Many of my clients are individual contributors vying to become managers. Others are already managers and are dreaming about executive positions. In such cases one of the recurring themes that comes up is the demonstration of their “soft skills.” There is such misapprehension around this phrase that I decided to devote an entire blog to this topic!
First of all, many up-and-coming managers think that management itself is a soft skill. They believe that the hard skills they have learned stem from their knowledge of the technical area of their expertise.
Contrary to common belief knowing how to manage is also a hard skill. For example, a manager is expected to perform the four functions of managing: Lead, Plan, Organize, and Establish Controls. Each one of these functions has its own tasks under them, with the attendant rules for making those tasks efficiently executable. Ironically, some believe that to be a good manager one must be “soft” in exercising their managerial authority.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
For a manager—or for anyone, for that matter—getting things done through others requires knowing what makes people tick. The technical skills that stem from your expertise as well as your managerial skills that allow you to get things done as a result of your position, both constitute hard skills. The soft skills stem from your ability to get others to do what needs to be done, despite your authority or influence, and not because of it!
Let me explain:
Someone in a managerial authority has the power to order their subordinates to do what they want done. Although this is how hierarchical management structure functions, a person in a managerial position can be much more effective in how they get their team members to respond to their needs if they take a more human approach to what they are trying to accomplish. So, if you can exercise your leadership authority and not your managerial power to persuade someone, who works for you, to get them to respond to your needs as if they are responding to their own, then you have succeeded in persuading them to own that task. A leader influences by virtue of creating willing followership; a manager gets things done by ordering others around. You are an effective manager when you are able to get things done merely by virtue of your leadership authority! By applying this subtle shift in how you approach getting work done through those who report to you, you have mastered the necessary soft skill. If you understand this subtle difference then you have began to appreciate what the “soft skills” are all about.
The best demonstration of one’s soft skills comes from how they approach others when they want you to do something for them merely through the power of influence—and not authority. I often get Introduction requests when someone in my LinkedIn network wants me to connect them to a hiring manager I know. Even though the managerial job that they they are after specifically asks for “demonstrated soft skills,” their approach to how they go about this simple step in their pursuit of this opportunity betrays their lack of those very soft skills that they are expected to have!
For example, a request to me couched in a curt and peremptory tone as, “Can you introduce me to Dave? I want to apply for a job that he just posted.” I have many Daves (or another such very common name) in my LinkedIn network, so without any further context I have no clue who this Dave person is. I am not inclined to spend any more time on this request for a person I just know casually, and am likely to ignore such a request. But, if I decide to honor this request—because of my relationship with the requestor—by first researching, then finding this Dave person, and then forwarding this poorly drafted request to Dave Smith, VP at NetPlus Systems, he is not going to be impressed by the requestor’s soft skills, or lack thereof (because he has the ability to see the entire request chain).
If, instead, the requester had framed their request differently, e.g., “Dilip, I see that Dave Smith, VP of Development at NetPlus Systems is in your network. This is very fortuitous for me! He just posted a Director opening in his group. I am very interested in this position. So, can I impose on you to please forward my request for an Introduction to him? I’d really appreciate it if you do!”
If you can see the difference in tone between the two Introduction requests I’ve cited here, then you are well on your way to master the “soft skills” that are so much in need these days!
Good luck!