Soft Skills Are the Hardest Skills to Find

Just My E-pinion

By Hank Triplett

As a human resources professional with over 20 years experience, I’ve had the opportunity to interview, hire, and unfortunately, fire literally hundreds of people. I agree that people are hired and promoted based on their technical or hard skills and fired based on their lack of interpersonal or soft skills.

An informal poll of HR professionals and other executives in the Louisville, Kentucky/Southern Indiana area found that, without exception, today’s employees from the lowest to the highest levels in the organization must possess strong soft skills to be fully successful. Today, more than ever, factory workers, office workers, and managers must be good communicators and demonstrate exceptional people skills if they are to meet the demands of a highly competitive environment.

At my company, we have tried to “fine tune” our associates’ people skills with soft skills’ training such as Covey’s Principles, the Donnelly Effect, stress management, conflict management, and various supervisor/leadership in-house programs. Even so, we have found, via employee feedback, that we are far from perfect, and it’s a never-ending battle to arm our associates with the necessary soft skills for a team environment.

Of course, technical skills should be closely analyzed in the hiring and promotional process. However, decision makers should be careful not to overlook negotiation, communication, problem solving, and even political skills.

Ask the Receptionist

We use a team interviewing process where the functional manager, next level manager, and HR all participate in the interview. Often, co-workers are also included. This allows for everyone to observe both the technical and people skills of the individual being considered. I also ask the receptionist and others who may have come into contact with a prospective employee for their opinions. Prospects sometimes respond quite differently to a receptionist than they do to an interview panel.

While compiling data for this article, I asked several HR managers for experiences that they were willing to share. One described how union relations improved dramatically when their director of manufacturing was transferred. He was a very intelligent engineer who unfortunately was arrogant, non-caring, vindictive, and power hungry. His leadership style had crippled the organization.

The new director is much more people-oriented and, as a result, a recent attitude survey showed a twofold improvement in morale. Further, the company’s business is again thriving and they are actively hiring.

An End to “Blaming, Denying, Ignoring”

Another HR professional noted that, due to the nature of their business, they hire technical people who, in turn, hire people just like themselves … feeling they are always correct and disliking criticism, which makes consensus sometimes impossible.

Consequently, the company has begun a teaching program that includes assertiveness, conflict management, and a principle called the “Oz Principle,” which emphasizes a more positive leadership style than the old style of “blaming, denying, and ignoring.” They also have begun a hiring program similar to ours that uses team interviews so that they can avoid hiring too many people who think exactly the same.

Today, technical skills are not at the top of the list for the most successful organizations. Rather, soft skills such as communication, negotiation, and problem solving abilities are making their way to the top. Decision makers should not overlook the so called “soft” skills, which are perhaps the hardest skills to find.

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