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CoSIDA.com/CoSIDA360 Magazine Archive
Note: This story appeared in the Summer 2019 August edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
Importance of Developing Soft Skills
by Barb Kowal – CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs
"Hard skills get you in the door. Soft skills determine where you go.”
This is an important and impactful quote about career advancement.
Soft skills equate to people-facing or people-centric skills. Given the choice, research shows that most employers would prefer to hire — and promote and recognize — someone with good soft skills and fewer hard skills. As the world, and our profession, relies more and more on technology, employers globally are finding soft skills the hardest to find amongst their employees and job candidates.
The lack of “soft skills” is now listed as one of the mega trends, identified by a recent LinkedIn “Future of Skills” report, as affecting the workforce of today and tomorrow. People are talking about this “skills gap” which is the difference between the abilities that employers want, and those that are currently available in the market.
So, distinguish yourself by doing some self-analysis and investing time by working on these soft skills. Research and behavioral studies identify some of the major ones as:
- Leadership
- Communication — return all emails and requests in a timely fashion; get away from your screens and have face-to-face conversations; pick up the phone and talk to colleagues and the media
- Innovation and creativity – the ability to solve problems
- Teamwork/collaboration
- Listening
- Problem-solving and critical thinking
- Emotional intelligence
- Decision-making
- Empathy
- Adaptability – remember, the only constant is change!
- Versatility – ability to roll with the punches and rise to the occasion
- Time management
Unlike important hard skills like writing, media relations, graphic design, video editing, social media know-how, game management techniques and statistical software expertise, these soft skills cannot be directly taught online, in a webinar or at the annual convention. While tech expertise is important for pursuing an athletic communications professional path, it’s important to remember that mastering certain hard skills amounts to very little if you don’t have the ability to work well with colleagues and communicate effectively with them.
We don’t come into our work environment with every one of these innate soft skill traits, but they are “learnable.” Make yourself more valued as an employee and distinguish yourself by working to improve your soft skills.
To be able to improve your soft skills, you have to be willing to do some self-assessment. Be open and honest about receiving and implementing feedback from your supervisors and colleagues. Putting yourself out there and becoming uncomfortable will help you hone these skills. You have to be okay with understanding and admitting the areas in which you need improvement — then work on them.
Based on advice from the Forbes Coaches Council — a highly-selective group of business and career coaches — here is a list of effective strategies for honing those soft skills, with employees and employers working together to raise the bar:
- Be proactive in seeking out opportunities to learn additional skills. That could include taking on new projects at work, seeking mentorship, and participating in educational courses.
- Platforms like Coursera and edX offer free courses to amplify leadership and problem-solving skills. (Note: Does your HR department on campus offer courses or offer assessments on emotional intelligence and personality?)
- Practice your skills outside of work and focus on helping others. Need to work on empathy, teamwork, decision-making? These skills are needed in community service/charitable activities.
- Don’t over-rely on your strengths as they will become your liability.
- Rely on role models/mentors. You can learn from watching others and emulating their behaviors. Ask them for advice and guidance.
- Work on the art of listening. Truthfully, this is a complicated and critical skill. Without the ability to listen effectively (without interrupting and imposing your ideas), messages are easily misunderstood.
The takeaway: Everyone wants to be more marketable. As we spend a great deal of time preparing for the technical components of our athletic communications jobs, remember that without the ability to interact with others, those quantitative skills will only get you so far down the career path if you do not showcase your soft skills.
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