Hard Skills Are Pointless Without Soft Skills

At Dynamic Works, we know that you can’t be effective with only technical skills in most jobs. For example, a salesperson with an outstanding knowledge of their product and market will only be successful if they have the interpersonal skills to close deals and retain clients. A business manager needs to listen to employees, have good speaking skills and be able to think creatively. To keep loyal customers, a customer service rep needs to engage callers and deescalate situations. All careers require at least some soft skills to make the hard skills more valuable.

Lou Adler, author of “Hire with Your Head,” calls soft skills “critical non-technical skills.” And he does indeed mean critical. He claims that “once a threshold of technical skills is achieved, it’s the depth and quality of the person’s ‘critical non-technical skills’ that propel their upward progress.”

Hard Skills

Hard skills are typically acquired and developed through school, training, or certification. But, of course, on-the-job training and field experience play a role in developing hard skills.

Some examples of hard skills include:

Analytics
Programming
Bookkeeping
Multi-lingual communication
Graphic designing
and many more

Hard skills are usually quantifiable and measurable, no matter where or how they are learned. As a result, they are easy for a boss to see and evaluate.

Soft skills are abilities that relate to how you work and interact with other people. Frequently soft skills are referred to as people skills. These types of skills are often not taught formally in traditional educational settings. We would argue that they are equally crucial to hard skills.

Popular soft skills include:

Communication
Teamwork
Decision-making
Critical Thinking
Empathy
Problem-solving

Soft Skills

Soft skills are more complex but not impossible to measure. Through feedback from peers and high-ups and maybe even your family, you can learn where you are doing well and where you need improvement with interpersonal skills.

Hard and soft skills shouldn’t be siloed into separate categories never to meet. Instead, they should come together in the workplace and life. The right mix of hard and soft skills can make for a more positive work environment and a successful career.

How can you improve your Soft Skills?

Dynamic Works Institute has built over 160 five-minute POWER courses to help you. You can develop your soft skills in less than 5 minutes with easy-to-follow, narrowly focused video-based learning that will improve your chances of getting that job you want; or moving up the ranks in your company. For example, you’ll learn specific ways to improve your communications and customer services skills. In addition, we’ve got courses in problem-solving and decision making and leadership skills that will help you shine. At the same time, you can also build your confidence and learn how the meshing of soft and hard skills can help you excel in today’s workplace and the future.

Check out our Power Course Roadmaps.

The 5 Minute Countdown Series for Job Seekers offers fifty-two 5-minute online “crash courses” that support every phase of your career journey and increase the chances of getting a job while speeding up the job search process. You’ll find tracks that help you find Your niche or master essential interview skills. You’ll even find courses to help with the job search, including resume writing and e-portfolio building. We’ll even help you with the skills you need once you land the job!

The Customer Service track offers fifty-five courses that help you build your self-confidence and become a more effective communicator. Courses cover customer communication, problem-solving, extreme customer service, self-confidence, handling difficult situations and self-direction.

Communication is our third track with fifty-five 5-Minute courses to assist you in developing your communication style. You’ll learn how to communicate verbally, non-verbally effectively and written communication. In addition, you can learn to build self-confidence and, at the same time, figure out a path for self-improvement.

If becoming a more effective and inspiring leader is your goal, our Leadership track is for you. You’ll be able to take eighty-nine different 5-minute “crash courses” in leadership communication, team building, vision and networking. You are sure to find a video to help you learn the crucial skills you need to take your leadership to the next level.

With over 160 5-minute POWER Courses to choose from, you will excel in today’s workplace and the future.

What are you waiting for? Get started today!