In a world of AI, ‘soft skills’ are what help your career stand the test of time
Technical skills are undoubtedly essential in an age of AI, big data, and automation. However, it doesn’t eclipse the ‘human-centric’ side of work – skills like creativity, critical thinking and intercultural fluency that robots can’t do so well. In fact, we believe that in an era of AI, these skills we misdefine as “soft” are what get you ahead.
Out of a list of top in-demand leadership skills for 2023, nearly all – if not all – the skills listed were what we’d call “soft skills”. This included the ability to build empathetic one-on-one relationships, the ability to focus your team towards long-term strategy vs. short-term priorities, and someone that embraces and champions diversity, equality and inclusion.
This might come as a surprise, given that we tend to disregard these skills in favour of “hard skills”, or technical skills. According to the 2022 Businessolver State of Workplace Empathy Report, while over 70% of employees believe that an empathetic organization results in higher motivation, 77% of CEOs worry they will lose respect if they’re too empathetic.
Leaders in the C-Suite still too often undervalue people-centric skills, or worse, view them as a liability. Technical abilities, often referred to as “hard skills” are traditionally seen as more valuable. On the other hand, soft skills, i.e. human-centred skills, refer to things like communication, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and intercultural fluency. These are skills that are essential to the workplace, but why do we still regard them as secondary or “nice-to-haves?”
There is nothing ‘soft’ about building soft skills
In 2017, bestselling author Seth Godin published an article called “Let’s stop calling them soft skills”. The main argument of his article was that these ‘soft skills’ were the key to success in leadership – perhaps even happiness in life. Calling them ‘soft’ not only belittles their importance to our professional and personal growth, but is also a misleading definition given they are hard-to-acquire skills.
It turns out the origin of the term ‘soft skills’ can be traced back to the U.S. military in the mid-20th century. The military was renowned for equipping troops with the necessary skills, but leaders soon came to understand that how they led their group of soldiers was a key element in their victory.
Call it ‘power skills’ or ‘essential skills’, it’s high time we reframe how we see soft skills. Part of dismantling these beliefs involves breaking away from the traditional hard versus soft dichotomy. Discrediting the importance of so-called "soft" attributes in hybrid workforce management often overlooks their significance. It belittles the difficulty of mastering them, the effort and time required and minimises the investment and resources organizations dedicate to teaching and coaching their managers in leadership. Misdefining them as ‘soft’ implies that they’re optional; rather than a key piece in our personal and professional progress.
Soft skills are what keep your career future proof
In fact, in a world of AI and where technology can soon replace tasks from data analysis to design, we’d wager that the competencies we often label as ‘soft skills’ are what get you ahead and keeps your career future-proof. These skills, such as effective decision-making, teamwork, negotiation, leadership, and perseverance, are essential for success in today's dynamic business environment.
According to some studies, roughly one in four jobs are at risk of being automated across the globe – a trend that sometimes makes people nervous about job security. However, despite these fears, automation won’t necessarily make these jobs redundant, but will instead elevate the work we do by taking over simple or repetitive tasks.
This will help people to move to positions that require more interpersonal skills and allow them to focus their skillsets and attention on high-value, human-centred activities like critical thinking, creativity and the ability to build empathetic relationships – timeless and essential skills that ChatGPT and artificial intelligence are yet to replace.
Technical proficiency and data literacy are essential in this era of AI, big data, and automation. However, that doesn't mean we should overlook the human side of work. As robots and machines take on more easily automated aspects of work, we believe that not only will “softer” skills become even more critical as the nature of work changes but there will also be a newfound appreciation and appetite for things that make us human, like creativity, emotions – skills in fields that robots don't excel in.
In essence, human work will become increasingly more, well, human.
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