Hard or soft skills: what is more important for a manager? Listen, speak and negotiate: what are soft skills and how to develop them.

When creating a resume or worrying at an interview, each of us knows that not only professional skills will be important for an employer - to write programs, create drawings or give lectures. He will try to find out how inherent the applicant is with related skills that are not taught in universities - they are usually entered in the “personal qualities” column. In the post-Soviet space, until recently, they have received quite little attention, but in the West they have long noticed the importance and necessity of the so-called soft skills or soft skills. Soft Skills is a Responsibility sociability, the ability to make quick decisions, creativity, stress resistance, learning ability and the ability to train others, critical thinking , time and financial management and so on. In contrast to them, there are hard skills or hard skills - professional knowledge, which we talked about above.

Hard skills can be easily identified and measured, compared with the same skills of other applicants. For example, this is done through an oral exam, problem solving, or test items. How easily a designer copes with solving mathematical problems, and a web designer creates a test page for a site, can be easily compared with the same results of competitors: fix the amount of time spent on the task, the correctness of the solution, the qualitative indicators of the result. Soft skills cannot be measured. How to calculate the responsibility of a person without working with him? Is it possible to predict how an employee will behave in difficult situation until he was there? In order to at least approximately get an idea of the personality of a future employee, employers have come up with such a tool as a characteristic from a previous job.

How important are the soft skills of the staff for the success of the business structure? According to research scientists Harvard University, hard skills make up only 15 percent of all employee skills - the rest of the array is occupied by soft skills. Imagine, for example, a sales manager. His solid skills will be the knowledge that he received at the university - accounting, statistics, marketing, management and others. They are the basis of his profession, but his success as a specialist will be largely determined by such qualities as the ability to negotiate, effectively present his products, build a team and keep it in it. comfortable conditions for work, patience, goodwill, courtesy and a million other things. Some of these skills are inherent in the very nature of a person or brought up by parents - for example, patience. Others come with experience - at least take team building or logistics.

It is difficult to say what skills a person needs to develop for successful work - after all, each profession has its own requirements. Somewhere you will need creativity, and somewhere, on the contrary, the ability to accurately follow a given algorithm without any “amateur activity”. In one profession, diplomacy and the ability to avoid sharp corners are needed, while in another, you will have to acquire the ability to stand your ground "to the last drop of blood."

Soft skills can be divided into three blocks

Personal qualities. They are considered positive characteristics not only for the worker, but also for the person as such. Appreciated by all employers, regardless of what job the applicant is invited to. These are decency, diligence, accuracy, punctuality, diligence and others. They are usually vaccinated during childhood.
Communication skills. For specialists who do not work with people, not all communication skills will be key - why would a programmer sitting in an office need leadership qualities? But there are those that cannot be dispensed with, because we all work in a team, communicate with colleagues and superiors. This is politeness, the ability to maintain at least minimal subordination, the absence of conflict in character. Of course, there are specialties where communication skills are indispensable. The work of a sales agent, PR manager, journalist, psychologist or tutor involves contacts with people, and the better we learn how to conduct a conversation and “sell” ourselves, the more positive results bring our activities.
Additional professional knowledge. They cannot be obtained at a university, they are developed by experience, for which you need to make a lot of effort. This may be a client or supplier base, professional connections, ability to search for information, knowledge of the road transport map of your region, foreign languages - in general, it can be anything. We all understand that there are a huge number of nuances in the work that can be comprehended only by feeling them in our own skin.

Skills are actions that, through periodic repetition, are fixed in human behavior to such an extent that they are performed automatically, without awareness of the details. Walking, using cutlery, brushing your teeth are all skills. We no longer remember how parents in childhood explained that you first need to take toothbrush into your hand, then squeeze it out toothpaste, then brush your teeth, moving the brush in a certain order, then wash it and rinse your mouth ... How many actions in the usual morning procedure that we have been habitually performing for many years! Of course, in the skills required for successful work, algorithms are much more complex.

They are not taught at the university, but does this mean that soft skills cannot be mastered anywhere? Of course! There is a lot of useful literature on this subject. But skill is inextricably linked with practice, so reading manuals is just preparatory stage. The Western tradition of conducting trainings and coachings, including those related to the development of soft skills, has already “crept in” to us. In these sessions, participants are taught new skills and relearned when the skill has already been formed incorrectly.

With the ability to objectively introspect, you can improve some of them yourself. To do this, you will need to identify actions that are useful and hinder productive work, then draw up a plan in such a way that only the most important ones remain in it. important details algorithm. After that, conscious work will follow to introduce the correct mechanism of skill into your life - for this you will have to repeat the developed methodology every day until it is fixed to automatism. More details about how to acquire and develop new skills, we already wrote (also on the pages of our resource there is a very interesting article " What skills are needed in the 21st century»).

