HARD SKILLS vs. SOFT SKILLS
Do you recollect that one special teacher back in your school days who used to teach History or Mathematics but would somehow make the class joyful with her flair, passion, and out of the box presentation? On the other hand, some teachers were competent in their subject but lacked empathy, leadership, and ability to motivate. It made the classes boring at best, discouraging and demotivating at worst. In the first case, the presence of hard skills, as well as soft skills, create a long-lasting impact, but, in the second case, while the hard skills are certainly present, the lack of soft skills hinders the teacher from making a real connection with the students. So these examples bring us to the question- are soft skills more influential than hard skills, or is it the other way round?
HARD SKILLS
They are measurable, functional, or technical skills which include writing, typing, working with technical instruments, or computer programming. These are the specific abilities that are assessed and developed through teaching and make one person competent in a field.
SOFT SKILLS
They can be called personal skills or unteachable skills as they’re hard to measure objectively, and often known as people’s skills or interpersonal skills. These include communication, leadership skills, problem-solving, or inspiring an audience. The absence of soft skills can disengage the people around you or can create a demoralizing environment. In today’s competitive world, job opportunities and employment options are growing faster than ever and recruiters demand such people who can operate with any system and can be highly productive and be efficient with their skills. Furthermore, the market is inclined towards more service-based businesses, therefore, needs workers who possess not only the hard skills but also soft skills in an equivalent manner. According to a survey, India produces 25% of the world’s engineers but more than 90% stand unfit for work just because they lack soft skills.
HARD SKILLS vs.(?) SOFT SKILLS
So, now, the question arises that which type of skill is more important to be acquired by a person and how one can achieve either? Well, both skills are equally important and the absence of any can lead to major failures and you may not get the expected results. Certain professions require a very distinct and well-developed set of hard skills without which you would fail promptly. But, even then, soft skills will surely assist you to develop and use your necessary hard skills successfully. For any field, one needs to understand the importance of both. Say, for example, you’re a language trainer and you have the necessary set of hard skills. But then, you feel terrible while listening to others which reflects the lack of a necessary soft skill i.e, being a good listener. Take another example: you’re a Child Specialist and you have the skill of diagnosing and treating a disease but you lose your temper easily which shows the lack of a basic soft skill i.e., being patient. In order to excel, one needs to focus on enhancing both kinds of skills. For acquiring hard skills, the focus should be more on enhancing technical virtues such as second language or writing but for soft skills, emphasis should be more on strengthening listening power, time management, or critical thinking.
SOFT SKILLS IN AN INCREASINGLY TECHNICAL WORLD?
You would say, as we’re moving towards a more technical world, the need for soft skills is vanishing. Rethink! The need for soft skills is in fact increasing. Consider e-commerce, there are so many substitutes available and the competition is very high, but whoever provides a flexible, innovative, or trustworthy service gets the customer. In today’s world, one can buy counsel, advice, meditation, search, or support delivered by different professionals, it is the soft skills that provide you an edge. They are the necessary asset to impact the market of informed and assertive buyers.
There’s certainly a need for technical skills in a changing market culture, it still becomes crucial that a professor holds a degree in his subject. So, the aforementioned set of skills are two sides of the same coin which can’t be discerned. Just like oil makes an engine run smoothly, soft skills increase the value of your technical skills and together they make your life and work run smoothly. It doesn’t matter if you work in an online platform or you reach out to your customers and your staff, you need to be very well trained when it comes to your technical or soft skills.
CONCLUSION
Developing these skills and getting expected results is quite possible but it needs a different learning approach. You need to know how to analyze yourself and assess how you do things, how you manage to detangle situations, and then work on your skills accordingly. Some online sources can also be used such as Coursera, Lynda.com, Udemy, and edX. With the help of these sources, one can excel in the kind of hard skill or soft skill one needs. Awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses is an essential part of self-analysis and asking for feedback becomes important. One can try this with a friend or a mentor with whom one feels comfortable.
Below is the link to a Ted talk by Andy Wible discussing Hard Skills and Soft Skills. https://youtu.be/gkLsn4ddmTs
