There has been a lot of talk recently about the need for managers to develop their so-called ‘soft skills’ – perhaps as a result of the additional challenges companies are facing in these difficult economic times.
While the nature of what is being discussed may be sound, the term ‘soft skills’ belittles the importance of a vital set of skills required to improve a company’s performance thereby compromising the value of the premise. In other words the term ‘soft skills’ often causes managers to assume them to be ‘secondary to’, or ‘less important than’, the hard skills – or what could otherwise be referred to as the technical skills and competencies required to understand and thus oversee a process, function or department.
If however, one was to reposition the purpose of management, then the so-called ‘soft’ skills naturally become ‘vital’ skills as they refer to an additional set of skills required to improve performance. What I mean by this is managers should never be appointed to ‘keep things going’ but rather they should be appointed (and thus mandated) to ‘drive’ changes and improvements. If managers understand this then the skill sets typically referred to as ‘soft’ suddenly become ‘essential’ as they refer to the type of skills they will require to improve the performance of their function or department.
At the end of the day, knowing how to communicate, lead, inspire and develop people and the organisation’s culture (mind-set, behaviours and values) is in my opinion the most important facet of management. These aspects require more than just the technical skills required to manage a function, they require ‘leadership’ skills to honour the purpose of the role.
For the reasons mentioned above, I propose companies ditch the term ‘soft skills’ and replace it with the term ‘leadership skills’ – thereby enabling them to sharpen their focus in order to leverage the key elements that will ultimately determine their ability to improve the performance of their operation. Incidentally, adopting this approach does not negate the relevance of such skills for those who are not in a leadership role, but rather it suggests the type of skills previously referred to as ‘soft’ are in fact ‘vital’ for any person who is committed to adding value.
Leadership
I have met many people who occupy a senior ‘people’ role and who have proven to be ineffective leaders. That doesn’t mean they are incompetent people and shouldn’t be employed by the organisation. It means companies need to understand that leaders should be appointed to improve the performance of their workforce, not act as technical experts who advise the company periodically. That said, most people who are appointed to head a management role are competent in their craft – whether that be as commercial strategists, accountants, manufacturers, HR managers or marketers – however the skills (otherwise known as ‘hard’ skills) required to advise their company in a technical capacity should not be the determining factor in their appointment to a leadership role. Rather it will be their ‘leadership’ skills – namely their ability (and desire) to improve the performance capability of a workforce that should determine their suitability for such a promotion.
Career development
There are two alternative and equally relevant routes people can pursue in regard to their career development. One of those is technical – which if a person wishes to pursue, will require them to deepen and or broaden their technical skills in order to become a technical expert. The other is leadership – which requires a person to develop an ‘additional’ set of skills they will require to become a successful leader. The problem for most organisations is they tend to assume, often without any consideration as to the implications of doing so, that those with the greatest technical knowledge or experience are the ones most ‘qualified’ to manage a particular function or department. However, if we were to examine the requirements of a management role, most organisations will discover that the ‘outcomes’ they are after from the role, require a completely different skill set to deliver i.e. it will more than likely require greater ‘leadership’ skills as opposed to more ‘technical’ skills to improve the performance of those who work in that function or department.
Furthermore, this approach allows companies to better understand how to invest in and develop their people rather than presuming they can only realistically develop those who appear to have management potential (beyond the traditional trade training and qualifications). The reason I say this is because many people offered a management role are only offered that role because they are looking for a way to advance in their career – not because they demonstrate great leadership attributes and/or capability. Sadly too many companies continue to make the mistake of promoting high-calibre ‘technicians’ to keep them on board i.e. to avoid losing them to a competitor, rather than investing in their technical capabilities to enable them to become more productive and valuable employees. If however, these companies valued ‘technical’ expertise as well as ‘leadership’ capability, they could develop those who demonstrate such technical flair to become their technical experts rather than burdening them with responsibilities they are unlikely to embrace or honour.
Better leadership skills drive productivity and growth
I would argue that it is far more important for a company to develop their managers’ ‘leadership’ skills than it is to encourage them to improve their ‘soft’ skills – for reasons previously mentioned – particularly if they are serious about advancing (one additional point of interest is managers often assume improving their ‘soft’ skills will require them to ‘change their personality’ rather than acquiring an additional set of skills to enable them to improve their ability to lead). I would also argue that it will prove far more important for your leaders to develop their leadership skills than improve their technical skills from an operational perspective simply because you can always seek the advice of a technical expert as and when required whereas, if you want to improve your results, you will require more effective leadership on a permanent and on-going basis.
Needless to say, I recommend any company that is serious about performance – who uses or has used the term ‘soft’ skills in the past – replace it with the term ‘leadership’ skills to further their managers’ interest in acquiring the all-important skills and capability that will not only define their career but determine the success of their organisation.
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