The Hard Case For Soft Skills

1. The Hard Case For Soft Skills • Emotional competence is central to be successful in a leadership position. • Leaders must be able to handle various stressful situations. • In addition the ability to establish trust and rapport is also crucial. • According to Robert Worden, director of business research at Eastman Kodak, ‘The importance of emotional intelligence increases the higher a worker advances in an organization’ • Worden also states’ The ability to relate, to speak up and be heard, to be comfortable with yourself-these are the kinds of abilities that make the crucial difference.’

2. Star Workers 1-Patrick McCarthy is a salesman at Nordstorm who goes out of his way to satisfy customers. As a result he has annual sales of over $1 million compared with the industry average of $80,000. He nurtures his customer base of 6,000 clients by going the extra mile with his service. Without the ability to listen, understand, and be resourceful he would not be able to make the commission that he makes. 2- Emotional intelligence makes a huge difference in the computer programming field as well. Where the rate at which the top ten star workers exceed the average performers in producing effective programs is 320 percent. In addition, in the top 1 percent of programmers researched they produced 1,272 percent more than the average worker which is truly amazing. So a star worker is worth more to a company than about 20 average workers. 3- The star workers according to Lyle Spencer a director of research and technology “It’s not just computing skills that set apart the stars, but teamwork, the very best are willing to stay late to help colleagues finish a project, or to share shortcuts they discover rather than keep them to themselves”

3. Turnover 1- Just as there is a clear value added from emotional competence, a deficit in these competencies also carries a high price-in turnover. According to Lyle Spencer he estimates that the real cost to a company from a turnover of an employee is the same as one full year of pay. 2- When companies lose many workers, even at low salaries, the real costs can be substantial. Turnover rates in retail and insurance sales, for example, are estimated to exceed 50 percent per year, mostly among new hires. 3- At a global consumer beverage firm, which ignored emotional competence-were used to hire division presidents, 50 percent left within two years because they were performing poorly, at a total search cost of close to $4 million.

4. Successful Leader Qualities 1- Self-Control – stay composed under stress, remaining calm and confident- and dependable- in the heat of crises. 2- Conscientiousness- admitting mistakes and failures, taking action to fix the problems, and moving on without ruminating about their lapse. 3- Trustworthiness- high integrity, with a strong concern for the needs of their subordinates and colleagues, and for the demands of the task at hand, giving these higher priority than impressing their own boss at any cost. 4- Social Skills- being empathic and sensitive, showing tact and consideration in their dealings with everyone. 5- Building Bonds and Leveraging Diversity- more appreciative of diversity, able to get along with people of all kinds.

5. The Peter Principle 1-The peter principle at work: people are promoted to their level of incompetence. A person who is promoted because of expertise finds himself as a new level, where many or most duties revolve around managing people-not technical skill. This means the working world is peppered with bad bosses. 2- The classic mistake is assuming that if someone has a special expertise, it necessarily means they also have the ability to lead. 3- According to Paul Robinson, director of Sandia National Laboratories, ‘I call it the Michael Jordon effect. A top executive leaves and you immediately turn to the best scientist as the replacement. 4- Also according to Robinson, ‘But it’s as if Chicago Bulls lost a coach and appointed Michael Jordon to replace him. He’s a brilliant basketball player, but the game comes so naturally to him that he may not be very good at coaching other players- he probably never even thinks about how he dose. It’s the same with us-we those outstanding scientist in the lab, not in the office.’ 5- Take, for example, Patrick McCarthy, the star sales associate at Nordstrom. Early in his career he was promoted to department manager- a post he left after a year and a half to return to sales. As he put it: “Sales was what I was good and felt comfortable with.”

6. The Computer Nerd 1- An executive at Hitachi Data Systems said, “people in information technology tend to lack certain skills, like empathy and social abilities. Folks in information tech divisions are famous in our industry for not getting along with people in other parts of their companies.” 2- Emotional intelligence abilities were about four times more important than IQ in determining professional success an prestige even for these scientists. 3- According to an Exxon engineer, “What made the difference there wasn’t your grade point average- everyone there had done well in school. The difference was in personal quantities like perseverance, finding a mentor, being willing to put in more hours and try harder.” 4- In scientific work, excellence is not about technical competence, but character.

7. In Conclusion…. • In every business field today it is important to have emotional intelligence as well as expertise. • People with the abilities to listen, understand, and persuasive capabilities as well as other positive social attributes move up the career ladder with ease. • Self awareness is a important quality to have or obtain because every job is not for everybody. Knowing your strengths and applying them to a suitable occupation is essential.