Soft skills: critical factors for a successful outsourcing engagement

Over the last decade, there has?been?an?emphasis on outsourcing,?especially in?developing countries like Nigeria. This?trend is occasioned by the successes recorded?in countries?like?China,?the?Philippines,?and India which have successfully harnessed?the gains of outsourcing and its ability to?transform the economy.?

With the increasing?unemployment rate,?amid?the?growing?youth population,?policymakers and economic?advisers have now?beamed?their focus on the outsourcing industry vis a viz its?potential to?turn the economic fortune?of Nigeria?around.?

According to?a newspaper publication?(June 22, 2020), the Federal government?planned to create 1 million jobs through digital outsourcing over?a?12-month?period?as?part of?the?government’s Economic Sustainability Plan aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19.

While the creation of jobs is always a welcome idea,?the important question?to ask?is whether?a country like Nigeria?has?the needed human capital or workforce?to?deploy at various levels?of outsourcing engagement―be?it the backend or front office.

Critical to the success of?any outsourcing?engagement is on-demand?soft skills ?needed by?the drivers of the processes.

Soft skills?are?non-technical?requirements needed by an individual to perform on the job.?According to?Lexico.com,?soft skills are?“personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.”?

This presupposes that no matter how gifted or intellectually aware an individual is, he may not be able to?interact?or communicate effectively?in the workplace with other colleagues?if he lacks soft skills. Therefore,?an individual must possess these soft skills to function effectively in the?workplace.?

Soft?skills are becoming a critical?tool for career and life success.?No matter how technically equipped?an employee is,?that individual?will find success hard to come by?without?the?possession of relevant soft skills.

For example,?a trained pilot may not be allowed to fly a?plane if he lacks the skills to communicate with co-pilots and other crew members. Similarly, a trained medical doctor?won’t record success in his profession if he lacks?the people skills needed to relate with patients,?nurses,?and other staff.

The?twenty-first-century?workplace?is interactive.?The success of any organization is?dependent on the connectivity of the various units and departments to interact and work towards?achieving a common organization’s strategic goal.?No group or individual can work?solo?anymore,?hence the need to acquire soft skills that?encourage?the?free flow of information through effective communication channels.

Types of Soft Skills

The?changing?nature of the work environment?has also?widened?the scope of?soft skills needed to function effectively.?Virtual meeting management skills weren’t required?10 years ago, but today most meetings are held virtually and the ability to?participate and manage virtual meetings effectively?is now a requirement for most organizations.

That said,?let’s?take a?look at?the most critical soft skills needed to function in the workplace. They include?Communication,?Leadership,?Teamwork,?Problem Solving,?Time Management,?Negotiation,?Conflict Resolution,?Dynamism,?Flexibility,?Decisiveness,?Creativity,?Collaboration,?Information Management,?Adaptability, etc.

Point of Convergence Between Soft Skills and Outsourcing

In today’s?highly competitive business climate, no single organization can hold a monopoly over a technical domain and in a world of increasing complexity and innovation, skills like building partnerships, communication,?and collaboration?have?become particularly important.?Organizations are?increasingly?looking for ways?to?have?a?competitive edge over competitors?in a bid to remain profitable.?And one of the ways to achieve that goal is to outsource?non-core aspects of their businesses.

More companies?today are?outsourcing?their services?whether onshore,?nearshore?or offshore.?Back in 2019,?Clutch Report on ‘Small Business Outsourcing Statistics’?reported that?the global outsourcing market totaled $85.6 billion in 2018?and as?of?the time of the report?more than one-third of small businesses were?outsourcing?a business process (www.clutch.co).?

Since outsourcing involves two?or more parties (usually between a?client and vendor), it is?vital for?both parties?to?have?qualified?employees who?can drive?the processes. Without competent?employees, any outsourcing engagement is bound to fail?and can lead to?the?loss of valuable resources.?Whether it is?the?back?office?or front office operations,?those to be deployed must be people with on-demand soft skills like communication,?interpersonal?relations, document processing?skills, etc.

People are the most valuable aspect of any business engagement and outsourcing is no exception.?People must be equipped with relevant soft skills?to deliver on the job.

Poor soft skills were reported as the single biggest issue faced by recruiters of new industry entrants, and the reason many graduates were not engaged.

Therefore,?a competent workforce?equipped?with modern?soft skills is vital to the success of any outsourcing engagement.