Why developing people skills is valuable for everyone

When Charles was promoted into a leadership role, he was not at all prepared for the ‘people’ challenges he faced. Every direction he turned – upwards to management, downwards with his team or sideways to his peers and suppliers, he needed to navigate personalities and people dynamics. This hadn’t been the case when he was an individual contributor where he was respected for his problem-solving ability. The fact he was prickly and did not tolerate fools gladly was something management overlooked because he was an expert in his domain and got the job done. But now he recognised he needed to develop his ability to get results through people instead of relying on doing it all himself. 

In Charles’ case, he now needed to invest in developing the soft skills he had neglected for so long.

Zenger Folkman’s research suggests he could have benefited from starting much earlier. Their analysis showed that combining both soft and hard skills plays a critical role in improving the performance rankings and overall effectiveness of an individual contributor. They defined hard and soft skills as:

Hard Skills

❇️ Technical expertise

❇️ Problem-solving ability

❇️ Drive for results

❇️ Taking the initiative

Soft skills

❇️ Ability to communicate

❇️ Relationship building

❇️ Coaching and supporting others

❇️ Development of colleagues

❇️ Collaboration and teamwork

Zenger Folkman suggests we often leave it too late to develop soft skills. They say while many companies provide individual contributors with technical or hard skills training, they put off doing leadership or soft skills development until individuals are promoted into leadership roles. Worse still, their data shows that training opportunities did not occur for many people promoted into management roles until more than a decade later. They recommend developing leadership capability in individual contributors, particularly the ability to influence others, at an early stage. They have found those individuals are much more useful when they improve their interpersonal and leadership skills.  

It was better late than never in Charles’ case to invest in developing his soft skills. Now he is recognised as a great ‘people leader,’ it has opened up many more career opportunities for him. 

🙋‍♀️ When did you focus on developing these soft skills in your career?  

Best regards, Brian

PS: 🎯 If you are ready to take your people skills to the next level, then get in touch to book a free discovery call to discuss the upcoming program, Personality and Behaving Transactionally. 🎯