By: Yadi Caro
Soft skills make hard skills work.
Let me explain.
If you listen to my podcast and read my newsletter, I assume we have a common understanding of what soft skills are.
These are defined as the skills which allow us to interact with others (as explained here and here).
One of my favorite definitions and potential origin of the use of the word, comes from a report created by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Scienceswritten by Dr. Whitmore and John Fry. As they tried to capture the results of a training conference hosted by the Continental Army Command (CONARC), the definition they captured was “soft skills are defined as important job-related skills that involve little or no interaction, with machines.”
Furthermore, a CONARC regulation defined soft skills as “job related skills involving actions affecting primarily people and paper, e.g., inspecting troops, supervising office personnel, conducting studies, preparing maintenance reports, preparing efficiency reports, designing bridge structures"
Today, we can say soft skills are required to deal with machines. As reports show regarding the most desired skills this year, skills like data analysis and machine learning are listed alongside teamwork and communication.
And as the definition states, soft skills are about people and management. These are the skills we need to actually deliver the results of our technical know-how.
You probably are spending or planning to skill up in coding or automation. But have you set up your plan to become a better communicator or deal with conflict?
Just like any technical skill, soft skills can be learned and mastered.
Here are three steps to get started:
1) Identify which skills you are good at and which ones you need to improve on.
2) Set a plan. Find resources to help you but before you chug down multiple hours of content, commit to listen, read and execute one action each day.
3) Keep going.
How are you leveling up on your 'soft' skills?
