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The Unspoken Power of Soft-Skills
Here’s how to make sure your softness is valued and rewarded at work.
My sensitivity is a superpower. It’s the thing that others repeatedly praise about me; I’ve built an entire career on it as a People + Culture leader. However, it’s also the thing that others repeatedly condemn and ask me to change about myself.
What I’ve learned is that soft skills are valued when they provide ease to others but not valued when they’re asking someone to do something hard. My sensitivity means asking people, especially leaders, to consider the impact of their words and the inclusivity of their philosophies + processes.
To build reverence for the soft skill, I need to frame it, be precise with it, and value it myself.
There’s no shortage of articles written about the value of soft skills at work. Yet, they seem to go underappreciated. Why? It’s hard to understand the impacts of soft skills.
We may rationally know that a kind individual provides a better customer experience, but when we look at customer satisfaction scores, the full story gets lost. For women, the burden of proof grows because societal norms already expect women to possess soft skills. A woman that’s patient, compassionate, and communicative is an expectation, not a value to reward. Yet, companies cannot function without these skills because of their impact on humanity and safety at work.
Here’s how to make sure your softness is valued and rewarded at work.
Storytelling — tying softness back to tangible business impact
At work, how people feel𑁋employees, partners, customers𑁋impacts perception and the company’s future. But feelings are squishy, especially to leaders that are driven by numbers and measurable business impact.
So, tell them a data story.
Data falls short without human context. Storytelling weaves in human behavior and ethical considerations. It’s holistic thinking. Unfortunately, people don’t like or doubt what they can’t evaluate. So connect the dots for them between data and feelings.
