Here is something I’ve read and that I find very relevant: people get hired thanks to their level of expertise (« hard skills« ) and get fired because of a lack of interpersonal skills (« soft skills« ).
It shows there are difficulties on all sides: for companies, managers, project leaders, it is difficult to define the « right profile » and then identify the « right person ».
For the professional, it is difficult to learn and sell the necessary and expected skills: s.he must master and put forward his or her technical or subject matter expertise in a job interview. But s.he must also regularly question him-/herself and cultivate both the subject matter and technical expertise required by his/her position AND the transversal skills that allow him/her to evolve within his/her teams.
This is an evolution that I have seen for myself, both in my own career and in the interests of my clients and students.
I’m an engineer (in computer science) and specialized in project management. Over the years, I’ve learnt to master the methods, techniques and tools that allow me to carry out IT projects. I’m never done learning, be it on the IT side or the project management side.
But what enables me to bring value to my clients, what gives meaning to project management concepts for my students, are the soft skills: how to identify stakeholders and their expectations regarding a project, how to motivate team members by knowing how to express gratitude, how to understand personalities to adapt one’s communication style to each one, how to inspire others… always with a view to being efficient together, productive, in order to reach the defined objectives.
And the skill that stands out for me in terms of importance over the years is empathy, which requires first of all to listen.
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
And what about you? Have you tried to grow and emphasize your soft skills? Are you ready to give it a try?
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