Soft skills are hard to teach. Separate from technical knowledge, soft skills are a combination of social and emotional intelligence that allow employees to work well with others.
As new graduates enter the workforce, soft skills become even more important for these digital natives and their employers. Speaking of their employers and senior leaders, 57% of you say soft skills are more important than hard skills. By implementing a few practices, new employees can pick up on these five soft skills that are required of them:
- Leadership
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Time management
- Pause, then lead
Pause, then lead
Meetings, to-do lists, traffic, deadlines. For senior leaders and managers, where is time to actually lead? Collyn Iblings, CPA, IACCP, Assistant Chief Compliance Officer at a St. Paul-based investment firm, is building time into her schedule for this exact purpose. She makes space during her work day to cultivate leadership skills among her team members.
“A purposeful pause is critical for me,” Iblings says. “These opportunities to pause allow me to clear my mind. They generate space to have clarity, creativity, and compassion. And from a leadership perspective, that’s essential.”
What does that really mean? Collyn doesn’t cram her to-do list with non-essential items. Not only does she make time to pause, but she makes time to meditate. She says that filling her own bucket allows her to lead with more empathy and compassion.
“It’s not about trying to find what other people have done wrong,” she says. “That’s not leadership. It’s about honoring the stories and people around us. We’re all in this together.”
Implement or expand face-to-face communication
Despite being digital natives, 53% of Generation Z say they prefer in-person communication over email or Slack. Gen Zers also expect to meet regularly with their managers. Sixty percent want multiple check-ins from their manager during the week and 40% want interactions daily or several times a day. When delivered, feedback should be consistent and swift.
Practice empathetic listening. When the other person is excited, try to feel excited. Reflect the other person’s emotions through your facial expressions and body language.
Another idea? Institute a daily or weekly team huddle.
A team huddle isn’t a staff meeting but rather a 15-30 minute daily or weekly check-in that includes peer-to-peer discussions. During these huddles, supervisors might ask open-ended questions and encourage team members to provide suggestions. An added bonus: huddles also provide the opportunity for employees — of all ages — to get to know each other better.
Create positive habits in your workplace where communication is key.
Practice collaboration
As projects become more complex in the age of digital-everything, effective collaboration is even more important.
“Working with your direct team to come to one conclusion is difficult,” says Iblings. “Have conversations. Brainstorm. And then come to that conclusion — together.”
In other words, get comfortable with compromise. Team members may have different values, culture and work methods. For everyone to work well together, all team members must learn to accept each other.
Another idea? Empower mentorship.
Former CEO and author of Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, Chip Conley was hungry for a new challenge. That’s when he got a call from the founders at Airbnb asking for help. Through this experience, he learned to pair wisdom and experience with curiosity. He became, what he calls, a Modern Elder.
He believes elders with experience are on the brink of a comeback. Both groups, he says, can gain from this form of mentorship. Younger employees will benefit from the wisdom of their older coworkers and older employees will be exposed to new ideas.
Encourage creativity
Organizations need creative employees who can think up solutions for tomorrow. But, how do those employees bring their creative selves to work everyday?
Career coach, writer and speaker Kathy Caprino says that it starts with us embracing our creative outlets.
“What I’ve realized is that we cannot “find ourselves,” or achieve a joyful, meaningful and fulfilling professional or personal life if we force these beautiful creative pieces of ourselves to go underground,” she writes. “These creative lifelines are wanting and needing to be integrated, recognized, and honored. Pushing them out of our view only prolongs our dissatisfaction with our lives, and keeps our unique contribution hidden from ourselves, others, and the world.”
Whether your team members love tennis or writing or singing or painting, embrace those outlets. That creative spirit will breathe life into other parts of their lives – and yours — including within your shared workplace.
Teach time management
Time management not only helps you focus today, but it’s a lifelong skill needed to succeed, professionally and personally.
What’s on your to-do list right now? Or, is your list more like a never-ending stream of must-dos and emergencies running through your mind? That creates stress and anxiety. Instead, try chunking tasks together — figure out what needs to be done and break down those tasks into small steps.
How can you encourage soft skills in your employees today? Exemplify the soft skills they need to acquire. Implement a daily huddle and mentorship program. Purposely add time to fill your own bucket each day to enable compassionate leadership. Eliminate distractions during meetings and conversations. Chunk your time and encourage your employees to as well. Embrace your creative outlets. Together, you’ll build and maintain a cohesive, collaborative workplace.