{"id":11264,"date":"2018-10-22T19:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talentlms.com\/blog\/?p=11264"},"modified":"2022-04-11T20:28:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T17:28:55","slug":"can-soft-skills-be-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talentlms.com\/blog\/can-soft-skills-be-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Soft Skills Be Learned?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture a team working at Google.<\/p>\n

What shines brighter? Hard skills or soft skills?<\/p>\n

If, like us, you said, \u201cHard skills, duh?\u201d, you are wrong.<\/p>\n

You see, Google actually<\/strong> found<\/strong><\/a> that most success in their business is a result of soft skills. More specifically, the highest-performing teams at Google exhibit equality, generosity, curiosity, empathy, and emotional intelligence (EQ). Even more surprisingly, hard skills in maths, science, technology, and engineering were ranked dead last – at Google!<\/p>\n

So, why do we need soft skills?<\/strong> The answer\u2019s simple. Agility and innovation.<\/p>\n

Soft skills determine an organization\u2019s ability to adapt to change, innovate, develop faster ways of doing things, deliver superior customer service and collaborate with culturally diverse teams<\/strong><\/a>. Organizations rich in critical thinkers, problem solvers, and clear communicators tend to benefit from higher productivity and more constructive collaboration.<\/p>\n

So, human soft skills are fast becoming a critical priority for recruitment decisions. But alas, not all (or even many) people are born with the full suite of soft skills organizations are looking for. Which means that companies can\u2019t always rely on clever recruiting to bring in the softer side of talent. And so the big question is: \u201cCan soft skills be learned?\u201d.<\/p>\n

As with any question, there\u2019s more than one answer to this. Actually, there are just two. Yes, and no. Let\u2019s step in the shoes of each one.<\/p>\n

Nuh-uh! Soft Skills CAN\u2019T be learned<\/h2>\n

There are those who believe that soft skills can\u2019t be developed, because – wait for it – they\u2019re not skills at all! These folk take definitions rather seriously, and just don\u2019t see how anyone could define the term soft skills in a way that would make them, well, skills.<\/p>\n

You see, the word \u201cskills\u201d is defined across the board as the act of doing something, accomplishing something, or executing on a task. It\u2019s practical and behavioral. Soft skills, on the other hand, are intangible skills. They\u2019re hard to observe and measure, and using them never fully results in an accomplishment or completion of a task.<\/p>\n

So, the argument would be, how can you improve soft skills if they can\u2019t be measured or observed? If you don\u2019t really know how good or bad you are at each soft skill to begin with?<\/p>\n

Skeptics would conclude that: soft skills can\u2019t be learned, because they aren\u2019t skills at all. Only skills can be learned.<\/p>\n

Of course, Soft Skills CAN be learned<\/h2>\n

Now let\u2019s take a journey over to the more common perspective on soft skills training<\/strong><\/a>. That soft skills, like leadership<\/a><\/strong> and social skills, can be learned.<\/p>\n

This perspective has a lot going for it. It\u2019s been around since the times of Edward Thorndike in the early 1900s, when he shone the light on a new kind of intelligence he liked to call \u201csocial intelligence<\/strong><\/a>\u201d. Even Charles Darwin, in his Origin of Species, recognized that it\u2019s not the strongest or most intelligent who will survive, but those who can best manage change. He was speaking about soft skills like adaptability and resilience.<\/p>\n

The defenders of soft skills training justify their argument like this. If the only way that something can be learned and improved is when it can be measured, then let\u2019s measure soft skills! That\u2019s right. There is a host of validated psychometric assessments (like this<\/strong> one<\/strong><\/a>) that tell us how engaged employees are at work, what kind of conflict resolution style they default to, and even how high a person\u2019s EQ ranks.<\/p>\n

And you know what they say: the first step towards change is awareness<\/strong>. Once it\u2019s clear which soft skills need improvement, employees can be shown how to learn soft skills<\/strong><\/a> through high-quality and targeted training.<\/p>\n

But is Soft Skills Training actually hard?<\/h2>\n

Even those who believe that soft skills can be learned can be skeptical at times. They\u2019ll ask whether soft skills are more difficult to learn than hard skills. Can leadership be learned as easily as typewriting, or another technical skill? Can you teach emotional intelligence with the same training tools you would use for hard skills training?<\/p>\n

The answer? Absolutely. Employees just need to want to learn, before they start thinking about how to develop soft skills. This takes little more than motivation and education.<\/p>\n

For example, when training kicks off by explaining what is meant by soft skills, and answering questions like \u201cwhy do we need soft skills?\u201d, employees are immediately more aware of their own softer talents. Leveraging recent studies by successful brands like LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a> can also be a great way to emphasize the benefits of soft skills, not only for the business but for employees\u2019 own career growth, too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always advisable to tap into the wonders of convenient and accessible online training tools. One of those is online discussion forums that can be used for social and communication skills training for employees. Or, you can use interactive videos<\/strong><\/a> that educate learners about different personality types, and how to empathize with team members who might be more introverted than themselves.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

So, can it be true? Can you really be successful without needing to be technical? Stanford seems to think so. Probably because their research<\/strong><\/a> found that 75% of long-term job success depends on soft skills mastery and only 25% on technical skills. Boom!<\/p>\n

What are soft skills, but the way of the future! These are the secret weapons that make organizations more agile, creative, and successful. And, as imperfect humans, how can we not give soft skills the training love they need to keep employees growing and evolving?<\/p>\n

Now, having heard it all, it\u2019s time you pick a side!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture a team working at Google. What shines brighter? Hard skills or soft skills? If, like us, you said, \u201cHard skills, duh?\u201d, you are wrong. You see, Google actually found that most success in their business is a result of soft skills. More specifically, the highest-performing teams at Google exhibit equality, generosity, curiosity, empathy, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[252],"tags":[6898],"class_list":["post-11264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews-opinions","tag-soft-skills-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSoft Skills Cannot Be Learned...Or Can They? - TalentLMS Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ultimate debate within the learning community finally gets its answer! Can soft skills be learned or not? 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