Soft skills are not soft at all

From buzzfeed.com comes this collection of conversations from people who are miserable in the work place or perhaps I should change the words in this sentence? A collection of conversations of people who make the workplace miserable? Take a look at these: So, a heated conversation takes place between an HR person and one of the staff: HR: “Just go to hell!” Staff: “So stay? or leave? I’m confused.” Boss talking to a staff, “Yes. Doing your job is part of your job.” Somebody complains to HR, “Sorry Ma’am, but the salary doesn’t even remotely match the effort I put into my work.”

HR nods, “I know, but we can’t let you starve to death.”

Boss: “Can you come to office on Sunday? There’s some work to finish.”

Employee: “Sure, however, I’ll be late at work as public transport on Sunday’s is really bad.”

Boss: “Sure. That should be fine. By when would you reach?” Employee: “Monday!” Boss: “How can we keep the office clean?” Staff: “By staying at home.” Somebody says: “If you think your job sucks, remember whenever a famous personality dies, someone at Wikipedia has to change all the verbs to past tense.”

Other conversations are pain frustrating. Consider the following:

There was a safety meeting at work today. They asked me, “What steps would you take in the event of a fire?” “Big Ones” was the wrong answer. Yesterday I did nothing and today I’m finishing what I did yesterday.

Coworker asks: “Do you ever think about work at home?”

Office mate says: “I don’t even think about work at work!”

A guy goes in for a job interview and sits down with the boss.

The boss asks him, “What do you think is your worst quality?” The man says “I’m probably too honest.” The boss says, “That’s not a bad thing, I think being honest is a good quality.”

The man replies, “I don’t care about what you think!” (now that’s what I call being too honest!) Boss: Why is that I always catch you goofing off? Employee: That’s easy! It’s because you walk so quietly.

And finally, here is this conversation that took place between HR and an applicant: HR: “What’s your biggest weakness?” Applicant: “Interviews” HR: “And besides that?” Applicant: “Follow up questions” So many people are miserable in the work place, and there are many people who make the workplace miserable too. Truth to tell, it doesn’t have to be that way.

There are difficult bosses—especially those who do not have leadership skills—who make their people miserable, and the truth is that there are also difficult employees who make the work place miserable because of their incompetence, character, attitude and behavior.

Both sectors should be addressed. Leaders should be trained on leadership skills and direct reports should constantly be trained on work values, attitude, emotional intelligence, communications and personality development.

The bright side of things is that many companies are now embracing and realizing the importance of training their people in soft skills. This has kept me busier and busier.

Almost every business superstar speaker and author I have watched, listened to and interviewed are on the agreement that today, “Soft is hard and Hard is soft.”

All the digital technology, systems, enterprise resource programs and, may I generalize by saying all the resources a company has would be enhanced, maximized and optimized by people who have been properly trained in the soft skills side of business.

Systems do not drive people. It will always be people who will drive systems.

As for leaders and individual contributors, what they need to know and understand is that soft skills may still get very little respect in many business organizations. The fact is how can anyone respect anything that is labeled as “soft?” Yet soft skills will either make or break your career.

And for those who are still not in the know, here is a list of critical “soft” skills you need to develop if you

want to achieve career success: Positive Attitude A drive for excellence Inter-personal relationship (Teamwork) Flexibility or adaptability Accountability and responsibility Integrity and Work ethics Commitment and Dedication Professionalism Communication And just to close…do you still wonder why most of these things listed form many of the core values of organizations? Perhaps now you know.

(All seats including extended accommodations for this year ’s last run of Level Up Leadership have been taken. The next run will take place on February of next year. Date and venue are still being arranged but will be announced when ready. Meanwhile, for further inquiries or advanced reservations contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)