Soft Skills are Critical Skills
Technical skills alone are no longer enough to be a great leader
By | Josh Saterman | www.entrepreneur.com
Senior leaders, listen up: Soft skills are not soft; they are in fact critical. Experts have discussed this ad nauseum, and yet “heads of” still aren’t getting it. You are in charge of ensuring the future of your company is sustainable. That means you must plan for your future, and planning for your future means preparing your team.
Your team is your future. When you’re preparing for your team, yes, technical skills are vital. That said, remember, technical skills are learned, and as a senior leader you should surround yourself with people that are capable of doing the work. Your job is to listen, collaborate, plan, innovate and stay open-minded and humble. These are critical skills. There’s nothing soft about them.
As we settle into 2022, performance reviews will again become a priority for organizations. How will you balance and, more importantly, understand the symbiotic necessity as a leader to possess both technical and critical skills?
Let’s tackle “technical skills” first to more deeply understand why many leaders have a critical skill gap. When you accomplish getting hired for your first job, technical skills are paramount, whether you’re learning how to make the fries in the right oil, calculate your first margin formula or deliver that important report to a boss.
