Soft Skills--Call Them What They Are

Kathleen Paris, via email:

It grates on me when I hear people talk about "soft skills." Although definitions vary, soft skills generally refer to the ability to communicate effectively, knit a group of people together toward achieving a goal, and create a sense of shared community and purpose. CareerBuilder.com's Kate Lorenz describes these as "interpersonal skills and leadership qualities to guide teams of diverse professionals."[i]

"Firms today are having a very difficult time finding managers who have superior 'soft skills' says John P. Kreiss, president of SullivanKreiss, a recruitment and placement firm for design and construction professionals.[ii] Based on my own consulting practice, I would have to agree that most workplaces could do with more soft skills.

Our language is part of the problem. By calling them "soft," we are demoting this constellation of abilities and skills to something frilly, mushy and largely unimportant. Let's find a more fitting term for them.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 6, 2009 7:33 AM
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