Organizations that invest in soft skills training for their employees are more productive and enjoy a better workplace environment.
Soft skills training has become very popular in the professional development space as corporations are beginning to realize the value of soft skills training for their teams.
In fact, a 2017 study by MIT Sloan summed up their research with this:
“The benefits of soft skills training can be hard to measure, but new research reveals that it can bring substantial return on investment to employers while also benefiting employees.”
A study by West Monroe found that 67% of HR professionals report withholding positions due to lack of soft skills. Despite this finding, many companies don’t invest in professional development training of soft skills.
So what are soft skills?
Employers will commonly list soft skills as, strong communication skills, good listener, team player, one who self manages time and priorities.
Soft skills can be personality based and are more indicative of leadership success than experience, qualifications, or technical skills.
Soft skills are largely intangible like people skills, positive attitude, interpersonal skills, and social skills which are considered soft skills. Other soft skills are leadership, conflict resolution, time management, problem solving, work ethic, teamwork and more.
Can Soft Skills Training Help You and your company?
The MIT Sloan study I cited earlier found that, “when comparing the final program costs against increased revenue, Kala and her colleagues found that in-factory soft skills training returned roughly 250 percent of investment within eight months of its conclusion.
Boosts in worker productivity accounted for much of this gain, but a number of other factors contributed, like the ability to perform complex tasks more quickly, short-term gains in improved attendance, and increased retention during the training.”
On a personal level, soft skills training can help you not only on a daily basis in the workplace, but a strong set of soft skills often results in career advancement.
That’s because in the workplace you need to communicate, listen, and interact with others on a daily basis which are all soft skills.
Throw in some problem solving and conflict resolution and you can see these are great skills to possess in general – and employers agree.
Check out this quote from Ian Siegel, ZipRecruiter Co-Founder and CEO.
“93% of employers say soft skills play a critical role in their decision about whom they want to hire. Those soft skills include things like showing up on time, willingness to learn, enthusiasm, and a can-do attitude…”
Teamwork
Teamwork requires an innumerable array of soft skills and with good reason. Many jobs require you to interact with others toward a common goal.
While it may not officially be called a “team” the soft skills needed are basically the same. Many times a company that is hiring will say something like, “must be a team player” in their job description as well as list required and desired soft skills needed for the job.
That’s because people working together with a good base of soft skills are typically more productive, have less conflicts, and have better overall workplace satisfaction.
Some of the soft skills needed to truly be a team player are empathy, interpersonal skills, self-awareness, accepting feedback, collaboration, dealing with difficult situations and office politics, as well as understanding different personalities.
Because soft skills are predominantly personality based, here at New Leaf Leadership Development we believe the first step in soft skills training is developing self-awareness through a personality assessment.
If you would like to see what your personality traits are as well as which are dominant and what you would be best served to work on strengthening, you can take our free assessment here.
Understanding individual behavioral preferences and habits is crucial when working with team members, as a leader or manager of others, or in an environment that requires conflict resolution.
It takes about 10 minutes to complete and you will receive a 22-page report that shows you the different aspects of your personality and examples of how to leverage your personality to get the most out of working with others.
Is soft skills training right for your company?
Going back to the West Monroe study, 43 percent of full-time employees say soft-skills-related challenges have negatively impacted their work, which is problematic considering that innovative projects increasingly require employees to work alongside each other.
The study also found collaboration-based issues have delayed or prolonged a project for 71 percent of respondents.
These and other findings indicate there is a very good chance that your company could benefit from soft skills training.
At New Leaf Leadership Development we believe that soft skills can be learned and companies will see a benefit in productivity, interpersonal relationships, work ethic, attendance, quality of work produced, reduced conflict and job dissatisfaction.
While any of our professional development programs will help develop soft skills, Leading with Emotional Intelligence is a great place.
Leading with Emotional Intelligence is the most practical, in-depth, and widely respected program for learning about emotional intelligence, leadership, teamwork, transformational change, and being a more empathetic and inspiring leader.
In conclusion
Soft Skills are in high demand in both the public and private sector of employment. While the demand for employees with good soft skills is desired, more companies need to invest in personal development programs for soft skills training. You will see tangible outcomes as your teams develop and use their soft skills in the workplace.
With the advancement of artificial intelligence and the automation of jobs growing daily, it will be paramount to have diverse teams that possess an abundance of soft skills.
If you’re considering investing in soft skills training, book a call and we can discuss your options. The call is free and there’s no obligation to sign on.
