| Does your success depend on strong "hard skills" | | | | people who are trying to achieve success |
| or "soft skills"? You might be surprised at the | | | | together. |
| answer. | | | | More specifically, such skills include leadership, |
| Hard skills - tangible, measurable, analytical, often | | | | effective communication, being able to motivate |
| with clear right or wrong answers - are what | | | | others in all types of circumstances, working well |
| many people think of as the backbone of success. | | | | as part of a team, and providing effective and |
| These include math and science proficiency, such | | | | timely feedback, among other things. While less |
| as in engineering and scientific work, accounting, | | | | measurable in practice, the positive impact of soft |
| programming, and various technical and | | | | skills is very apparent. |
| administrative skills. | | | | The positive results show up in some of the |
| Excel in these areas and your success is | | | | following ways: |
| guaranteed, right? Not so fast. | | | | - High employee and workplace morale |
| People whose hard skills are strong often don't | | | | - High and growing productivity |
| fully value the softer side of success. They may | | | | - High and increasing sales |
| view such soft skills as being easy to get, | | | | - Low or declining errors and rework |
| something they could pick up IF they wanted | | | | - High and growing profitability |
| such abilities. They may see soft skills as resulting | | | | - Team cohesiveness and effectiveness in the |
| from what they perceive as a lack of toughness, | | | | face of challenging circumstances |
| ambition, strength or competitiveness, at least as | | | | The net effect of strong soft skills is to create a |
| they see success. | | | | workplace where customers and employees want |
| I looked through a LinkedIn forum recently where | | | | to be, and want to do business with. |
| the question, "Which skills are more important, | | | | Ultimately, the best work environment of all is |
| hard or soft?" The tone of many forum replies | | | | one in which individual and team effectiveness is |
| quickly proved my point. | | | | high, as is customer satisfaction with your work. |
| However, one person summarized the debate | | | | In this great work environment profitability, is high |
| pretty well in this way, "Hard skills get you the | | | | and team morale is, too. |
| job and soft skills allow you to keep it." | | | | In such a workplace, hard skills AND soft skills are |
| Soft skills are far less measurable in practice. And | | | | strong. Furthermore, there's great respect within |
| in that way, they're hard to teach, reinforce and | | | | the team or organization for the many talents of |
| master. These include such things as | | | | team members, and their ability and willingness to |
| effectiveness in leading and working with others, | | | | use such skills to help create the group's success. |
| an essential factor for success in any group of | | | | |