Why You Need To Improve Your Work Life Skills

Did you know that many CEOs now rank soft skills as more important than technical skills, even as their companies focus more on artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital business environment?

In just two years, executives have done a 180-degree turnabout on what they view as the most necessary skills to execute their business strategies, according to IBM’s fall 2019 report "The Enterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap."

For the last IBM survey, the top two skills were “technical core capabilities for STEM” and “basic computer and software/application skills.” Now, the top five skills are all “behavioral skills,” as the IBM report also calls soft skills, including “willingness to be flexible, agile, and adaptable to change,” “time management skills and ability to prioritize,” “ability to work effectively in team environments,” “ability to communicate effectively in business context,” and “analytic skills and business acumen.”

Based on surveys and interviews with more than 5,670 global executives in 48 countries, IBM found another striking result: About 120 million professionals may need retraining. They’re missing key skills — these top five highly developed life skills and others that humans do to fully participate in everyday life.

Yet, just because we humans do these skills doesn’t mean we do them well — or even perform them regularly.

Could one of the problems be that soft skills — the traditional name for these types of skills — seem dull, uninspiring and limiting, especially when compared with tech?

For example, consider these three big problems with the name “soft skills.”

• “Soft” implies not forceful or strong. Soft can be weak, especially when compared to hard technical topics, which also can be new and innovative.

• Historically, soft skills are equated with “people skills” and communication ability. While valuable, you now need broader capabilities to succeed in our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. For example, it helps to be self-aware, able to manage yourself, able to think for yourself (creative, strategic and analytic), listen well, be inclusive, be empathetic, be persuasive and influential, build relationships, and so on.

• Many interpret soft skills as a list of subjects to learn and apply, such as giving effective presentations using PowerPoint, giving feedback and improving executive presence. Once you check off the boxes, you like to think you’re “one and done.” There’s no need to recertify as you do with other professional licenses and certificates.

Yet, these perceptions about soft skills also represent a difference from reality. While they’re all actions we humans do, these actions require us to be highly adaptable, flexible and customized in how we perform.

For example, you can’t read a room, give feedback or make a request of co-workers the same way every time. There are multiple ways to get to a good result, not just one. It’s up to you to figure out what will work best each time.

Being effective also involves several steps each time: quickly assessing your current situation, figuring out the most appropriate way to respond, acting accordingly and then adjusting if your initial approach missed the mark. In other words, these are highly developed skills that you need exposure to. You also need to devote time to training, observing good role models, experimenting, practicing and repeating this cycle.

To address the size and severity of the skills problem we’re now facing, how about we ditch the limiting term “soft skills” and replace it with a better-fitting label, such as “work/life skills,” for these very human skills? This broader, more descriptive term applies to the whole person, which is more accurate and appealing for today’s times, especially when many of us want to “bring our whole self to work.”

Next, we have to adopt a mindset change about these work/life skills, using our most important tool/organ: our brain. That gives us permission and confidence to lean into the fact that we’re humans, not machines.

Unlike robots and other machines, we humans are curious. We have a sense of humor. We’re social. We’re able to think independently, and we can do amazing things on our own and with others. Yet, we also make mistakes. We get tired. We need to eat and drink. We’re similar to our co-workers, yet we’re different, and we want to be heard, respected and recognized.

When we embrace our humanity, it also should be easier to acknowledge our vulnerabilities and be humble. For example, we’ll never be perfect human beings, especially at work/life skills. Instead, we’re works in progress, always learning, adapting and practicing as the external world changes around us.

As you gain experience, you’ll become better at recognizing patterns and possibilities and figuring out what obstacles you may face, as well as making quick adjustments, including getting help from others.

Furthermore, you may not excel in all of the work/life skills, but that’s OK. If you know your limitations and know how to supplement your weaknesses and play to your strengths, you’ll be an effective team member and leader. Plus, the type and degree of work/life skills that you need in your job can change quickly, so you need to be able to adapt — which is the most-needed skill right now.

So the next time you struggle to deal with the nontechnical aspects of your job, such as quickly adjusting to new priorities, managing your time well or listening to a team member who's concerned about a process change, take a breath. Then remind yourself that you have an opportunity to work on a work/life skill. You can ask for help, sign up for training (either company-sponsored or on your own) or experiment.

Just as there’s no one perfect path for doing work/life skills, there’s no one way to learn them. It’s up to you.