Soft Skills and the 3 Cs

As more companies understand the impact “soft skills” have on their relationships with customers, suppliers and employees, many young professionals are graded on how they perform on these soft skills.

By soft skills, I mean the ability to write, verbalize, and inspire. Some employers already look at soft skills during the hiring process. David Williams, CEO of Fishbowl Inventory, Inc., has an interesting approach based on the company’s 7 Non-Negotiables (7 NNs).

Similarly, as young professionals prepare to become leaders, many find they may have the technical know-how, but lack the soft skills necessary to succeed. Adrian Gonzalez said it best in a November 9^th, 2011 post. He says,

“Simply put, a young professional with a lot of supply chain knowledge and experience, but with mediocre written and verbal communication skills to motivate, persuade, and get buy-in from others, will probably never reach the upper rungs of the leadership ladder.”

Communication, courage, and creativity are the most important soft skills each young professional should develop and/or improve.

Communication is what delivers your vision to the world. The ability to describe a vision, motivate others to work with you to achieve it, and to persuade some of them to become stakeholders in it is the essence of leadership.

Courage is sharing ideas and thoughts with others. It’s speaking up, even if you are scared of what someone may think. It’s a choice between being judged or being ignored.  It’s asking for help.

Creativity is fitting a puzzle together without a picture. It’s taking two concepts that are unrelated and connecting them into something better. It’s making one plus one equal three. Jonah Lehrer has researched creativity and how to better hone your creativity skills.

Managers simply organize and direct their people in order to reach the company’s vision. Leaders, on the other hand, inspire people to be their best self through communication, courage, and creativity.

I’d love your feedback – and would love your help in sharing questions and comments about being a young professional. If you have a question, comment or feedback, please send me an email to [email protected].  The blog on the last Wednesday of each month will be a question and answer session from those that I receive from you, my audience. If I use your question, I will send you a free copy of a book mentioned in that month’s posts. 

Image: BSA Skill Awards by stevejb68 via Flickr cc