The TEaM School’s article: Soft Skills
What is the meaning of the words “soft skills“, which we have been hearing about for a long time?
Soft skills are behavioural skills, human qualities that are difficult to measure, which can be contrasted with hard skills, which are technical skills that can be measured.
Let’s take an example: Students at an engineering school all graduate at the end of their studies. They have been tested on the same criteria, so they have all acquired the same technical skills. Hard skills are demonstrable and measurable skills.
However, after a few years, some will be employed as classic engineers, when others will have become managers, directors, business creators and will have evolved more rapidly.
The latter will have been able to develop less measurable, more informal skills, such as empathy, listening, teaching, adaptability, communication, motivation, etc.
These skills have been welcome in Anglo-Saxon companies for a long time. These soft skills are attracting more and more interest from companies.
Indeed, technical skills alone are no longer enough, for equal skills, employees must develop non-professional qualities that make them effective collaborators likely to evolve and take up positions of responsibility.
Today, the evolution of companies and the world of work, more oriented towards automation, artificial intelligence and robotization has forced recruiters to rely on human capital and non-measurable skills.
Indeed, we are evolving in a period of extreme changes in the labour market and in the search for skills.
Today, it is no longer necessary to know everything, to know everything like in the past because we have all the necessary knowledge at your disposal. Today’s generations learn to learn without a teacher because they have all the necessary knowledge on the web and you only have to ask for the solutions.
As a result, hard skills are gradually giving way to soft skills in the digital age.
What are the soft skills to have in the future?
According to a study carried out in 15 countries, the World Economic Forum has drawn up a list of the soft skills of the future:
– Complex problem solving
– Critical Thinking
– Creativity
– Team management
– Coordination
– Emotional Intelligence
– Judgement and decision making
– Customer service minded
– Negotiation
– Cognitive flexibility
To which we will add empathy, trust, motivation, team spirit and much more…
M.D
