Every time I read something about communication, leadership, mentoring and the like, the words “soft skills” are nearly always used as descriptors. That chaps me, because in our business culture soft is often a euphemism for weak.. Bottom lines, net revenues, profitability: these are hard and, therefore, strong initiatives. Relationship building, listening, mentoring, teaching: soft and wrongly perceived as weak.
Think about it. How often is someone in a company publicly rewarded for civility? For kindness? Contagious happiness? It’s woefully rare. Yet it is these things that determine the culture and, at least in part, the long-term success of an organization.
I wonder if we could come up with something other than soft skills to describe these critical individual and organizational traits. Maybe it’s Quality of Life Skills, but that’s a tad wordy. I’m open to suggestion, but let’s not call them soft anymore. These emotionally intelligent traits are the foundation of a strong, successful organizational culture. Soft (weak) just isn’t what we’re shooting for.
Great points. When I wrote "Closing the Soft Skills Gap" at http://www.webcpa.com/prc_issues/2008_7/28220-1.html?pg=5 I put it in quotes because I to felt "soft skills" was a misnomer. Those I interviewed also had trouble with the terminology. Sop here are some suggestions to substitute. How about:
ReplyDelete1. Business relationship skills
2. People skills ( used by Rex Gatto in the article)
3. Interpersonal collaborative skills.
Howard
Thanks, Howard. I like these better that "soft". I wonder if we'd ever be brave enough to call this stuff "emotional skills".
ReplyDeleteMelinda