Tag Archives: technology

You say hard, I say soft – Combined Skills Best for Success

In my consulting business I’ve faced much resistance from clients when I focus on the so-called ‘soft skills’, so I’m delighted when I see that even ‘big names’ like Forbes and McKinsey include them in their lists of essential skills for success. I also feel somewhat vindicated that at last companies are taking cognizance and making the move to including soft skills like critical thinking, emotional intelligence, communication, problem solving and innovation into the ‘hard skills’ mix.

Keep learning, combining skill types for better performance

I believe that the ‘hard’ skills of structuring, strategising, leadership, decision-making and information technology can only be successful if driven by the company’s values and culture. It’s not only about what the company says and does, it’s about how it’s done. And that’s where the ‘soft’ skills come in.

All company actions must be in keeping with the company’s values and its specific culture. This applies to even the smallest of companies deemed unaware of or unaffected by corporate governance issues. They too can benefit from developing the ‘soft’ skills in business.

According to McKinsey’s 7-S [Skills] framework for success, the company’s ‘hard’ action elements, those processes used to run the company – their Strategy, Structure, Systems – must reflect the company’s stated goals, values and culture. In addition, the company must utilise the ‘soft skills’ – Shared values, Skills, Styles and Staff – to complement and enhance the ‘hard skills’ effectively to achieve success.

For example, if management’s strategy aims to be a successful, forward-thinking, progressive company, it can’t have a top-down management structure and system in place. Managers must include elements of interactive communication (Skill) between themselves and their team (Staff). Their approach and/or Style must encourage communication, information-Sharing, critical thinking and problem solving, leading to innovation, performance and ultimately to success.

Skills for success

A well thought out and synergistic combination of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills is what companies need to achieve success. Thus both soft and hard skill types are essential.

As we draw near to Youth Day on 16 June and remember the student riots, we need to remind ourselves what they were putting their lives on the line for.

We know what drove those students in 1976 to protest. The evidence is clear – Bantu education was appalling, especially when compared to that of whites. Students had to use a foreign language in their studies. Learning and teaching facilities were poor, conditions in the townships were not conducive to learning and teaching. Students were fighting for education and a better life.

While we acknowledge the changes that have taken place politically, economically, technologically and socially since then, we need to start real conversations about real and relevant education. What those students were fighting for may not be what we see and experience today. What type of education do South Africans want? What does the #feesmustfall Campaign envision for education today?

For the past 20 years we’ve been trying to ‘improve education’ in South Africa. Billions of rands have been spent. Many changes, many methods, many structures, many experts have been used, and yet every year we question our education system and make promises and plans to improve it – to no avail. We have SETAs and SAQA setting the standards, we have government promising to produce thousands of artisans annually, we have private ‘educational’ companies and institutions making millions from people desperate to get certificates, we have ‘free’ access to education, and yet we have not managed to educate the youth of this country nor prepare them for the world of work that is constantly changing. Not to mention the number of ‘degreed’ individuals without work – thrown into the world of ‘worklessness’. Clearly there’s a problem.

Education needs a revolution

So it’s time we take note of Thomas A. Edison’s words:
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Let’s learn from our mistakes and proceed with a strategic plan toward a more favourable outcome?

We must start asking meaningful questions about education if we are to truly address the problems that the very concept and its interpretation cause. Starting with:
What is education? What is its purpose? What is it used for? Do people really want to be educated? What does it mean to be educated? Is education still relevant in a global information society where anyone can access any information that they find useful? And jobs are evolving at such a rate the educators don’t even know they exist, so how can they prepare students?

Some see education merely as a piece of paper for a job-seeker; others see it as a process of developing one’s thinking and leadership qualities; yet others see it as needless rote learning of useless information only to regurgitate it in exams. Nevertheless, the honest responses to authentic probing into education would at least give us as a society a fair idea of what we’re dealing with before we set off on yet another detour. Let’s put our heads together and start that conversation today.

Let’s talk about successful education

There needs to be another education revolution –this time in our thinking – for successful solutions to the problem of education in this country.

What Executives Must Have now…

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What Executives Must Have … So much is being written about leadership today. The state of the world and business demands it. We all know we need good leaders in all spheres of life. But let’s explore what good leaders have and what they do…….

Relationships make leadership

In this VUCA world – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous – characterised by knowledge creation and change, real leaders are those who are aware of the challenges and problems and build coherent strategies and responses to surmount them. (From Jean-Francois Manzoni’s “Breaking bad leadership habits”).

This VUCA world demands that we start doing things differently, that we manage ourselves and our people differently. And we have so much useful, valuable information around us today, all we have to do is study it, synthesise it, create new knowledge from it and then apply it to our own working lives. The value of Emotional Intelligence in leaders and the LEAP principles of Leadership Excellence through Awareness and Practice are examples of this.

Like Samuel Bacharach (Bacharach Leadership Training), I am an academic who believes in the value of utilising theories, debates and studies in the context of business, translating academic ideas into business concepts. Based on leadership research and ideas around Neurolinguistic Programming (taking attributes, characteristics and features from others and transferring them to oneself through mindfulness, learning new skills, capabilities and habits) I have developed my training workshops.

My most recent catalyst has been Toby Moore’s article, Six ‘must haves’ for the new age executive. Apart from the business acumen and sound judgment required of leaders, Moore adds: Visionary, Presenter, Communicator, Technologist, Peer and Champion. I took these leadership attributes or characteristics and blended them with some traditional and some newer concepts to come up with, what I call I-CARE Leadership. And this is the foundation for my next workshop which I have entitled, “Must haves for the new age executive.”

I run workshops with Executives, Managers and Leaders, offering attendees actionable insights and findings to take back to their work, integrating new information and ideas into their behaviour and communication at work. Watch this space for details of my next Workshop: ‘Must Haves’ for The New Age Executive.

‘MUST HAVES’ for THE NEW AGE EXECUTIVE