"Soft" Skills

We are often hired for our technical skills—resumes tend to emphasize what we know how to do. But technical knowledge only goes so far—leaders need “peopling” skills.

As a psychologist, I was used to people dismissing psychology as a “soft” science. Little did they know that professional success requires many of those “soft” skills. Haha!

As a leader, you do not need to know how to do everything yourself. You need to be able to recognize the competencies that other people bring to the team and have the skills to motivate your team members to continue to do high-quality work, and to work together toward common goals.

Not everyone is willing or able to do this, and many technical service companies will have a “technical track” so that people can continue to advance in their careers even without these skills. But if you are in a management or leadership role, you will be using your people-skills more than you ever did as an entry-level employee. And the better you do that, the better your team will perform.

(image source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianpoensgen/)