Corporate success in the 21st Century Significance of Soft Skills

The 21st Century is and continues to be an age of learning. The Internet has more information in it than entire libraries funded by emperors and kings of yesteryears. It is now not so tenuous to learn about technical skills like coding or even learning foreign languages entirely different from your native tongue. The world has grown increasingly smaller and in effect closer.

Consequently, people are coming closer and so are coming businesses. A single product is being made available across several continents. Just think of the humble Nike sneaker! A single sneaker has to cross 14 nations and three continents before it finds itself in the feet of customers. Now think of the managers and personnel behind this journey. How do you think the company could manage such a mind-boggling endeavor?

The answer to this question is Soft Skills. Relevant Soft skills! These skills help the plant manager in Vietnam communicate with the Sales Manager in Canada about the issues he feels will lead to a delay in shipment. How the entry-level office-goer negotiates for a raise. How the boss prioritizes tasks and people he has to work under him.

One of the main reasons why Soft skills are so in demand is because of the lack of awareness about the same amongst the working population. These skills being intangible in nature tend to be overlooked. Can anyone measure someone’s management skills or decision-making abilities? But that’s also part of the issue. These skills have to be experienced before one can ascertain their necessity. And that’s how you teach it to fellow employees as well - through example.

My boss often joked that the worth of an employee in the eyes of his superior can be calculated by the value he brings to the process by his technical skills divided by the inconveniences he caused due to his lack of soft skills. Though expressed in jovial terms I believe there is more than a kernel of truth in this saying. No man is an island. He is a social being with the need for connections. He has to work with others, not unlike him and totally different from him for a purpose. He has to accommodate their needs and objectives. He has to motivate them and guide them and be guided by them in return. All this is possible only in the presence of relevant soft skills for the job.

Always remember! All corporate employers are looking for a person with the relevant technical skills suited to the job. Note again! A person, Not a robot.