Soft skills are a voluminous part of personal baggage, on which a person’s success largely depends. Imagine a sharp-witted specialist who does not know how to self-organize or constantly learn new things. It is unlikely that he will be able to work effectively. And it's all about the balance of skills and the ability to properly use what we have learned in our lives.

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Skill - comes from English word skill and translates as skill or skill. What is skill in online games? It is a certain skill, ability or skill. Along with this value, there is another - the skill of the player, his ability to achieve results.

The term appeared in RPGs and only then moved to online games.

Skill in the game can be understood differently in the gaming environment, depending on what is being discussed in a particular case. To better understand what this is, consider a few cases.

In an online RPG

In Dota 2, World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs, these are the unique abilities and skills of the hero. It can be magic, jumping and punching, helping him to succeed in confronting his opponents.

In these games, skills can be divided into two types, which differ in the principle of action:

Passives (abbreviated as passives) - do not imply a choice of target and are often tied to time. For example, calling for help, passive and aura skills.
Active - targeting abilities for a specific target. Focus on a target or specific area. Deal point damage to a specific target, consume mana or its equivalent.

In Counter-Strike

Here the term means skill level. The more opponents a person destroys, the cooler he plays and thus his skills become better. The level of battle skill here can be increased due to the successful completion of tasks, the number of deaths and frags, and the quality of shooting.

In World of Tanks

Here, the term means clear and effective actions aimed at winning. The skill of a WoT player is made up of the following indicators:

Ability to penetrate the armor of different tanks.
Ability to act tactically correctly on different maps.
Own experience.
The quality of the equipment in the tank.
The quantity and quality of game mods.
Communication with other people during battles.

Examples

"Skills swing"

"Put skill 1 on auto attack"

Speaking about project management in particular and about success in management in general, it is necessary to reveal one of the fundamental terms - soft skills.

I have never seen a sane translation into Russian. The variant of the translation of the form "soft skills" literally breaks the patterns. Just imagine for yourself that, for example, the phrase "up to you" will be translated to you as "up to you." It's the same with soft skills. These are not soft skills! Because an attentive reader will immediately ask - what, there are also some solid skills? In a word, it's not about softness, hardness, or any other adjective. What then? What are soft skills really?

Recently, I had a conversation with one person who claimed that soft skills are a beautiful and correct wrapper for hard skills. I completely disagree with this formulation of the question, and below I will explain why.

Soft skills is a collective term that refers to a variety of behaviors that help people at work, as well as successfully socialize. And you and I know that socialization is when a person interacts with other people, even if this interaction does not take place personally face to face, but through the Internet, telephone or even through paper letters. In short, soft skills are good manners and personality traits necessary for interacting with other people and building good relationships with these people. There are also bad traits personalities, bad manners - but they do not help build a good relationship, and therefore we exclude them from the set of soft skills.

In contrast to hard skills, which include technical skills and the ability to perform certain functional tasks, soft skills are used in any industry, any profession, any type of activity and any interaction between people. It is often said that hard skills will help you get an interview, while soft skills will help you get and keep a job, or even start your own company.

Soft skills include good oral and written communication skills, the ability to empathize and empathize with others; ability to cooperate and ; willingness to solve problems and skills to resolve conflicts. We can say that soft skills are about emotional intelligence. Also soft skills often call people skills or interpersonal skills, which is already noticeably closer to the essence of this term than "soft skills".

Another feature included in the set of soft skills is situational awareness. This means that you know how to track how the situation around you is developing, you know, you know how and consider various ways responding to it with actions that will give the best result for all involved in this situation.

Another important feature of soft skills is adaptability or flexibility, which means that you can work equally well in different situations, as well as the ability to switch from one situation to another without becoming frustrated and without ceasing to be able to continue to successfully perform your tasks.

The ability to be diplomatic and respectful, even when some are present, is another key soft skill trait. This ability means that you are able to maintain a professional tone and appropriate demeanor even when you are disappointed, frustrated or offended.

An employee with strong interpersonal skills is able to clearly articulate their needs, their expectations for the team and environment, and listen carefully to how others articulate their needs and expectations. He negotiates with others in such a way that each participant has the feeling that he was heard and understood, and all this was done in a respectful and professional manner, even if the participants do not receive what they claimed. In such a situation, an employee with strong interpersonal skills understands when and at what moment it is possible, and when it is worth stopping. Understands when to speak, when to listen, and when to offer.

Serious companies greatly appreciate employees who can articulate their thoughts correctly, communicate correctly and respectfully with others, listen to others, understand and accept (not necessarily agree, but accept) other points of view and respond to various situations in a way and in such ways that do not offend other people's feelings - all this is very likely to ensure that such people will be able to work well in a team.

