The term “soft skills” is misleading. There’s nothing “soft” about building trust, communicating clearly, or leading with empathy.
In today’s workplace, human skills are the backbone of effective teamwork and long-term business success. Yet, many leaders and managers hesitate to invest in developing these critical skills, viewing them as secondary to technical or business-related competencies. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Why Human Skills Matter:
- They Drive Collaboration and Innovation: Teams that communicate openly and respect diverse perspectives solve problems more effectively and generate more innovative ideas. Without strong interpersonal skills, even the best strategies fall flat.
- Leadership is Rooted in Human Skills: The most effective leaders inspire, motivate, and retain talent—not through technical know-how alone, but through emotional intelligence, empathy, and strong relationships. Leadership development is incomplete without human skills coaching.
- Boosting Performance and Well-being: Research shows that workplaces with strong human skills – such as adaptability, emotional resonance and active listening experience higher results, higher employee satisfaction and engagement, and lower turnover.
If you are an HR professional or a team manager, you often find yourself helpless when it comes to negotiating the share of human skills development in the annual operating budget. So here are some tips for making the case to your leadership team:
- Highlight the Bottom-Line Impact: Show how human skills directly affect key business outcomes like productivity, retention, and innovation. Link human skills development to measurable business results (check this space as the coming short article will be on HR- related KPIs to measure the impact of human skills on business outcomes).
- Use Data and Success Stories: Share examples from other companies that have invested in human skills training and seen clear improvements in their culture and performance. One amongst many positive examples is the Dutch bank ING: they have transformed their leadership model with a focus on agility and emotional intelligence. The bank has embraced the “agile” approach across its teams, which highlights human skills like adaptability, empathy, and collaboration. This shift enables them to respond more quickly to market changes and foster a culture of continuous learning and teamwork.
- Reframe the Conversation: Shift the language from “soft skills” to “human skills” or “foundational skills” to convey their value. Help leadership see these as the core competencies that drive company success, not just “nice to have” extras.
- Take Part in the Global Dynamic: The World Economic Forum’s report 2024 offers insights into how socio-economic trends will shape the workplace of the future. Amongst the top 10 skills, we find self-awareness, empathy, active listening, agility, resilience, curiosity and lifelong learning. A bunch of – guess what – yes, human skills (alongside technological literacy to prepare for the AI jobs on the rise).
Investing in human skills is not optional. It’s a rock-solid foundation for the growth of both people and business, enabling them to navigate complex challenges and uncertainties. Isn’t that the best of both worlds?
So, what are your ideas about making human skills more central in discussions (and decisions)? What will be your best next move? What can you try that would be a new approach, a new conversation, a new way of thinking?
