Tag Archives: skills

Why ‘Soft Skills’ Are Dangerous

SelfAwareness-CoveySoft skills are skills like work ethic, conflict resolution, entrepreneurship/ innovation, creativity, effective communication and presentation. They differ from hard skills which are easily taught, evaluated and measured (i.e. – interdisciplinary knowledge, competence, practical knowledge, experience).

Soft skills are important in building relationships and fostering a spirit of collaboration which is essential to achieving team results. Murti (2014) suggests that in India, there is a critical soft skills shortage among business graduates. The study conducted found that standard business programs were of no real use to companies when essential personal skills – attitude towards work, character, self-reflection and individual qualities – were absent.

A 2008 survey conducted by the German Chamber of Commerce, found that when employers were questioned regarding the top ten most desirable employees skills, eight of ten were soft skills. In the complete listing of the top twenty skills, only five were hard skills (Pennington, 2013).

Organizations obviously want soft skills. However, they want employees to ‘chase the carrot’ more. In an interview, (that I have summarized, without leaving out key points) an employer explained, ‘ We recruit the best and brightest from high schools and universities. When they get here, we place a carrot in front of them. For this carrot they will give not 100%, but 140%. Only a few will get it, but that’s o.k. We know we will have to replace them around age 40-45, because they will be burnt out. – until then, we want them to give us all they’ve got’ (Pennington, 2013).

Soft skills lead to self awareness, some managers shutter to think, ‘What happens when the employee decides the cost of chasing the carrot is too high, stops running and considers all of their other options?’

References:

Murti, A.B. (2014). Why Soft Skills Matter. The IUP Journal of Soft Skills.8(3).pp. 32-36.

Pennington, G. (2013). Soft Skills In The Business and Personal World. EFMD Global Focus.7(3). pp. 52-55.

Leadership Involves Common Goals

leaders-createmoreleaders

In his book, EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey (2011) shares how, “Goals are visions and dreams with work clothes on.” He goes on to observe how goals force practical steps into our lives which make our dreams come true. Goals help make great leaders, teams and organizations. Essentially, goals convert vision into energy, motion, excitement – ACTION!!

In the previous blog, Leadership Occurs In Groups, we note that leadership requires more than one person. In order to lead, someone must be following, this is not a permanent state of being as the mark of a truly great leader is that they will develop more leaders, not more followers.

Understanding that leaders have groups and that they lead these groups towards common goals, thus creating teams. Leaders ensure teams achieve big common goals by first recognizing their support to their teams is vital. Teams must feel and see their leader’s commitment in everything they do. Words are not enough, goals are about ACTION!! Second, leaders must ensure their teams receive adequate training  and coaching support so the learn how to operate effectively! Just assigning someone to a team does not make them a an active, productive member of that team. Training is one part – it expands the team’s perspective on its roles, and builds cohesion from the shared experience. Coaching ‘gels’ the team together by facilitating the building of a shared vision, mission and goals unique to the specific team. Coaching also helps teams gain clarity on not just their role but how their team unit fits and aligns directly with the overall organization mission and objectives (Taplin, Foster and Shortell, 2013).

Shared goals create unity. Leaders inspire their teams to think and dream bigger – to act in ways that far exceed their own expectations. In doing this, the team witnesses the power of goal setting. Team members, start developing their own personal goals. They start planning. They develop their own visions, missions and dreams and thus future leaders are born!

References:

Ramsey, D. (2011). EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches. New York: Howard Books.

Taplin, S.H., Foster, M.K., Shortell, S.M. (2013). Organizational Leadership For Building Effective Healthcare Teams. Annals of Family Medicine. 11(30). pp. 279 – 281.

Why Are There So Many Dimensions of Leadership? And How Do I Make Leadship Work For Me?

Thinking Figure

There is Authentic Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Situational Leadership, Team Leadership, Servant Leadership – there are leadership traits and leadership skills and 70+ prominent leadership theories – and the list goes on and on. But how does a leader know which is the best leadership approach for them and which is most effective for the many leadership situations they will find themselves in?

Kuhn (2012) offers one popular explanation of why there are so many areas of focus, noting that during the developmental stages of Leadership Theory there was an absence of a paradigm and all assertions seemed plausible. The author also suggested that due to the absence of a widely accepted and practiced scientific method, many concepts were evaluated and tested inconsistently, making it even harder for researchers to confidently dismiss any relative line of thinking.

Winston and Patterson (2006) arrived at a similar finding related to the large number of leadership dimensions. In their study, they identified 90+ dimensions of leadership, yet noted there was not one dimension that was widely accepted by the leadership research, education and practitioner communities .

Which brings us to the question – how is a leader to know what to do, and if they are leading well and doing the right things?

To answer this, Northouse (2013) recommends that leaders start by grasping a working definition of what leadership is – suggesting that the 4 basic components of leadership are:

  • Leadership is a process
  • Leadership involves influence
  • Leadership can only occur in groups
  • Leadership involves common goals

Over the next week, we will explore these components in greater detail and outline a process for leaders to develop their own framework and working approach that is the best fit for them. This will place them in a better position to determine which leadership areas of focus hold the greatest benefits for them.

References:

Kuhn, T. (2012).The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition. University Of Chicago Press.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.

Winston, B., & Patterson, K. (2006). An integrative definition of leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), pp. 6 – 66.