide!