Many successful managers will tell you that organizational skills, budgeting, and strategic planning are the building blocks that make a great leader. If you ask top executives, they will most likely agree, but will add that professional training and product development are also mandatory traits of a successful supervisor. Both would be correct in their claims, but what are some other characteristics that these effective leaders have in common?
For many managers, specific hard skills are necessary to do the job, but are often not sufficient to do that job well enough to be considered great. An administrator’s soft skills, like delegating and motivating, can make the difference between average and dynamic management. The average manager may perform very well under pressure, or have a strong work ethic, but may also be lacking in the arena of soft skills. Very few organizations are untouched today by the growing influence of other cultures, and good soft skills facilitate our ability to manage differences effectively.
So what is considered a hard or soft skill? Dennis E. Coates, CEO of Performance Support Systems, defines hard skills as, “Technical or administrative procedures related to an organization’s core business.” These skills are typically easy to observe, quantify and measure. They’re also easy to train, because most of the time the skill sets are brand new to the learner and no unlearning is involved. Conversely, soft skills are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure. They have to do with how people relate to each other while communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems, contributing in meetings and resolving confict.
In today’s industry, knowing how to analyze a membership report isn’t enough any more. An effective manager with efficient soft skills will use that report to train their employees how to improve performance, work more productively together, and motivate them as valuable members of a team. Effective managers must do more than merely divulge the findings and inform their staff that the numbers must change. They must inspire and motivate those around them to want to improve. Paul Hawken may have summarized it best when he stated that, “Good management is the art of making problems so interesting, and their solutions so constructive, that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.”
So how can you tell if you need to improve upon your soft skills? Reflecting on your management style, as well as your interpersonal communication abilities, will help to identify what areas need improvement. Questions like, “How often do I set an example for my employees?” and “Am I a problem solver?” may shed some light on your personal situation. Are you able to manage your emotions in the workplace, as well as the emotions of your employees? Ask yourself, “Do I encourage innovation, and effectively motivate my staff?” If you are unsure, you may want to seek external feedback, which leads us to another soft skill: the ability to accept constructive criticism.
We can all improve on our current interpersonal skills, and do our best to learn new ones. For example, in the service industry remembering people’s names is critical. If you know that this is a weakness, than you can work on correcting that behavior by associating their name with something familiar, like an object or a famous actor. Although many soft skills don’t appear on your resume, developing them will ultimately improve your employability. Mastering the hard skills of your chosen field is mandatory, but is only half the battle. Fine tuning your soft interpersonal skills may be the difference between mediocrity and greatness.
Dr. Charles Barr is an assistant professor for the College of Hospitality Management at Lynn University.