They find it very valuable to have such skills in their technical staff, as they often require these staff to be able to explain something highly technical without simplification or condescension, and in a style that anyone can understand. It is very important for serious companies that their technical staff could understand and respect what their non-technical colleagues expect from their work and their products.

Companies believe that employees with these skills can not only produce better results, but also help create a comfortable working environment.

While many leaders have these abilities and apply them intuitively, many others must train and work to develop these skills. It has been scientifically established that by nature some such skills are indeed given to a person, but their conditional strength is not more than 15% of the maximum that can be developed through regular practice. , books and articles on leadership, self-reflection and self-development can help develop areas that you feel need improvement. By asking friends and family, colleagues whose opinion you trust, you can also determine which skills from a large set of soft skills are worth developing and why develop them. Another way to improve your qualities is by observing and imitating people with developed soft skills.

Good luck in developing soft skills!

In modern career guidance, in trainings and in articles on pedagogy, there are such American terms as "hard skills" and "soft skills". In this article we will talk about their meaning, where they came from and what an ordinary person should do with them.

What are hard and soft skills?

hard skills- (English "hard" skills) professional skills that can be taught and measured. To learn hard skills, you need to learn knowledge and instructions, the quality of training can be checked with the help of an exam. Examples of hard skills: computer typing, driving, reading, math, knowledge foreign language, the use of computer programs.
soft skills- (English "soft" skills) universal competencies that cannot be quantified. Sometimes they are called personal qualities, because they depend on the character of a person and are acquired with personal experience. Examples of soft skills: such social, intellectual and volitional competencies as sociability, teamwork, creativity, punctuality, balance.

Short story

The terms hard and soft skills originate in the military. In 1959, the US Army began to develop a science-based approach to military training. During the development, the researchers revealed the importance for military personnel not only of professional skills (hard skills), but of universal competencies (soft skills), which are not amenable to systematic training. Understanding the differences between soft and hard skills was expressed in the 1968 doctrine of the Military Training Design System in this way: hard skills are skills of working mainly with machines, soft skills are skills of working with people and papers. After the terms took root in military science and psychology, they moved into free use in business. Today, in vacancies, including in Russian, you can find hard skills and soft skills instead of the sections "professional skills" and "personal qualities".

What is the difference between hard and soft?

To succeed in mastering hard skills intelligence is needed (left hemisphere of the brain, IQ, logic), for development soft skills"emotionality" is required (right hemisphere of the brain, EQ, empathy).
Requirements to hard skills remain the same regardless of the company you work for, the people and corporate culture. soft skills, on the contrary, are changeable and situational. For example, programming is a hard skill: the rules for creating good code will be the same for any programmer in any company. Communication skills are related to universal competencies (soft skills): the rules for constructing effective speech will depend on the audience the speaker is addressing, on speech situation(a conversation on the subway or a speech at a conference).
master hard skills can be in various educational institutions (schools, institutes, additional courses). Usually, certain levels of difficulty are allocated for them, along which you can gradually climb, like stairs. For example, possession English language divided by Elementary levels, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, etc. To obtain new level must pass the exam. Unlike hard skills, for mastering soft skills there are no lungs step by step instructions: a person either possesses some quality from birth (for example, friendliness, calm character), or acquires it with experience, through trial and error (for example, the ability to work in a team, leadership qualities). Soft skills are mastered more slowly than hard skills.
For hard skills there are certificates and diplomas confirming that the employee has the necessary professional skills. soft skills do not have certification and it is much more difficult to prove their existence.

What skills are more important?

It mainly depends on the profession and position in which the person works. Can be called 3 groups of professions according to the ratio of soft and hard skills:
1. Professions in which hard prevails over soft: for example, a nuclear physicist who can be a great specialist and do an excellent job, and at the same time not be able to work in a team and interact with people.
2. Professions that require both types of skills equally: e.g. lawyers, accountants, customs officers. These specialists require a set of professional skills, as well as communication skills, organization, patience, goodwill, as they work with people.
3. Professions in which soft skills prevail: for example, sales, business, politics or creative professions. So, there are skillful sellers without a marketer education who win a client with their charm. A variety of social competencies are involved in effective sales: the ability to speak beautifully and competently, to speak in public, the ability to listen, the ability to win over an interlocutor, self-confidence, etc.

It is worth recognizing that soft skills are the competencies of the future . Of two nuclear physicists, the one who develops his social competencies will be more successful. He will probably be able to make a more successful scientific career than his unsociable colleague.

How do you know if you need to develop soft skills?

If you want to understand how soft skills are needed in your work, then answer a few questions:
1. How important is it to my career advancement how do I interact with others?
2. Are there people in the company in a similar position who are moving up career ladder faster?
3. Does my temperament affect promotion in the company?

