Soft Skills “Back” In Style?
A recent Wall Street Journal article proclaimed that "soft skills" for managers have become "a growing interest" in organizations today. Since when did good people skills go out of style? (“Theory and Practice: M.B.A. Programs Hone ‘Soft Skills’”; Phred Dvorak; Feb. 12, 2007; B.3.)
Sure, a mention of the titles CEO, CFO, or EVP may produce mental pictures of hard-nosed men and women who’ve fought their way to the top. They don’t always get their multiple degrees, multiple promotions, and multiple cars by being nice. The "no guts, no glory” gang may play tough. But leadership and management success rarely results from just how intense people play the game and how fast they get to the top. These executives also understand that their success is about the people, relationships, and character they collect along the way.
In fact, the new trend in curricula, spreading across some of the nation’s prestigious business schools—Dartmouth, MIT, and Stanford, to be specific—focuses on such soft skills.
When faced with problems ranging from deflated confidence to flawed speaking styles, students at these universities learn a variety of tools. Executive coaching, peer groups, self-styled "leadership development plans," and internships targeted to strengthen weaknesses are being included in M.B.A. programs that mold students into gifted decision-makers and individuals. It may seem off-topic to send America’s brilliant “CEO babies” to relationship classes, but this is exactly what MIT is doing. "’It isn’t just nice—these interpersonal skills…. It’s about stuff that’s necessary to lead a complex organization,’” according to USC’s Marshall School of Business professor, Warren Bennis.
So it seems that MBA students have realized that they can’t just be the CEO in a sterile office. The people they lead need to know that they are also a spouse, parent, friend. They, we, you—all of us—are human, a part of a team. Whether leading an organization, leading a project team, leading a sales team, or leading a basketball team—leading from the front lines means you must be present with your team "in the thick of things." Listening to what people are saying. Asking questions. Chitchatting daily. Finding out what’s on their minds. Getting their "take" on the situation. While it may be possible to control a group’s view from afar, it’s far easier to influence their thinking as you walk shoulder to shoulder than to shout commands from the sidelines. In short, soft skills.
Think of number-crunching, reasoning, and strategic planning—business hard skills—as a good suit. They’re classic, timeless. But soft skills remain part of the classic skill set as well. Leadership, persuasion, the ability to write and speak well, and the ability to relate to people—these qualities put the “power” into the power-suit of business skills. They never go out of style.
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