Long ago, when the world held a tighter view about how workplaces should work, the phrase “soft skills” were demeaned, ignored or dismissed in the way a person shoos a fly. As a fan of soft skills, I bristled at the bias, patiently hoping and waiting for an attitude shift.
At the time, offices were filled with shiny new machines promising to revolutionize the workflow (and they did). It was a hiring heyday for techie types, with people skills and personal traits being overshadowed by electronic expertise.
Eventually, leaders began realizing that work teams need effective communication, cooperation, and customer service to succeed—even the ability to make work more fun. Employers today insist on knowing a good deal about what a job candidate can bring to the work team.
No doubt, some of the evolution was connected to the personality style instruments that became commonplace in the last three decades, including emotional intelligence and strength assessments that concentrate on soft skills. It warms my heart that these once scorned qualities are now sought after.
Here’s the truth: your soft skills are hard-wired into your circuitry. They are traits you were born with. They are what make you “you” and they are yours for life. Initially raw, unfiltered and obnoxiously awkward, your inborn assets frustrated your parents, authority figures and you. Simply put, the very traits and qualities that got you into trouble as a kid are the ones that make you successful as an adult.
It takes time to discover and refine your inborn assets. You need to smooth out the rough edges and finesse them into your secret sauce. Those soft skills, aka signature strengths, are essentially your superpowers—the secret to your success. You will be both complimented and criticized for them, depending on the situation and the source.
Being light on hard skills, I learned to capitalize on my core superpowers (creativity, resilience and persistence) early on. To some, they make me admirable; they also make me hard to live with. But they are what make me “me”. My runaway brain and run-off mouth got me into trouble as a kid, yet they are the bedrock of my career skills as a speaker and celebrant. This is why I take pride in building such a hard case for soft skills.
© Leslie Charles, Speaker, Author, Consultant. leslie@lesliecharles.com
