The age of soft skills

"I thought developing confidence, learning how to address problems, deal with people and use words accurately was useless. But over time, I realised that these have opened doors for me," says Tejas Manve. The networking professional believes he would not have got his current position without the personality development, mind mapping and other skills he picked up at Jet King while studying for his CCNA Routing ans Switching certification. Of course, his job requires knowledge about servers, but it also needs him to be able to manage customers from around the world.

"Companies need innovation, new products and systems, and they are accordingly looking for holistically-developed students who can think outside the box, adapt to different situations, and have problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills. They don't want somebody who is purely academically focused. They want confident graduates who work easily with other people," confirms Barry O'Driscoll, senior advisor, education, in Ireland.
GEMS Skills president Amitava Ghosh explains the corporate quest for people who are more multi-faceted as opposed to merely technically skilled as follows: "We are living in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous). There is great ambiguity in the market. The convergence of different generations, technology's disruptive effect and the world becoming smaller by the day makes cross-cultural training important. Content is not as important as how you deliver that content".

Bagging, tagging soft skills
'Soft skills' is amongst the most bandied-about terms these days, but what are the practical implications? It seems to encompass a massive arsenal of skills that run from basic communication to effective negotiation and beyond. Tech-savviness, public speaking, time management and work ethics are thrown in for good measure. Not to mention leadership and relationship building. And then there is empathy, which one may think has no business in the workplace, but apparently, it does. And how does one build all these skills?

"Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses," recommends Kenneth Lewis, director, Seven People Systems, which offers HR consultancy, training, development and assessment. Kenneth, who describes himself as "a former geek with no social skills to speak of and a lack of self awareness", credits 80 per cent of his success to the soft skills he taught himself along the way, with some help from Tony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within), Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) and Ayn Rand. Now, self-help books could be an answer, but they're not the only one.

On the job training
As industries struggle to find the right talent despite the tremendous manpower available, companies like GEMS Skills bridge the gap with corporate training interventions for middle and higher management sales and customer service personnel, based on curriculums co-created with the companies they work with.

How do they quantify the difference they are making? While customer-level measurements have not been introduced in India yet, peer and supervisor-level evaluations ensure that the only way to go is up. Are we leaning towards a facetious world, where we go by impression rather than knowledge and skill? Not quite. GEMS Skills core values include pursuing excellence, growing by learning, leading through innovation and facilitating global citizenship.

Getting schooled
Academicians are also ensuring that their students are well-equipped to deal with the big bad world. "Children need to be confident, creative, flexible and adaptive learners who can flourish in a rapidly-evolving world. They need to be risk takers who welcome error and complexity as indicators of progress. They need to be self-starting, self-managing, self-evaluating, relentlessly curious, cognitively agile, networked, collaborative, and of course, tech-savvy," says Neil A. McWilliam, head of school at Oberoi International School. Now, that is clearly a tall order. But how does one teach things that veer on abstraction?

"It is misleading to say that we 'teach' them. They have to be embedded throughout the learning process, along with everything else children need to be future-ready," McWilliam clarifies. "Education used to be something that was 'done' to the child by the teacher. Not any more."

As schools become collaborative environments where children learn to speak persuasively, compromise and reach conclusions through interactions and activities, it becomes important for teachers to structure their classrooms in a certain way. This implies that in-class projects, mock trials, debates and group activities gain precedence over solo projects and emporium-style teaching.

Meanwhile, the School of Vocational Education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS-SVE) has a general education module spanning 1,110 hours, common to all its Bachelor of Vocation courses, which includes subjects such as English (as a foreign language), communication, basic computing, basics of accounts, livelihood and entrepreneurship and finishing school. "Soft skills get refined over time, but students need to be made aware of what is needed and how to prepare their resumes realistically," shares TISS-SVE dean Prof. Neela Dabir. TISS has an annual conference on emotional intelligence. It also has soft skill workshops and uses participatory learning methods such as classroom discussions and presentations to impart such skills.

"Soft skills are crucial, but things like interpersonal skills can't really be taught in a classroom. We need a more practical approach. About 80 per cent of our programmes have real life projects. Students are constantly working in teams and presenting to the class," says Barry O'Driscoll. The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) does a lot of volunteering in local communities, enabling students to develop interpersonal and other skills.

Games children play
And then there are 'cooperative games' for preschool children, such as Peaceable Kingdom's 'Feed the Woozle', 'Snug as a Bug in a Rug', 'Count your Chickens' and 'Race to the Treasure'. What is a cooperative game, you ask? It's one where everyone plays together and no one is left out. In a cooperative game, players work as a team against a common obstacle, not against each other. Apparently, 'cooperative games emphasise play, not competition, and attempt to foster non-stressful play situations, emotional development, shared decision making, creative problem-solving, a sense of community, positive self-esteem, playfulness and cooperation'. Clearly, soft skills are now child's play.

"These games could be a way of developing teamwork and showing kids that the power of the group is more effective than working alone," says psychologist Sonali Gupta, who works with a lot of children and families. She would rather define what the corporate world terms soft skills as 'life skills', since "these are essential skills that are crucial for personal development". She elucidates: "Such skills are important in a workplace, in a personal space and in a relationship. People take to you because of who you are, rather than what you know or the role that you rise up to." She believes that developing these skills needs to be an experiential process, with children learning by modelling the behaviour they see around them. "One needs to be conscious of the value system you impart to your child. A disregard for punctuality can be learned. A child will think it is okay to be late if you are always late."

Off the beaten track
Antano Solar John from the School of Excellence says Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) uses personal change to help people get the full-benefits of whatever soft skill they are learning. But take one look at the list of life skills that NLP 'installs' in people, and you will realise that some of these – effective communication, leadership, empathy, perspective – are in fact what people imply when they speak of soft skills. From unconscious assimilation to building a rapport through exuding trust and connection, NLP lets people "be in a situation as it happens, trust their intuition and make good decisions". We're told NLP offers the clarity to make "quick and correct decisions" that enable people to grow in their career, become good negotiators and position themselves well – all exceptionally handy skills in the current economy.

Essential soft skills:
Interpersonal skills
Teamwork
Lateral thinking
Tech-savviness
Effective communication
Empathy
Compassion
Kindness
Self-management
Self-regulation
Decision making
Critical thinking
Planning
Positivity

What the stats say
According to the India Skills Report 2016, the ability-mix that employers look for in potential employees is:
Domain expertise: 28%
Values, integrity, result orientation: 27%
Interpersonal skills and learning agility: 18%
Numerical and logical ability: 9%
Cultural fitment: 8%
Communication: 6%
Adaptability: 4%

Now, domain expertise may occupy a major portion of the pie at 28%, but take a closer look at the parameters, and you'll realise that soft skills – values, integrity, result orientation (27%), interpersonal skills and learning agility (18%), cultural fitment (8%), communication (6%) and adaptability (4%) – account for a whooping 63% of the pie. If you're grinning because you think can get by with a smile and smooth talk, think again! No one's saying domain expertise isn't important. At least not yet. While there have been debates on how workplaces of the future will have two basic types of people – those who are tech-savvy and those who are people-savvy – pure skill (irrespective of domain) is still what will get you that dream job. But what will help you keep it and rise up the ranks? Why, soft skills, of course!