It’s the stuff great leaders are made of.

Communication, Listening , Giving Feedback, Cooperation, Problem Solving, Delegating, Observing, Coaching, Encouraging, Managing Conflict.

But too often these so-called “soft skills” are downplayed- both in the hiring process and in the design of training and development opportunities.

Whether the term “soft skills” was developed with good intentions or not, our minds lead us to think “soft skills” are unimportant, wishy-washy, lack a means of measurement, and can’t be taught nor developed.

It’s time we throw out this term of “soft skills” and replace it with a term that properly represents these skills that transform technical gurus into great leaders. How about “core skills” or “foundational skills”?

Time after time, we’ve seen that organizations staffed by employees with strong “core skills” are not only the most effective in their professional lives, but they generally thrive in their personal lives, as well.

These skills underlie the very foundation of how employees and executives interact with customers, clients, supervisors, and with each other. Craig may be the best application development manager you’ve ever seen, but when he’s promoted, how is he ever going to lead a team if he lacks conflict management skills? What if he can’t constructively receive feedback?

As Stephen Paskoff writes in a recent Workforce Management blog: “Any respected leader will tell you it’s the ‘soft skills’ that distinguish effective leaders from outstanding operational producers, or, at the management level, distrusted tyrants.”

Think about it – who are the leaders that you look up to right now or in your past? Who are the ones that balance their creative, intellectual or technical skills with their ability to bring people in, listen, motivate, read non-verbals or cooperate? Who are the ones that demonstrate exceptional human relations skills that perfectly complement the other abilities they bring to the table?

Let’s stop demeaning these types of skills as “soft” and instead, as leaders, let’s help our employees develop these foundational skills that can help them become the leaders they want to be.

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