“Soft skills still matter!”
“Soft skills are more critical than ever!”
“AI won’t replace soft skills!”
“Maybe the end isn’t coming after all!”
Have you seen those headlines recently? Okay, maybe I made up the last one, but you get the idea. In the time that the general public and majority of the workforce have gained a practical familiarity with the newer advances in AI and their potential to play a role in our workplaces, we’ve seen emotions and reactions run the gamut from literally the worst thing ever (“We will all be replaced by robots!!) to literally the best thing ever (“This will make things so much easier and more efficient and prevent me from wasting time on things that can be automated!!”) to varying shades in between.
While working full time for my own learning and development consulting firm is a newer endeavor for me, I’ve been in this field for over 20 years (how did that happen?!) and my network reflects that. Which is to say that my network reflects the current trends and themes that are impacting educators, HR professionals, organizational consultants, and DEI practitioners. And most recently, those trends and themes? A lot of them involve AI.
The latest article to make its rounds on my feed is Fast Company’s New study finds AI makes employers value soft skills more. Phew! The world breathes a collective sigh of relief as Fast Company reassures us that, “in the AI age, employers expect to increasingly value “soft skills” that enhance human interactions and foster rich, people-centered company cultures.” The article goes on to discuss the future importance of things like ethics, communication, collaboration, and other human-centered soft skills that will facilitate trust, connection, and a sense of belonging.
And it’s not just Fast Company that’s providing this reassurance. Forbes, Training Industry, LinkedIn, UpSkilled - the list goes on - are all publishing article after article to reassure us that as AI becomes more central, so-called “soft skills” will become more valuable than “hard skills”. What a relief. The robots may still be asking us to verify that we are not in fact robots as we try to access our bank accounts and social media, but they aren’t slated to replace us yet.
That’s a good thing. And if I could leave well enough alone, that might be the end of this post. Or maybe this wouldn’t have even been a post in the first place. But, I’m not (nor have I ever been) one to leave well enough alone (you can ask my mother, she’d be the first to tell you).
Why not leave well enough alone, then?
The more I read about this trend and the sudden realization that - Oh my God! Even in the age of AI, we will still need people to be able to relate to one another and build trust - the more I found myself frustrated that this was even a revelation worth speaking about. And the framing- the idea that in the age of AI - which seems to implicitly posit “only in the age of AI” or “new in this world of AI” seemed equally troubling. Haven’t soft skills always been important?
And therein lies the crux of my argument. Or, maybe it’s the crux of my frustration. Even the name of these skills as “soft” in contrast to “hard” skills (technical skills such as writing code, web development, and financial planning) implies that in being less tangible or quantifiable, perhaps (indeed) they are also less valuable. And who do we associate with soft skills (and perhaps even, being softer as people) versus who we associate with hard skills. Yes, I know. We have all been through enough generic DEI trainings by now that we try to recognize and avert our biases before they happen, but the truth is, those biases are longstanding and deeply ingrained.
Caregivers need soft skills. Educators, social workers, nurses, daycare providers, mothers. Soft skills are feminine. Soft skills are. . .for women. Where as leaders, leaders need to be firm, decisive, imposing- anything but soft. This, despite the fact that, “a recent paper by researchers at University College London, Harvard Business School and Cornell University argue(s) that, although functional (or “hard”) skills are important, it is soft skills that differentiate successful executives.” (Hansen, S., Ramdas, T., Sadun, R., & Fuller, J. (2019).)
"Soft" is just a word. Don't overthink it.
Now you might say, it’s just a word. It doesn’t actually mean anything. If it didn't mean anything, why would learning and development professionals go to such great lengths to find alternative labels for these skills? Power skills! Interpersonal skills! Future skills! Relational skills! They're all euphemisms for "soft skills." Because the truth is, words do mean things. Words are powerful. Words shape what we assign value- and by extension, how compensation is offered based on that value.
Every year we hear about the need for better communication in the workplace, more collaboration in the workplace, greater respect and inclusion in the workplace, improved creativity in the workplace - all while learning and development offices struggle to secure the minimum budget needed to meet their most basic needs, let alone make any sorts of advances that would improve employee relations.
At the risk of simply reiterating what literally dozens of researchers have said before me, soft skills build trust and morale. Trust and morale boosts engagement and retention. An engaged workforce is a more productive workforce. And employee retention translates to greater savings. It’s a win-win. Long before the advent of AI, and long after the peak of AI, soft skills have been , and will continue to be, critical to the success of our workforce (and dare I say, society).
So are we ending on a low note?
While it’s true that I can’t leave well enough alone, it’s also true that I am always looking for the potential upside of things.
Has softness (skills, careers, stereotypical characteristics of femininity and women) been undervalued for entirely too long? Absolutely. Is it frustrating that seemingly “harder” skills such as AI are almost immediately afforded a level of value and importance (and the financial implications that come along with it)? Again, absolutely.
But in this new era, where articles are being published by the dozens offering the hot take that SOFT SKILLS MATTER, where the discourse around a “hard” technology has amplified further discourse around the value of their softer counterpart, maybe I’ll take the wins where I can get them. If the buzz around AI can simultaneously raise awareness on the importance of soft skills, I suppose I’d call that a win-win as well.
After all, doesn’t the title of the hottest new article say it all:
New study finds (AI makes) employers value soft skills (more)?
;)
References:
Cardon , P. (2024, January 23). New study finds AI makes employers value soft skills more. Fast Company. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.fastcompany.com/91012874/new-study-finds-ai-makes-employers-value-soft-skills-more
Coleman , R. (2023, November 27). The “Human Imperative”: The Importance of Soft Skills for Leaders in the Age of AI. Training Industry. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://trainingindustry.com/articles/leadership/the-human-imperative-the-importance-of-soft-skills-for-leaders-in-the-age-of-ai/#:~:text=Successful%20leaders%20understand%20that%20business,and%20empathy%20are%20increasingly%20important
Custodio, C. (2023, September 18). Why leaders need soft skills in the age of AI. Imperial College Business School. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/ib-knowledge/strategy-leadership/why-leaders-need-soft-skills-the-age-ai
Darby, F. (n.d.). Why are soft skills so important in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? UpSkilled. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.upskilled.edu.au/skillstalk/soft-skills-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence
Gupta, A. (2023, April 9). In the Age of AI, Soft Skills will Shine. LinkedIn. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/age-ai-soft-skills-shine-ashish-gupta/
Hansen, S., Ramdas, T., Sadun, R., & Fuller, J. (2019). The Demand for Executive Skills. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28959
Westfall , C. (2023, October 17).
Why These 6 Soft Skills Still Matter In The Age Of Generative AI. Forbes. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2023/10/17/why-these-6-soft-skills-still-matter-in-the-age-of-generative-ai/?sh=4d1884e62a91
York, D. (n.d.). Why are soft skills so important in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? StrategicCHRO. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://strategicchro360.com/the-role-of-soft-skills-in-the-age-of-ai/