Real World Outcomes
“When consulting for clients, there are certain concerns. Projects don’t always go as planned. You have to understand the consequences for that, need to understand what they’re doing. Smarter people do better work faster — see that all the time.”
I listened intently to my professor’s words as he recalled some of the stories he had while working as a consultant at Capital One. As Professor Michael McDermott [AB1] explained, throughout his career he was able to notice three important traits that truly characterized a great employee: cognitive ability, the ability to think outside the box and be creative in their thought process; emotional intelligence, the ability to read the needs and wants for others combined with great self-awareness; and adaptability, being capable of changing environments and attaining results.
“One time I was working at a company and I was about to do a large training program with 9,000 managers. I had hired an outside company to design the program. It was going to be a four-day program for the 9,000 managers. I had already scheduled all the logistics.
“An outside vendor would come through with the actual training. But 12 days before the training, late on a Friday afternoon, the head of the company slipped a CD underneath the door and just kept moving.
“I thought, Great, I’ll just look this over the weekend. So I went home and stuck it into the computer, and there’s like two pages. This is nothing. It’s useless.
“There was no way this could be right, I thought. I asked my son for help to load the CD but he told me that’s all there is! I had 40 people in line reporting to me. I simply picked five individuals who I thought were the best and pulled them aside and said, ‘You know, we have this situation. I want you to go away to a hotel, check yourself in for the next five days, and just get this done. We need this.’ And they did. We needed to have this internal project done in record time, and we were able to accomplish it because of those individuals. The smart people bail you out from failure all the time.”
In a previous blog post, I mentioned the different hard and soft skills that student leaders are able to learn in an SRB. While it’s easy to see how hard skills directly benefit students in their career aspirations, it may be difficult to see how important these soft skills are to employers. At least, that’s how I processed these skills initially. I knew I was learning and gaining valuable skills, but I wasn’t exactly sure the extent of the importance of these skills until I conducted all of this research and interviewed several human resource managers.
As the competition for job opportunities becomes fiercer with an increasingly competitive labor market, the desirability for “soft skills” has led to individuals separating themselves from other candidates by these traits. Certain soft skills, such as leadership and the overall ability to achieve results, are highly sought after in any profession. Student managers are able to develop a wide array of soft skills ranging from problem solving to growth in emotional intelligence to resourcefulness. These skills will undoubtedly help set apart student managers from other applicants.
In fact, a new study [AB2] from Boston College, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan found that soft skills training like communication and problem solving boosts productivity and retention 12 percent and delivers a 250 percent return on investment based on higher productivity and retention. In addition, A recent report by iCIMS Hiring Insights finds that 94 percent of recruiting professionals believe an employee with stronger soft skills has a better chance of being promoted to a leadership position than an employee with more years of experience but weaker soft skills. Failing to show soft skills at a job interview can cost you the job. According to the report, 75 percent of recruiting professionals have cut an interview short because a candidate didn’t demonstrate the soft skills needed for the position they had applied for.
While technical skills may get your foot in the door, people skills open most of the doors to come. Qualities such as work ethic, attitude, communication skills, emotional intelligence and a whole host of other personal attributes are the soft skills that are crucial for career success. With these soft skills you can excel as a leader. Problem solving, delegating, motivating, and team building are all much easier if you have good soft skills. Knowing how to get along with people while displaying a positive attitude is crucial for success.
What’s the formula for building a company that can not only withstand the climates of change and uncertainty we’re living in but also transform and innovate? The formula used to be to build a team that had the technical expertise and work experience to execute “the plan.” This was also known as building a team around hard skills: statistical analysis, SEO/SEM marketing, software development, data mining, network and information systems, and so on. That’s simply no longer the case. Now, individuals need to have a host of other skills as well.
“Soft skills such as oral communications, adaptability, and problem solving become more important as you manage others, make more decisions. and lead cross-functional teams,” says Susan Vitale[AB3], workplace expert and chief marketing officer at iCIMS. “Recruiters and managers are also looking for people who can lead, who believe in the message they are delivering, and who can see the bigger picture and roll with be punches. For instance, can you demonstrate that you’re willing to help train new people or learn a new software program?” Vitale explains.
When your workforce has lots of technical skills but an absence of soft skills, you have a soft skills gap. This can lead to harmful effects for your company. Perhaps you might be incredibly good at getting clients, but because you don’t communicate well you’re not so good at retaining them. Soft skills accompany the hard skills and help your organization use its technical expertise to its full advantage. It is crucial to prevent these types of issues as much as possible in the workplace.
