Why Do We Consider Some Skills "Soft"?
by Evelyn Nam, Assistant Editor
If you’re new to the workforce, you’ve probably read articles about the importance of building “soft skills” — empathy, resilience, compassion, adaptability, and others. The advice isn’t wrong. Research shows soft skills are foundational to great leadership and set high performers apart from their peers. They’re also increasingly sought by employers.
But, to me, resilience isn’t “soft,” and neither is compassion. As a person who is new to the corporate world, I’ve begun to wonder: Why do we frame interpersonal skills this way?
When you look up “soft” in the dictionary, you’ll find descriptors like agreeable, quiet, subdued, easy, impressionable, and weak. None of these adjectives do justice to the competencies mentioned above. When we define more technical, quantifiable skills as “hard,” it almost seems like we are assigning more value to our output at work and less to our characters.
There are consequences to this. In my experience, it can discourage people from focusing on building a healthy relationship with themselves and others. I’ve felt this throughout my education and early career. My instinct to prioritize people over production has often seemed incorrect. While there, of course, needs to be a balance between the personal and the professional, I feel an unhealthy pressure to constantly do more, produce more, and get ahead if I want to succeed.
During a time when some of our most pressing problems can only be solved through a mutual desire to understand one another, I believe labeling skills this way is a mistake. Without empathy, leadership, and good communication, we can’t possibly begin to build a more equitable workforce. In a world that is changing faster than we can imagine, why don’t we prioritize open-mindedness and adaptability?
As we accentuate the need to lead with compassion, and for the next generation to make work an inclusive space, it’s important we recognize that the skills we call “soft” are the skills we need the most.
Here’s how to develop them.
Recommended Reads
领英推荐
Here are three strategic skills that you, as a young professional, should invest in earlier in your career to help you reach your long-term goals faster.
To find a balance between the personal and the professional, you need to know what to communicate to your team, and when.
More recently, compassionate leadership is replacing hyper-masculinity as a symbol of competence and power.?
Like what you just read? Our team of global editors shares personal stories and practical advice in a weekly version of this newsletter,?sign up here!
ACCA Affiliate
1 年I constantly wonder what are soft skills and how do I get to develop them. There is no right or wrong answer, but it is good to be steered toward a direction Any direction of what soft skills can be.
Sales & Business Development Manager | Steel and Services Industry | +20% New Clients, 20% Reduction in Idle Stock | Coordination of Sales Network and Agents
2 年BE YOURSELF, this is the typical 80-90s american movie lines. Be yourself, so his best friend told him to the teenager who fell in love with the most popular girl in school. Even in real life and at work the same concept is valid. The fastest way to bring value through the so-called Soft Skills is to show who you are, your qualities and talents. That could help your organization and sometimes could help winning a girl's heart.
Advisor, Investor, Consultant , Experienced Executive and Board Member
2 年I have often thought that the research results that challenging experiences/assignments develop people best, is in part that navigating those challenges in situ requires learning a panoply of skills, many of which we characterize as "soft". Our most successful programs for developing new hires, and apprentices, as well as improving career progression, seek to ensure that technical training is matched with acivity and learnings about behavior, interaction, how to learn organizations and tools for connecting and communicating with others. #ust #ustteam #stepitupamerica #stepitup UST Xpanxion UST
Marketing leader | Brand storyteller | Master collaborator | Mentor and Motivator | Amplifying #purposedriven brands.
2 年Agree, ‘soft’ is an inappropriate way to describe some of the most essential and transferable skills in management and leadership. They are a must.