Soft Skills: Necessary, and Not Just a Temporary Buzz Word
Use of the term ‘soft skills’ or ‘people skills’ has been thrown around a lot but what are professionals really doing to improve these skills?
By Ericka Harney, Executive Director, Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance
The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA) began addressing these skills, in 2015 to complement the technical education members receive from conferences, local chapters, and employers. AFWA’s move to include more skills to help members build relationships and emotional intelligence (EQ), was supported by research and industry publications. The Journal of Accountancy and Journal of Finance have published several articles on the need to develop EQ and other skills, for professionals as well as college students.
The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA) began addressing these skills, in 2015 to complement the technical education members receive from conferences, local chapters, and employers. AFWA’s move to include more skills to help members build relationships and emotional intelligence (EQ), was supported by research and industry publications. The Journal of Accountancy and Journal of Finance have published several articles on the need to develop EQ and other skills, for professionals as well as college students.
Defining Soft Skills
Soft Skills, EQ, People Skills – these encompass many aspects of human behavior, which again lends to the nebulous nature of the topic. I like to break the laundry list of facets into categories that help me focus better on individual skills.
Communication
Communication is vast, so let’s break this down further into verbal, non-verbal, written, and listening. Be mindful of word choice and jargon depending on your audience. Something as simple as leaving a clear voicemail or writing an aggression-free email needs active thought and intention. Non-verbal communication, how you stand, or when you smile, also sends an impactful message. Finally, know how to ask for and use feedback as well as provide objective and useful feedback in a non-critical way.
Action
Probably the easiest area to define is action, such as your ability to project manage, find creative solutions, dig into work, and flexibility to change. Most of us know if we are left-brained or right-brained. Project manage based on how your brain works and processes information. Also, realize that initiative and reliability are huge traits in today’s workforce. Know your tolerance for ambiguity and work with yourself to learn from both your mistakes and wins.
Relationships
Nothing is certain when other people are involved, so accept that you cannot control everyone else’s behavior. But you can make sure of few key things. Know how to handle difficult conversations – and admit when you’ve made a mistake. Take self-reflection of your emotions seriously. If you know a particular person or issue causes anxiety or fear, identify it and how to cope. While you need to know yourself well, you also need to be able to ‘read’ others, be socially aware, and able to interact and develop positive working relationships. Understand the importance of mentoring and advising, especially peer to peer. Having an outside perspective or ability to tap into someone’s experiences is invaluable to strengthen soft skills.
Developing and Selling Your Soft Skill Ability
Development of your soft skills is going to require initiative and work. Utilize assessments, like the DiSC Profile or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, to understand the many facets of your personality, your strengths and areas of opportunity. Recognize the need for self-reflection to identify your skills needing strengthening. Once identified, utilize webinars, articles, blogs and other resources to support your growth. I’ll be the first to admit when helping others with resumes, I’m the proponent of ‘quantify, quantify’, sometimes missing on the opportunity display soft skills. I recommend keeping a working draft of a resume so you can pick and choose what goes into a job application. In addition to demonstration of hard skills, use this document to articulate soft skills and what they accomplished. For example, were you part of a 6-member team that found an innovative solution? Not only describe what, but how – did you communicate in person or virtually? Did you take a leadership role or were you an integral team member? Were there challenges you overcame and how? Be as lengthy as you need to be in this document, you can edit later. Making a conscious effort to strengthen soft skills is one of the best investments in yourself. Utilize networks, your employer, and resources to your advantage. Take each opportunity as it comes and remember it is a journey unto itself.
