Pros and Cons: Investing in Soft Skills
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Companies must invest in the skills, training, and development of their people. Specifically soft skills and interpersonal skills like conflict management, the ability to skillfully give and receive feedback, growth mindsets around change, and essentials like non-violent communication training.
The investment is absolutely worth it. Here’s why.
For the most part, people don't come into your organization already having these skills. Not many employees receive non-violent communication training from other workplaces, or from school, or their parents, or life. So unless you provide training on these things, it’s safe to assume that they are complete amateurs in this department. And by complete amateurs, I mean that they’re likely terrible at them because these are areas that we humans basically suck at without training.
“I think that their importance and difficulty level is often diminished, even in the term they are mostly commonly referred to which is “soft skills.” The truth is they are critical people skills, in business and relationships of all kinds.”
Which makes total sense when you consider how complicated and nuanced these topics and skills are. I think that their importance and difficulty level is often diminished, even in the term they are mostly commonly referred to which is “soft skills.” The truth is they are critical people skills, in business and relationships of all kinds.
For example, it takes a lot of skill to really effectively navigate conflict. It’s not about quick comebacks and being able to win arguments; it’s an extremely complicated skill set. Navigating conflict well requires using tactical, intentional language to diffuse other people’s emotions and triggers, while remaining in control of your own. It involves making other people feel listened to and validated and lowering their walls while also being able to frame up situations in a way that allows others see and hear your perspective. And after you’ve accomplished all that, it’s knowing how to effectively cooperate with the other person to find mutually beneficial compromise and resolutions.
Those aren’t simple, intuitive things, and unless you’ve had formal training at some point in the form of courses, books, workshops, mentorship, etc. you are not as good at navigating conflict as you think you are. (I wrote a blog about that, here. Very relevant, but a slightly different take on this topic).
Having employees who are skilled in these areas has a huge, positive impact for companies. Not being able to do these things well (conflict, feedback, etc.) results in a lot of wasted time and performance issues brought about by office drama and politics, unnecessary personality conflicts and resentments, toxic team cultures, resistance to change, and a myriad of other frustrating and cumbersome consequences that bog down teams.
I think one of the main reasons that a lot of organizations don't invest in training and development of these skills is because of the cost involved, and they don't necessarily see the value. Which I promise you, is an incorrect way of looking at it.
Lack of soft skills costs companies a LOT of money.
You either pay for the learning of these skills by investing time, money, or energy into the development of your people, or you pay for it on the back end through your managers and leaders having to put out fires and deal with interpersonal challenges and issues, as well as lost productivity or higher turnover from the negative effects of the absence of these critical skills.
One way or another, you’ll pay for it.
So here are your choices:
#1. Invest in skill development up front.
You pay for learning and development, classes, training, courses, for your people and give them the skills to work better together.
Pros: Increased employee engagement and cohesiveness, less interpersonal and office conflict, higher productivity, stronger teamwork and trust, healthier relationships and communication, more resilient mindsets around change, less turnover, a more positive workplace culture.
Cons: Short-term costs from paying for classes and time for employees to participate. Also, you might invest in training and some employees don’t stay with the company forever. But remember that age old adage: “The only thing worse than training someone and them leaving is you not training them and they stay.”
#2. You ignore it.
“Don’t forget, this is also true for your client and customer facing employees who may be having poor interactions with customers due to their lack of skills in this department which can harm your reputation and cause real dollars in lost business.”
And pay for it in turnover, loss of productivity and engagement, and your higher paid managers and leaders wasting much of their time putting out fires and dealing with personality conflicts and drama because people are terrible at conflict, feedback, and having difficult conversations. Don’t forget, this is also true for your client and customer facing employees who may be having poor interactions with customers due to their lack of skills in this department which can harm your reputation and cause real dollars in lost business.
Pros: You save money in the short term by not providing training to your people.
Cons: Everything above. I could go on.
I do want to make one more point about this that may remove some more barriers around the cost involved with training employees. It doesn’t have to cost you a ton of dough. There are thousands of hours of free blogs and training on the internet and books are an inexpensive way to share expertise with your people. A skilled facilitator with years of expertise and intentionally designed curriculum may be more beneficial or effective for your team, but even if you have limited budgets you can make things happen. If there’s a will, there’s a way.
So what skills should you focus on?
Start by looking at what challenges you have.
If you have silos between departments, or feedback is a struggle, or people are extremely resistant to change then those are great places to start. Look at your culture, look at your behaviors and biggest challenges.
“Low performance and inadequate people skills cost companies money. When you level up your employee’s skills, you upgrade the company. It’s an investment, but you’ll pay for it one way or the other.”
If part of the ground rules of your culture involve trust and teamwork, but people are not great at receiving or giving feedback, then how can you expect people to live your culture if they don't have the ability and capacity to accomplish it?
Prioritize learning, growth, and the development of skills in your leaders, employees, every one.
Low performance and inadequate people skills cost companies money. When you level up your employee's skills, you upgrade the company. It's an investment, but you'll pay for it one way or the other.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
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