If you answered “yes” to these questions, then working on your universal competencies is a must. For guidance, let's say what universal competencies are the most promising(Based on LinkedIn professional network research):

Sociability
organization
Teamwork skills
Punctuality
Critical thinking
Creativity
Flexibility
friendliness
Leadership skills
Ability to solve complex problems

Our Center has developed a whole range of trainings for schoolchildren, allowing them to develop social, intellectual and volitional competencies even in adolescence. This is the period when the adaptation of a person in society takes place. Communication becomes of exceptional importance, it will be difficult for an unsociable teenager to interact with the team, he will feel like a stranger and emotionally depressed. Trainings allow you to identify problems in the development of soft skills and with the help of activating techniques turn them into strengths personality.
We will be glad to see you on our

The role of universal competencies, or in Western terminology soft skills, on modern market labor is growing. Soft skills are mental and interpersonal competencies that, unlike hard skills, are not quantifiable or certifiable. Sometimes they are called personal qualities, because they depend on the character of a person and are acquired through personal experience. Soft skills include: organization, curiosity, good memory, ability to plan, etc. In this article, we will talk about soft skills that are valued by modern employers.
Read more about contrasting hard and soft skills.

Why is the "baggage" of your soft skills important for building a career

Without differences in the set of soft skills, all graduates of the same faculty who received the same education could apply for the same position and job. And they would do the same job. It is obvious that this is not the case.
Imagine two nuclear physicists. They have red diplomas from the MEPhI University, they work in a design bureau on the design of a power unit of a nuclear power plant. Their professional skills do not differ, education and place of work are the same. But their "baggage" of universal competencies is different.

One of them works well in a team, is confident and friendly. And the second prefers to work with drawings, rather than communicate with colleagues, but at the same time he is methodical in performing calculations. Most likely, their further career will develop in different ways. The former will be able to remain a specialist or work in the analytical department, but he can also be trusted leadership positions with career and salary growth prospects. And the second will be able to grow only as a specialist or analyst, that is, develop within the framework of their professional skills.
The described situation shows that a set of soft skills affects the breadth of professional choice: The more competencies a person has, the more more options professional development is possible in the future.

4 types of soft skills

To expand your opportunities in the profession, you need to develop 4 different groups of universal competencies: social, intellectual, strong-willed and leadership.

1. Social competencies responsible for successfully interacting with people.

Sociability
Competent written and oral speech
Ability to speak in public
Emotional intelligence(ability to recognize the emotions and motives of other people)
Flexibility and acceptance of criticism

2. Intellectual competencies responsible for constant Professional Development within their area.

Analytical mind
Ability to see and solve problems
Good memory
Learnability
Creativity

3. Volitional competencies responsible for achieving work goals.

Result Oriented
Time Management
perseverance
Stress resistance
Willingness to do routine work

4. Leadership competencies responsible for the successful use of resources to achieve common goals.

Ability to make decisions
Responsibility
Ability to form a team
Mentoring
Ability to resolve conflicts

Full list of competencies, which will help you in writing a resume, download from our website. But remember that simply listing soft skills will not impress an employer. The list must be supported by real facts and your achievements. Soft skills cannot be put on the table in front of a recruiter like a diploma, they should be shown during the interview and during the trial period.

When and how to develop soft skills

The foundations for some universal competencies are given to a person from birth, for example: perseverance, good memory, curiosity. But most soft skills can and should be developed throughout life. They are not taught in schools, but there are many ways to acquire them.

Parent example: helps to adopt some of the competencies inherent in parents. So, if adults can find right exit in conflict and stressful situations, the child learns the line of their behavior: he learns flexibility, calmness, the ability to find compromises.
Sections and circles for children develop all kinds of competencies. Sports develop strong-willed competencies, and team sports teach, among other things, to work in a team. Music and drawing develops both hemispheres of the brain and gives impetus to all intellectual competencies. Logical thinking develops while playing chess.
Project work at school allows you to develop social, leadership and intellectual competencies. The project imitates real job in a professional team, where there is a leader, specialists, communicator, innovator and other roles. At each stage of project development, training different kinds competencies: distribution of roles (leadership), discussion (social competencies), research(intellectual competencies), project presentation (social competencies).
Children's camps- a place where children constantly communicate with each other. Especially relevant is the camp in adolescence, which accounts for the peak of the development of social competencies. Developing camps bring even more practical benefits - a language, sports or career guidance camp, like the "Professionals of the Future" camp.
Development training- most effective option soft skills training, available to both children and adults. During the training, the development of competencies is not a background, but a target task that the leader sets and monitors the implementation of. About trainings for teenagers and the competencies they are aimed at, you can.

And, of course, many competencies come with experience. Learn and develop soft skills to live interesting and achieve more!

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