I never liked the term soft skills either because it implies that life skills are gendered and in this case female skills and so society lets men off the hook and says they can just ignore them…as if they are incapable.
Yes we socialize boys and men very differently than girls and women…slowly it is changing, year by year.
Regardless, men are perfectly capable of learning how to read other people, see and hear social cues, analyze social interactions, and respond.
If the employee (of any gender) is neurodiverse, it might take teaching them in a different way, but everyone is capable.
Whether we quietly take an employee aside and explain it, or we send them to a social communications class…employers should start by assuming competency and work from there.
This is golden! Now that more research has been done to show how bottom-line results can be achieved with leaders who are strong in "soft skills"we need to stop calling them soft. I much prefer this term and love the stack you've built. I wonder where self-awareness calls in this stack? Based on my research for my new book, The Empathy Dilemma, this aspect of leadership savvy is so important to stack the other skills on top of. But maybe it falls within your stack somewhere? Awareness os the first step - and is often linked with humility and a growth mindset.
That was an excellent overview of what is required of an effective leader. I wish they'd teach this in high school, or even younger! Imagine a world in which six year olds are learning the basics of this within their play?! Obviously that is when some kids are naturally figuring this stuff out, but I can't help but wonder how it would impact children's lives to intentionally teach them the building blocks of healthy leadership at a young age.
I never liked the term soft skills either because it implies that life skills are gendered and in this case female skills and so society lets men off the hook and says they can just ignore them…as if they are incapable.
Yes we socialize boys and men very differently than girls and women…slowly it is changing, year by year.
Regardless, men are perfectly capable of learning how to read other people, see and hear social cues, analyze social interactions, and respond.
If the employee (of any gender) is neurodiverse, it might take teaching them in a different way, but everyone is capable.
Whether we quietly take an employee aside and explain it, or we send them to a social communications class…employers should start by assuming competency and work from there.
This is golden! Now that more research has been done to show how bottom-line results can be achieved with leaders who are strong in "soft skills"we need to stop calling them soft. I much prefer this term and love the stack you've built. I wonder where self-awareness calls in this stack? Based on my research for my new book, The Empathy Dilemma, this aspect of leadership savvy is so important to stack the other skills on top of. But maybe it falls within your stack somewhere? Awareness os the first step - and is often linked with humility and a growth mindset.
That was an excellent overview of what is required of an effective leader. I wish they'd teach this in high school, or even younger! Imagine a world in which six year olds are learning the basics of this within their play?! Obviously that is when some kids are naturally figuring this stuff out, but I can't help but wonder how it would impact children's lives to intentionally teach them the building blocks of healthy leadership at a young age.